Love Song

University is fucking hard. This is not like your four first days of highschool where you just mess around and get nothing done. Jayces’ hands hurt from all the note taking. His wrists are sore, his palms all crampy and his fingers have red spots where the pencil rubbed the skin raw. A computer would probably be easier, but Jayce just thinks he remembers things better after writing it down and the constant clacking of the keys annoy him. Most of his teachers so far are hard asses too. If they catch you not writing down every word that comes out of their mouth, they’ll give you a look like you’re the dumbest person alive to not be clinging to every one of their words.

The people are different too. Everyone here is rather snotty. Hex wouldn’t accept someone without a shining application, so he knows all these people are insanely smart, but all their basic social skills must’ve gotten kicked out to make room for their progressive thinking. He would say hi or wave and they’ll have no response. Even a smile makes them turn up their nose and look away. Earlier today, in between classes, he asked a man in the lobby if he could take the seat next to him. Without taking his eyes off his computer he grunted a ‘sure’, fingers not even hesitating as they flew over the keys. 

Jayce is still perched at that seat now, though the other rude man left a while back in quite a hurry. Probably too wrapped up in his own greatness to remember he has class right now. In about ten minutes he also has to go for his last class of the day. He’s never been to a uni before, but here on the first day he has every class but for only an hour. It’s a lot, meeting all the teachers, new classmates and trying to take in all the syllabi, when your classes are and where. He’s tired, but this is the final last class, then he can go back to his cozy apartment he calls home.

He pulls up his timetable on his  phone to check where his next class is. Particle physics in room 002. But all the rooms on this floor start with 1 and he's already seen all the rooms upstairs and knows there’s no room 002. He leaves the main lobby and saunters down the corridor of classrooms in search of room 002. Eventually he hits a dead end and still no sign of the physics class. Jayce turns around and marches back the way he came, double checking each one of the doors in case he missed something but still, no room 002. He goes down another hallway, still searching, but all the doors and halls are starting to merge together in his eyes.

All the corridors are wide with high ceilings. The walls are white and the doors match but have metal door knobs and plaques over the trim on the top, stating the room number. This whole place is too white and clean, it’s pretty, but too regal for his liking. Everything looks too much the same, how is he ever supposed to find his next class? And he only has 3 minutes to get there or he’s late! On my first day! He thinks. This is bad. He doesn't want my new professor to think he’s incompetent.

After a few more miscellaneous turns, he finally stop a girl in the hallway, admitting defeat and looking for help.

“Hey, sorry, I know you’re probably trying to get to class but I have no idea where I’m going.” Jayce says with a sheepish smile, scratching the back of my neck.

“Hey man, it’s all good. I get it, this place can be confusing. Where are you looking to go?” She asks the corners of her mouth turning up. Her smile isn’t super big or bright, but it gets the message across. It’s okay, we’re all in this together. They pull off to the side of the hallway together.

“I’m looking for room 002. I’ve been upstairs and I know that those room numbers only start with 2 or three. Plus, I didn’t see it when I was looking. Now I’m down here and all the rooms start with one and I swear these hallways are practically blending. I’m not even sure I could get back to the lobby.” He heaves out the information, almost all in one breath.

“Ohhhh, you need the basement. Yeah, that’s a brand new edition to the school so if you toured the school last year you wouldn’t know where it is. All the labs are down there. Scientists blew up too much glass upstairs, the Headmaster didn’t want explosions in the sky, so they moved them to the basement. The downstairs also has a few classrooms, but only for the more scientifically inclined classes.” She says all of this with effortless cool, like everything is chill and Jayce isn’t three minutes late to class.

“Follow me, I’ll bring you to the escalator.” She beckons him to follow her. Jayce obeys.

As he trails behind her, he can’t help but feel like he’s seen her before. Her chocolate braids fall down to her butt and some of them have gold cuffs around them. In fact, she’s wearing a lot of gold jewelry, to the point where he can hear it clanging against each other over the shuffle of feet. The gold pairs wonderfully though with the deep color of her skin. She wears expensive looking linen pants and a simple black corset top. She holds herself with the air of someone who knows what they're doing. There's no way this is her first year Jayce thought, based on her knowledge of the school and how she wasn’t freaking out like all the other newbies.

