Science of Love

The new student Viktor was tutoring — Sky — was actually somewhat tolerable. Though initially frustrating as she couldn’t seem to grasp subjects that Viktor had been well versed in for decades, and the gaps in her knowledge were almost too vast for Viktor to teach effectively. After a few minutes of back and forth, however, he had the idea to just askher to tell him what she knew. Something about reverse teaching as a study strategy, Viktor remembered reading about it in some academic study somewhere. 

She’d shown up to the windowless lab just a few minutes late, and dropped a disaster of papers heavily onto a desk toward the front of the room before being sent to walk Viktor through her knowledge with the much needed help of a whiteboard. 

So the quiet, mousy woman recited various teachings from first year that Viktor thought he might have recognised from some time during his undergrad years, but wasn’t completely sure. Those years of his life were mostly fuzzy anyway, there’s something to be said about dedicating one’s entire life to a certain subject, toiling away at the same desk for hours and checking, rechecking research projects, studies, and published theories. It was no wonder, really, that Viktor didn’t get out much during that time. 

Something in his underdeveloped, much younger brain, had decided that absolute and complete knowledge over the sciences, biology in particular, would be his winning ticket into developing his technology. As with most things in Piltover, of course, the ladder was much steeper and taller than he could have imagined. It didn’t truly matter if he had invented biology itself, when mechanical engineering was gaining popularity and becoming the new fashion. A potential missed opportunity. If he had just been born earlier. If he had just been able to move out sooner - to have joined an earlier inventor’s competition, maybe things could have been different. 

But they weren’t, and there was really no value in over analyzing hypotheticals, anyway. Viktor’s cards had been dealt, he just had to play them strategically, and if that meant tutoring a small, fidgety Piltovian woman who didn’t truly know her chloroplasts from her mitochondria, then so be it. Viktor might even be able to argue his way into a salary, if he caught Heimerdinger on the right day. 

Viktor wasn’t listening. He’d heard such lectures countless times before, and found himself tracing circles into the workbench of the laboratory countertop sullenly before flicking his gaze up at the freshman. She had been caught on the definition of prokaryote. Poor girl. 

Viktor opened his mouth to assist, or maybe just tell her outright to just look behind her at the annoyingly cheesy classification chart that listed exactly the information she was trying, almost painfully, to rack her brain for. 

Something stopped him, something his brain couldn’t decipher until his left hand had already yanked his cane from its resting spot beside his stool and he was standing. Alarm bells shrieked in his head as he whipped his head around at the table he and Caitlyn had been working at. She had left her lightbox untouched. Viktor had, in his frustration, neglected to clean up her mess in a silent act of defiance, but hadn’t forgotten to scan the lab for any other equipment he could return. He had passed by the incubators. 

He hadn’t seen Caitlyn’s petri dish in any of them. Viktor turned his head in confirmation to the large machines across the room, but he already knew what had happened. 

Caitlyn Kiramman had left her goddamned petri dish laying out on the table, festering underneath the relentless UV bulb and growing who knows how many new evil tendrils in that time. 

Viktor reached the workbench at the same time Sky did, caught off guard by her tutor’s sudden intensity and racing over, furrowing her brow in a clear question. 

He raised his right hand gently and lifted the base of the box slowly, dropping it almost immediately after. Not only had Caitlyn Kiramman left her entire experiment out on the table, but she’d also clearly neglected to actually pay attention to Viktor’s methodology, because her petri dish was laying, almost innocently, under the box, with no lid. 

Heimerdinger’s words rang in his ears. Pathogenic. Unsafe. Handle with utmost care. Perhaps Cailtyn had forgotten to bring her attentiveness to the lab on that day, too, as her entire experiment lacked a clear understanding of biohazards and sterilisation. 

Hopefully the weight of the box was enough to contain the coughs of smoky blackness that that thing seemed to emit periodically. If Viktor had been exposed to the same oxygen that it had for this many hours… he didn’t want to think about it. 

Viktor wanted to rationalise the situation, to remind himself that he didn’t truly know what was inside that petri dish, that it could be a completely safe species of mould or other sort of bacteria, but something within him could sense the danger held within that dish. In a lifetime of identifying flora and fauna, in getting a degree in biology and having his fair share of microbiology projects, and in his decades of research into all things living, he had become fairly good at identifying bacteria. 

This thing, this creature growing on Caitlyn’s petri dish, was unlike anything Viktor had ever seen. It was undoubtedly the “mystery bacteria” Heimerdinger had seemed to jubilant in announcing.  Viktor’s nightmares were laced with the image of such a creation. 

There was an ever-looming question of why anyone would need this, and, arguably more worrying, who was funding the biology department of Piltover’s most influential university to commit time and effort into researching it. What family could possibly have such a need for an unquestionably dangerous substance, could it be the Meardas? The Kirammans? Some Piltovian family that had riches far surpassing anyone else in their entire city, in their entire world, choosing to stay anonymous so they could carry out deeply unethical and unsafe studies? Abusing the grubby, fresh hands of a university student, an undergraduate fresh out of highschool — someone like Sky, —  and risking their lives instead of the lives of a class labelled ‘elite’, though uncaring and un-providing for most of Piltover’s population. The semantics of such a label implying a greater quality, some sort of inherent difference down to how they were manufactured, when in fact what they really meant was powerful. Merciless, opportunistic, and powerful. 

Sometimes even the darkest corners of Zaun, the most looming of secret underpasses and the most suspicious, shadowy alleyways, could not begin to compare to the evils of Piltover’s politics. Even the most looming presence in the city, a largely protected and expansive system of drug trafficking, had its roots in Piltover. Viktor had said it before, and he would say it again, and again, and again. The rich have to stay rich somehow. Whether that means exposing men, women and children to an explosive and highly corrosive gas that leaks off the blackened factories that produce the drug-of-the-week or pawning dangerous biologically hazardous research projects onto unsuspecting university students in a department that their society doesn’t really care about, anyway. They need to get their fix of control, somehow. 

 It had been obvious to Viktor from the start that Heimerdinger’s very sudden and suspiciously funded “new syllabus” was a thinly veiled cover for underpaid labour in researching a bioweapon. It had to be. Heimerdinger was simply a pawn in some game, a willfully ignorant bishop being manipulated within the comfortable streamlines of his unquestionable beliefs on a board of chess so advanced and so classified that there may not even be a person in the entire city who knew the whole extent of it. 

The petri dish was evil looking enough. The reason behind the petri dish - was something so sinister that Viktor couldn’t find words to express it. 

But then Sky was lifting the box. Viktor’s initial shock at Cailtyn’s carelessness, at the general safety concerns for everyone who had entered the lab, and at the abyss hidden behind Piltover’s bright white facade had caused a momentary lapse in his awareness. 

He reached out violently, pushing himself forward and slamming his hip painfully into the corner of the bench whilst his weight shifted entirely onto his affected leg, sending sharp icicles of pain into his muscles and gnashing his teeth together as he stumbled downward. Viktor’s other arm shot out to prevent him from toppling completely onto the floor, but his attention remained on the woman on the other side of the workbench. 

“Stop- don’t open that!” 

It was too late, of course. Sky had already lifted the plastic box high enough above the dish to allow them both a clear view of the glistening bacteria. Gasping in surprise at Viktor's outburst, Sky released her grip. As she had already lifted the box enough to displace it, it came crashing down onto the dish as a result of her thoughtless obedience. One of the thin edges made direct, centred impact with the plate. The thin dish of plastic cracked apart, splitting the gelatinous agar that had been entirely covered and mostly dissolved by the bacteria, which now seeped down between the splintered remains of its prison, touching not only the table but a considerable amount of the sides of the lightbox. 

So, so many things were going wrong. In fact, Viktor wasn’t sure anything could be going worse, lest Sky decided it would have been a good time to somehow create an even bigger disaster. 

“How could you think- why would you-?” Viktor’s mind was racing and so was his mouth, miniscule fragments of his composure remaining in place only to prevent Viktor from yelling an array of profanities - and potentially losing his job as a tutor for the foreseeable future. 

Sky was shaking her head, tears welling in her eyes as she tried and failed to take a breath. She dove forward to attempt to pick up glistening plastic shards. “I didn’t- I’m so sorry! I wasn’t thinking- I-” Viktor grabbed her wrist before she could, in turn reaching over the substance and shifting far too close for comfort over it. 

“Leave. Now.” The modicum of potential that Viktor had to fix the situation shriveled. He wasn’t thinking anymore, his typically overflowing mind silent at the flip of a switch, now running purely on instinct and his painkiller breakfast.