After a few winding halls she stops them in front of an escalator. The walls on either side of the escalator suddenly turn an authentic wood, no more posh white here. 

“The basement isn’t fully done yet I don’t think, but once you’re down those stairs it’s pretty much just one hallway. The big fancy lab is the big double doors at the end of the hall. Room 002 is obviously the second room when you go down there. It should be on your right. I’m going home now, but I wish you luck in your classes this semester.” She gives a small wave and starts to leave.

“Wait” Jayce calls “What’s your name? I’m in the market for some friends.” She turns back around.

“I’m Mel, Mel Medarda. I’m sure I’ll see you around Jayce.” She smiles and goes on her way.

The Medarda name is famous. That must be where Jayce knew her from. Ambessa Medarda is head of military and overseas affairs here in Piltover. She became so well known and rich after making trade with the notoriously vengeful Noxians. Noxus is another city north of Piltover, up in the mountains. They are known for their large army and incredibly large amount of extremely dangerous weapons. But if Jayce was being honest with himself, he would also cower at the command of such a woman as Ambessa. She is known for her extremely large and muscular frame. She’s also only ever seen wearing armour, as if she’s always preparing for battle.

It’s only after he's gotten onto the escalator and begins his descent into the warmly light basement that he realizes he never gave her his name. He is Piltovers’ ‘Golden Boy’, a pretty face known all over the city. His dad and Mel’s mom probably know each other, considering they’re both famous and insanely wealthy. Something about Mel seems different than her mom, though. Mel seems like a very calm and collected person, someone who wouldn’t crack under pressure. Someone who wouldn’t lose their cool. Jayce only kicks himself as he hits the bottom of the escalator a little bit for not getting her number.

This hallway with all these doors is bigger than the ones upstairs, so even though you’re underground, it still feels spacious. The floors are still wood, though a darker type tree. The walls are also wooden now, but etched in them are gorgeous carvings. Patterns and mandalas, one spot even has a huge carving of the solar system with titles and everything. The blinding natural sunlight from upstairs is replaced by warm toned light bulbs that have just been screwed to the ceiling. The end of the corridor holds the grandeur doors, gold handles for dramatic flare. Some rooms that Jayce assumes they’re still renovating, have caution tape blocking the door. The hall is empty.

Jayce turns to his right and just like upstairs, a plaque that says 002 sits on top of the door frame. He checks his watch. He’s fifteen minutes late, which means he’ll be interrupting whoever’s in there giving the class right now. After mulling it over some, Jayce decides it’s better to be late than not show up at all on the first day. So with a big breath, he creaks open the oak door. He can hear the high pitched voice of a male professor stop mid-sentence at the sound of the wood.

The door opens entirely to expose the inside of the classroom. This one is smaller than the ones upstairs. The walls are dark wood panelling and the floors just plain concrete with an acrylic gloss over top. The seating is the same but now the leather is all a deep, winey red. The only lighting in the classroom is at the opposite end of the big chalk board and teachers desk. The lights are on and pointing to the chalkboard, which is right beside the door Jayce just walked in, which means he has an audience and a spotlight on him for his awkward, late, entrance. Awesome .

“Ah, Mr. Talis! I’m glad you could join us!” Jayce looked for who was speaking. He ended up having to look down. In front of him stood a short man, not necessarily round, as is the expectation when one is short, but not super skinny. He had a blond messy scissor cut, but there were the pretty obvious streaks of grey. The most stunning thing on his face is the large hungarian-style mustache on his face.

“Good afternoon Mr… uhm…” Jayce frantically searches the room, trying to find some indication of who this man is. Lucky for him, the white name scrawled on the chalkboard came to rescue.

“Mr Heimerdinger! I apologize for my tardiness, this school is quite large and can be confusing.” Jayce explains. He doesn’t like all these ears listening in on their conversation, all these eyes already judging his stupidity. Jayce doesn’t understand, all these other people could find the room, why is he so dumb?