Sky tried to step back toward Viktor, clearly misunderstanding his concern for anger, completely misreading the severity of the mistake. Still unaware that her life was potentially in danger. Viktor didn’t have the mind to comfort her, instead repeating his phrasing in a more clear way, still cold and firm, and noticeably louder than he’d intended.

“Go to the urgent care centre immediately. Do not make contact with anyone on your way there, no matter what.” Viktor wasn’t even looking at her as the words left his mouth, glancing around at the unimaginable mess that littered the work station. 

He didn’t hear her small heels clicking rapidly as she ran out of the lab. He didn’t hear the heavy door wrench open and swing shut. He couldn’t hear anything, he couldn’t see anything either, sunlight provided to escape in the dark, windowless lab. Had it always been so dark in there?

 Viktor wanted to curse his habit of turning off lights that weren’t in use, even if he was supposed to be using them, usually preferring the light of a desk lamp immensely over the typical overbearing fluorescence of scientific facilities, but he couldn’t manage it. He couldn’t even think over the overwhelming rush of pain that hadn’t ebbed since he checked his hip. 

His knee hurt so fucking bad and he could almost feel the edges of his bones grating against each other and he’d gripped the side of another table until his knuckles had turned white, and he hadn’t even noticed that he grabbed onto it in the first place, most likely to avoid toppling completely over after his run-in with the sharp angle of the desk. Blood was rushing into Viktor’s brain, heart pounding in his ears so loudly he couldn’t hear his own breath, which was coming in shallow bursts that were only getting shallower. His skin prickled and the same fiery sensation that ripped across his skin from too much time spent in weighty clothes returned, and the wrist that had been leaning on his cane all day was throbbing, red ringlets encircling the joint.

And the mess in front of him could not be put into words. His throat tightened even further, forcing his desperate gasps into choked rasps as he relinquished his grasp on the desk to sink down into a sitting position that would have pinched his hip uncomfortably had he not already been experiencing what was comparable to the absolute pinnacle of physical hell. The corners of his tired eyes, already squeezed tightly shut, pinched as he tried to hold back hot tears, a thorny mass forming in his throat and redness rising in his face. 

Viktor had to alert the biohazard unit. It was protocol. They could burst in, clean the whole thing, help him up and out of the building and into fresh sunlight air. Viktor wanted to call them. He wanted to call someone, he wanted to get up, grab his cane and walk over to the outdated, somewhat charming laboratory landline and yell for someone to come and clean this up and save him from inhaling any more of what was certainly noxious fumes, but his teary vision was blurring and stars danced in his eyes and why was everything hurting so bad? The emergency service line was across the room and Viktor would have to pass by that thing on the table again. He angled his head upward at the workbench, but the char-coloured icon of Piltover’s secrecy was splattered across the table in front of him, probably growing and pulsating and breathing the same air as him and looking him in the eyes, daring him to inhale and stay sitting alone on the floor and Viktor couldn’t breath or see and he was fucking scared.

There was no way he could stand up in this state, much less make it across the room. Viktor knew he wasn’t thinking when he pulled out his phone, and he knew he definitely wasn’t thinking when he dialled one of four new numbers that had been added to his contacts quite recently. Viktor couldn’t force himself to think as the line picked up after just one ring, and an achingly familiar and painfully lighthearted voice crackled into his shaking hands.

“What up, pants?” Jayce answered, chuckling, but the airy laugh caught in his throat when he heard strained gasping over his phone’s speakers. 

Viktor tried as hard as he could to catch his breath, to stop the shaking in his fingers that had spread to his elbows and crept up from his knees to his hips and even into his chest and flooded his nervous system with an iciness he wasn’t sure could ever be thawed. He managed a single, shuttering phrase. 

“Bio labs. Need help- biohazard.” 

Viktor wasn’t even sure Jayce had responded before the line died with a curt click. 

 He wanted to be embarrassed at the situation, at the accident, at calling his probably busy roommate to come and, what, rescue him from the scary-looking inkiness that covered the table. He wanted to be mad at Sky, at Caitlyn, at himself for allowing such a breach in laboratory safety to go unnoticed for so long. He wanted to be worried about Sky, and he wanted to feel like this mistake wouldn’t cost him everything he’d been working for. For years. Since before he’d even moved to Piltover. 

But he couldn’t. Hot, wet tears finally escaped his burning eyes and streamed freely down his face. The jittering of his muscles and the rubbing of bone against bone completely overwhelmed his mind and spun it into a buzzing mass that begged him to survive. Something he honestly didn’t think he would ever have to experience again, not since living on the hardened the streets of Zaun. Just, survive, survive, survive. 

_______________________

Admittedly, Viktor had placed a considerable amount of trust in Jayce to understand that biohazard meant call the fucking biology police and not come see this cool sci-fi shit but his roommate was a scientist, after all, so his message had gotten across clearly. 

It didn’t stop Jayce, though, from pacing jerkily outside the building as a team of people sectioned off the area as a Place of Concern - an infuriatingly corporate way to say Shit Just Went Down Here that really did nothing to quell the inquisitive college students that roamed campus from poking their noses around the area. 

Passing by Jayce far too quickly for either of them to try and get a word in - Viktor had been ushered to a small vehicle parked a short distance away to be tested for any immediately life-threatening symptoms and asked a few general questions. Jayce had even tried to trail behind the man guiding Viktor to the van, but was all but told off until he sighed and walked to the sidewalk that lined the street. 

It was moments like these that made Viktor grateful that he wasn’t the type of international student that enjoyed flaunting their exotic nationalities or regaling their friends with probably-fake anecdotes about their lives abroad. If these people, a burly team of seasoned hazmat-like cleaners who were prolific for their spotless results, knew about his colourful background, they would undoubtedly be much harsher and more thorough in their investigation. 

The emerging and consistent pain in Viktor’s leg had dulled for the most part, and the other aches in his body were muted by the exhaustion that weighed heavily on Viktor’s shoulders. Well, muted as much as it could be, after such a taxing day (week, really). Thankfully, Viktor had managed to level his breathing after the call with Jayce. 

Viktor watched, leaning back against the vehicle, as Jayce had his hands folded tightly across his chest, head bowed whilst he counted each step, being careful to avoid the cracks in the sidewalk. Something about the gesture, so small and candid, so childlike, had Viktor sighing into the warm air. The sun had just begun to set, and bathed the campus in a warm glow that amplified the colours of the leaves on the trees that dotted the area, a vibrant green with barely yellowing tips. Jayce’s dark hair practically glowed from its rays, absorbing the radiance of the sun and reflecting it back out a hundred times over, casting a sort of shimmering halo around his head. It would have been a nice view, in differing circumstances. 

The fact that no one had paid mind to Viktor as he was led out of the building and still continued to ignore his general presence provided a semblance of relief to the otherwise unfathomably shameful scene. He hadn’t even been the one to cause the situation, but having been the one to call for help and the only one left in the building as they evacuated the room was truly mortifying. 

Viktor let his mind swing awkwardly back into its typical relentless monologuing, tentative and hesitant after the intensity of the blizzard of overwhelming terror had clouded it just an hour before. He shifted his gaze from the far sidewalk and onto the pavement of the parking lot beneath him. A small isopod crawled in intentional, concentric circles, pausing when it met the squared toe of Viktor’s shoe. Animals, or insects, like this — tiny and seemingly insignificant, but contributing thanklessly behind the scenes of lush, thriving forests — were some of Viktor’s favourites. The amicable roundness of the creature that perched atop its soft legs was a much needed simplicity after such a taxing afternoon. He lifted the toe of his leather shoe, allowing it to continue its looping journey under the ball of his foot and out again. His eyes trailed after the thing, long after it had disappeared into the grey of the gravelly road and he imagined, embarrassingly, a small pill-bug returning to its family, cozied up in a warm log with a nice moss blanket. Clearly, Viktor wasn’t trying to be very scholarly at the moment. 

Whatever tests the unit decided to subject him to timed out after the sun had just barely started to set behind the lowest building in Piltover, and the majority of students had gotten their fill of drama. Viktor’s relief deepened as a bright red Negative appeared in the small window. Thanking the professional that had been standing awkwardly beside Viktor, probably watching him gaze stupidly after an inset and who had, ironically, been the one to discover him in his earlier…state, Viktor made his way across the parking lot. 

He felt a small bit guilty at dragging Jayce out to the labs, he’d really just intended for him to call the people he needed to call and move on with his day. Deep down, though, Viktor sort of knew that Jayce would never do that. Some part of the man that connected him to people like Caitlyn, like Mel, the same something that made him avoid the cracks on the sidewalk like a child. Something Viktor had only truly seen today. He’d stopped pacing, instead facing back toward the laboratories with one hand pinching the skin between his brows and the other tucked snugly across his chest. Viktor approached Jayce from behind, reaching up to tap on his hunched shoulder. 