“It’s quite alright my boy, I’m just pleased you’re here. We need all the brilliant minds we can get.” Jayce smiles slightly at the praise. “Just pick a seat and we can really get started, since everyone is here.” Jayce turns to the audience, light beaming directly into his eyes. The bright white makes it hard to see the class, but after giving his eyes a second to adjust he can tell that the seats are practically full. It makes sense, this class is smaller than the ones upstairs, so the seating must be smaller as well.

He quickly scans the room, weighing all his options. Somewhere in the middle was a girl with a dirty blond bob. The bob cut off right at her cheekbones. Her face was a soft circle, with full cheeks. No, Jayce immediately thought. No way was he walking right to the middle of the class, being in front of it was bad enough. Next was a man in the left back, on the opposite side of the room from the door. He had a mess of red curls atop his head. He looks nice enough, thought Jayce. Maybe this man could be a new friend. He was walking over there when something caught his eye.

Just above Ginger was a set of eyes, looking over the orange hair right. At. Jayce. When his eyes connected with them, Jayce let out a little gasp and his sure steps skipped a beat. They were the most astounding state of amber, even in the black dark they glowed. From where he stood, he could tell the man had a wolfcut and gorgeous facial structure. Jayce suddenly decided that the perfect spot for him was right beside him. His feet moved, but his mind was focused on the intensity those eyes held. He almost tripped up the stairs, trying not to break eye contact. He finally admitted defeat and looked down to see where he was putting his feet. He realised his breath was coming out slightly faster. What in the world was happening to him?

After reaching the top, he slid past some of the students before finally reaching his spot. Jayce slowly sunk into the plush leather. His breathing came heavy, his palms began sweating and his saliva grew thick in his throat. He swallowed with a large gulp. He had no idea why he was so nervous, but he knew it had something to do with the man beside him. Maybe he was just nervous to meet someone new. But Jayce was so outgoing and extroverted in highschool making friends with his peers is easy for him. Maybe it was the fuck off aura the classmate beside him was giving off. Jayce just couldn’t put his finger on it.

He tried to push all these thoughts from his mind as he opened up his notebook and pushed out the lead from his pencil. He wrote the date, his name, and anything else Heimerdinger said of importance. Some of the stuff the professor was saying was interesting, it really was, but Jayce found his eyes straying for his paper, betraying him. They wandered over to the hand of the man beside him. He too, Jayce realized, was using pencil and paper, The fingers gripping the pencil were pale and long. The pinky one held a basic silver band. If Jayce looked hard enough he could see a little black star painted onto his ring finger. Was that a tattoo peeking out of his-

“Hey Fire-Crotch,” Jayce’s train of thought is cut off by the whisper of a  voice beside him “your fuckass typing is pissing me the fuck off. Put your wisenheimer computer away or stop typing.” By this time, Ginger is already turned around and his eyes are so watery, Jayce assumes tears could fall at any second. Ginger’s eyes dart to meet his. He feels bad for Ginger, but Jayce can’t help but side with Eyes on this one, the clacking of keys does get annoying.

Poor Ginger turns back around and closes his computer before fishing through his bag, looking for something to write with. He has a notebook but can’t seem to find a pencil. Jayce reaches into his own pockets, finding a pen and handing it to the poor man. The look of gratitude on his face makes his day. Jayce likes the idea that humans’ humanities are still around. Though he doesn’t say anything, Jayce can feel the other man's golden eyes on his hand the entire time he reaches over the table to put the pen in the hand of Ginger.

Jayce then rips a piece off the bottom of his paper. Ginger seemed like a genuinely kind guy, someone Jayce would want to make friends with. He had a warm smile and an approachable vibe and Jayce did not like that someone was taking advantage of that. If Ginger couldn’t stand up for himself, he better believe Jayce would. He didn’t want to cause a scene in class, so he scribbled on the paper: Why do you have to be so mean? Why couldn’t you have just asked nicely? He would’ve closed the laptop anyways. He slides the paper over to the man beside him. He quickly skims it over before heaving a deep, dramatic sigh and clenching his jaw, obviously annoyed by Jayce. Then, ever so slowly, he turns to face Jayce with a menacing glare, but recognition rings instantly in Jayce’s head. Viktor

A few years back, one of the most revolutionary invention of the decade came out. A scientist found a way to make nuclear fusion ‘profitable’. Well actually, a high school teacher from Zaun did, or that’s what they say. Nuclear fusion was a great way to make lots of energy with little waste, the only problem was it took more energy to fuse the two atoms than the actual fusion process created. This teacher found a way to fuse the atoms more easily. After that, this new found energy motherload was applied to everything. Houses started using fusion, businesses ran on the energy. Everything in Piltover was changed to run on nuclear fusion. The city even started selling their longer lasting electric cars, the fastest in the world. But then there was the truth.