Jayce whipped his head around and Viktor couldn’t help but feel something in his ribs tighten as the last rays of sun caught his deep brown irises, illuminating them until they were brimming with luminescence. Could the sun even do that? Viktor coughed away the tightness between his lungs. Jayce let out a massive sigh and his bulky arms reached up to grab Viktor’s shoulders. Viktor felt himself being crushed into an enveloping hug before he could protest. Not that he would have, anyway. He could use the security of the feeling right about now. Viktor wrapped his own jittery arms around Jayce. 

The warmth radiating off of his well-tanned roommate made Viktor aware of his own shivering, despite the summer-y warmth in the evening air. Jayce shifted his hands to the sides of Viktor’s biceps, softly rubbing warming friction into his sleeves. 

Viktor didn’t want to think about how Jayce had heard him on the phone, nor how he’d probably seen the snivelling limping mess that he was when the professionals had graciously escorted him out. He didn’t want to think about how worried Jayce must have been when he called, expecting a sarcastic back-and-forth and being instead met with a cry for help, quite literally. But Viktor’s brain rarely went where he wanted it to, and he had to squint his eyes against the resurfacing pang of guilt that threatened to invade his thoughts again. 

Jayce sighed again, leaning in even further. “You…feeling alright? Better now?” 

Viktor knew how loaded that question was. He knew there was really no answer, no polite just fine that was expected of him, and he could feel the strain in Jayces voice as he continued to hold back the sweeping river of emotions behind that concrete dam. 

So he replied simply, “Tests came back negative.” and nodded into his unfairly toned chest. He shouldn’t really be thinking things like that, but each time such an observation dawned on him, he was either far too blasted or exhausted to care. This time was no different, and it’s not like Viktor was wrong. Jayce was unfairly toned, from his sloping calves to broad shoulders. Viktor wondered what his mother had fed him when he was younger. Maybe children of Piltover were given supplements, or something. Viktor didn’t really care, it made for pretty great hugs, anyway. 

 Patting his right hand softly against the firm, spanning muscles of Jayce’s back, Viktor breathed out and took a step back, gesturing back in the direction of their suite with his head.

Jayce hummed emphatically in response, but hesitated. He reached into a rather ridiculous looking fanny pack strapped across his waist, one that Viktor hadn’t noticed before but so wished he had, lamenting the missed opportunities of making fun of him for it. Shameless, apparently, about his choice of attire, Jayce pulled out a brand-name protein bar who’s packaging boasted some trendy ingredient of the week in a font much more aggressive than necessary. 

Beginning to walk in slow tandem with Jayce, Viktor quirked his eyebrow and glanced up at him, frowning. Jayce was running one of his thumbs firmly against the skin of his knuckles and he took a small breath before speaking. Viktor’s eyes caught a small glimpse of the slight gap between his front teeth. 

“Wasn’t sure if you ate at the labs. I was about to head to the gym, so I already had it on me. No pressure, obviously, but my mind kinda blanked and I thought you might be hungry, so.”  He stared forward, shifting his gaze uncomfortably around their surroundings instead of locking Viktor into his Piltover-typical eye contact. Something about this Jayce seemed more raw. He was obviously still holding back, of course. Viktor supposed that no dam that had been so strongly fortified year after year, stamped with the Piltover seal of approval, could come undone so easily, anyway. Still, Jayce’s physical demeanor seemed more natural. 

Ironic, as it was the most stressed Viktor had seen him since arriving at the university, but Viktor would take anything genuine over the phony sheen of a plastic smile. 

The corners of Viktor’s own mouth turned up subtly, natural despite the general feeling of absolute exhaustion that was overtaking him more with each passing minute. Jayce’s eyebrows twitched upward slightly, hopeful, and the corner of his own mouth tilted even further upward as Viktor plucked the ghastly gym-snack out of his hands and paused his walking, using both hands to rip it open ravenously.  

After Viktor downed the wretched thing that could have easily passed as an actual brick, the two of them made their way up the few stairs to the entrance of the hall and to the elevator, where they rode in comfortable silence. He was typically hungry after a day spent in the labs, and his appetite only increased with the stress of the evening. How could Jayce have known that?  Unless he had already been on his way to the gym, and Viktor had not only hijacked his evening plans but also eaten his only protein-rich snack. It occurred to Viktor that Jayce probably didn’t care, and he could also just buy more if he wanted them. He rolled his eyes internally, at himself. 

The second the pair stepped into the pleasantly air-conditioned entryway of their seat, Viktor groaned embarrassingly, nearly kicking his shoes off as fast as he could and nearly throwing his cane onto the floor, flopping face-down and heavily on the sofa and groaning again at the softness of the cushions. He pressed his nose lovingly into the soft off-white tweed upholstery. 

Jayce took his shoes off more carefully, placing them neatly into their designated place on his shoe rack. He was clearly trying hard to curb his concern over Viktor but unable to relax the tension in his hands that had his thumb rubbing firmly into the knuckles of his other hand. He moved around the area a little, not letting Viktor escape his line of sight. Viktor could feel Jayce’s returning gaze linger over his back, even with his face pressed down into the cushion. 

Jayce washed a couple of cups from the sink, wiped the kitchen counter a couple of times, and re-straightened the shoe rack before sighing and sitting making his way to the sitting area. 

Viktor felt the cushion dip under Jayce’s weight as he sat at the edge of the couch, perched just next to where Viktor’s head lay. 

An inspiration of breath, then, “Wanna… talk about it?”

Viktor craned his neck up and quirked an eyebrow. “Do you?” 

Jayce huffed. “I mean, it was freaky. Didn’t realise bacteria was so…intense.” He shuddered. Viktor couldn’t tell if he was joking or not.  

Viktor grinned. “What did I tell you, Jayce? Biology can be some real sci-fi shit.” 

Jayce chuckled again, sitting back and letting his head fall back onto the top of the cushions. Viktor allowed his own head to fall back onto the plush couch, breathing out and readjusting to a much more comfortable and practical position.

He considered his day carefully, breathing in gently. “Mishap in the lab, after Caitlyn left, she’s probably told you about her assignment for Heimerdinger’s microbiology class.” 

Jayce nodded, surprise lighting up his features, now soft in the warm lighting of a faraway floor lamp. So Caitlyn hadn’t told him about her day, and probably hadn’t told him about whatever was bothering her. 

“Well, before she came here,” Viktor didn’t notice the way Jayce raised an eyebrow, “She was quite distracted at the lab. Left her petri dish open under a UV lightbox, who knows what could have happened if it had remained on. I didn’t realise she hadn’t put it back, so I was exposed to it for what must have been hours.”

Jayce’s deep brown eyes widened. “What? You didn’t leave? Aren’t you a TA, or like, something else during the day?” 

“Yes, obviously I do,” Viktor’s nostrils flared, “but not today. Plus, I had a new student to tutor, so I decided to wait for her there.” He realised his mistake too late. Jayce, golden boy of PUSA, was one of the most highly commended board-certified tutors for undergrad students. Those that could afford it, of course. 

“I didn’t realise you tutored, I haven’t seen your name on the lists. How have we not met before? You’re board-certified?” 

Viktor pressed his mouth into a thin line. “I, eh, am… not exactly employed officially as a tutor, per se, by the university. I do TA, but my tutoring is more of a last resort sort of teacher for Heimerdinger. I agreed to it once during my first year post-grad, and he gives me new students every year. I was hoping of course to start an additional salary, but I was, for obvious reasons, unable to contact him about it today.” 

Jayce had the gaul to look offended. “Last resort? There are so many talented tutors in our department! Heimerdinger could have asked any of us!” 

“Like you?” 

Jayce opened his mouth, then closed it again. “Well, yeah, and… others. Of course.” 

“...Of course. Well, Heimerdinger approached me quite specifically, so I agreed. The student ended up being the one who broke the plate into two. Caitlyn’s bacteria-” a shiver ran down Viktor’s spine, “just ended up everywhere. I tried to stop her, but I bumped my hip into a table before I could. That, with the amount of stress I’ve been putting my leg through, well, it was, eh, not a match made in heaven.” 

Jayce’s offense dwindled as Viktor finished his story curtly, but his face didn’t crack into a familiar grin. He nodded along, brow furrowing in appropriate amounts of sympathy, even politely chuckling at the colloquialism, but it seemed significantly more… performed. A wall had come up. Viktor wasn’t sure what had prompted it, but it evoked a small feeling of regret in him anyway. 