This teacher didn’t invent anything, his student did. Viktor’s roots ran so deep in the Underground he didn’t have a name. Apparently his whole childhood he hopped from foster family to foster family, all in Zaun, of course, because what righteous Piltovian would ever do something to make a Zaunites’ life better? It wasn’t until highschool he ever crossed the bridge to Piltover the first time. He was recognized as a brilliant mind, a modern day Thomas Edison. A campaign was launched to fund him into a proper, high achieving high school. Viktor didn’t like it one bit. He was angry that he got treated better than everyone else. In his heart he was still a Zaunite and was mad at the rich. They had enough money to send all the kids from Zaun to a proper school, give them a chance at life, but they were greedy.

Viktor also found it stupid they were willing to pay for his brilliant mind and work, but not his healthcare. From what Viktor knows about his birth mom, she worked in the factories, was dehydrated all her life and malnourished, causing her to have an extremely ill kid: Viktor. One of his legs has weak bones from his rickets disease from a young age. This is also why he had to build his own back brace at the age of 13, something to support his own body. He found it absolutely ridiculous that the rich could send him to school to get bullied and beat but couldn’t even spare him something to hold himself up. They couldn’t spare him a basic human right. Despite the injustice, Viktor took the money and went to school. Really, what choice did he have?

Viktor made sure the money wasn’t wasted though. His new school had a big fancy lab, like nothing he’d ever seen before. He was sure with all this help and all this room he could invent something to help the world, make it a better place. He sat in that lab for so many hours, pouring over notes and gadgets and ideas, god he was so full of ideas. The late nights he spent in the lab worsened his illnesses. For him, though, there was nowhere else he would’ve rather be. As he progressively began caring more about his inventions than himself, he would find himself coughing more, occasionally even spitting blood, losing weight, becoming paler. But it was all worth it.

One morning of his grade 11 year, when he was only 16, he raised his head off his desk. He realized that he accidentally fell asleep waiting for his computer to configure the model. He dragged his feet over to the screen to check and, lo and behold, it worked. Viktor had successfully figured out nuclear fusion. The second class came in session, he ran to his teacher to tell him the news. His teacher didn’t look all that happy though. He dragged Viktor to the empty lab.

“Listen Viky, I’m proud of you, I really am, but are you sure you want to do this?” The teacher asked.

“What do you mean?” Viktor tilted his head in question.

“Well, Viky, they’re going to use you, you know that?” Viktor still had no idea what he was talking about.

“If you go out with this invention, if you put your name on it, they will know what you are capable of. They will force you to make everything they ask. You will be feeding right into the riches’ palm, they will use that big beautiful brain of yours for their own good.” This made Viktor angry. That invention was his, he was the one who put in the work and he was not letting the Piltovians take it.

“But this invention could change the world. It needs to be out there, but I’m not giving those stupid Pilties another way to use me!” Viktor said, anger bleeding into his voice.

“Well… I have a suggestion. An answer to your dilemma, perhaps…” 

The answer was him stealing Viktors idea and publishing it as his own. He got all the rights, all the glory and money. All because poor, innocent Viktor was angry. Angry at the government for not giving equal rights. Angry at the rich for using his knowledge. Angry at the world, at such a young age. The first few months he thought he did the right thing, but then he saw how his ex-teacher got all the praise and started pretty much ignoring him. He saw, eventually, he was tricked. Then he was mad at himself. Now, after all he’s been through, he’s just mad at everything. He’s sick of trying to be nice, be better, he’s had a hard fucking life, he deserves to be a little pissed off, he has every right.