 Silence settled over them once again, less comfortable than their previous one but not tense. Jayce also had a long day, and probably just wanted to make it to the gym before it closed for the night. 

Viktor shifted further into the sofa, closing his eyes and letting his mind drift lightly before dozing off. His breath came slowly as his imagination wandered to the start of his day. Peering out of the massive windows, looking out and over a golden bath of sunlight washing over yellowing tips of leaves that dotted tall trees, and refracting in the morning dew in a way that bejeweled the vibrant green grass. Sunlight sparkling over the surface of a river, melting remnant ice that lingered from a cooler spring, now long forgotten. Sunlight brightening dark eyes.

 As usual, it didn’t occur to Viktor to question the thoughts that passed through his mind as he drifted to sleep. 

_______________________

The sky outside was still dark when Viktor woke up, dark enough to suggest that he’d slept until the early hours of the morning. He didn’t see any indication of the sunrise, though, so it must have been quite early. 

Jayce was gone. From the apartment or from the couch next to him, Viktor didn’t know. There was an eerie silence that sat in the room with him, laid across the living room and blanketed the air in a paused stillness. It seemed like no one else on earth was awake yet. 

Pushing himself up, Viktor could feel the lean muscles in his back tense uncomfortably. Sleeping on the couch, or anywhere that wasn’t his bed, really, was never good for his spine. The shifting of the cushions filled the empty soundscape next to Viktor’s laboured breathing. Once sitting, he grabbed the cane that leaned against the arm of the couch and stood up. 

He peered down at it curiously, he could've sworn he dropped it on the floor in his hurry to the couch. 

He thought of Jayce again and pulled his phone from his pocket. The time read 00:30, not as late as Viktor had expected it to be. A couple of messages illuminated the blue screen, and he swiped through some of them. One from Jayce, confirming Viktor’s suspicion that he’d slipped off to the gym once Viktor had fallen asleep, and a few university emails. And one from Caitlyn. 

23:48 >> I’m so sorry about today. Tried to come over but couldn’t get myself to leave the dorms. Let me know if I can help fix this somehow. 

He furrowed his brows. Whatever was on her mind must have been really serious. Serious enough to confine her to her dorm all day, instead of meeting with Jayce or Mel or her own girlfriend. He couldn’t stop the unfortunate simmering of anger within his gut at her carelessness but tried to swallow it down, clearly Caitlyn was not in her right mind earlier, and Viktor felt like it would be insensitive to scold her about it at the moment. 

Inhaling deeply and rolling his shoulders back to stretch his upper back and hopefully provide some relief to the stiffness in his ribs, he sent back a message and made his way toward the coat hanger by the door. 

00:38 >> Come to the ramen shop on campus in 15. We can talk about it. 

He didn’t know if she would even respond to the message, angry or hurt or pretending to sleep whilst something sat on her shoulders heavily and pushed her perfect posture until it was cracking and ready to snap. But Viktor wanted to try, anyway. He wanted to be there for her when it did. 

So, swinging a long, dark coat around his shoulders, he made his way over.  

Caitlyn didn’t end up responding. When Viktor pushed open the narrow doors and stepped into the nook-like restaurant, however, he could see that there was no need. 

She sat faced away from the door, shoulders hunched over a small round table and swaddled in a dark red bookshop typical university crewneck. Her long blue hair poured over her shoulders, unbrushed and hanging around her face, shielding her face even further from the public. 

Caitlyn looked up when she heard the small clacking of Viktor’s cane on the tile floors, craning her head around and twisting her thin eyebrows up toward her hairline. She was frowning, and her flushed cheeks were notably red around her sharp eyes, now bloodshot. 

He sat down as quietly as possible when he reached the table, and they both remained silent as he folded his forearms onto the tabletop. Viktor tried to catch her gaze, but she was glaring intensely downward, studying her chapped hands with clenched teeth. 

Viktor wondered if he should say something, break the silence first with a joke or comforting sympathy, but didn’t know where to start. Caitlyn opened her mouth then, blinking hard. 

“It’s- uhm… it’s…” Her voice was painfully pinched, and she tried unsuccessfully to prevent her voice from cracking over her words. Viktor wanted to reach out again, but something held him back. She was holding her shoulders so tightly against her chest, tightening her intertwined hands with so much force, eyes glassy with emotion so dense Viktor thought she might break if he pressed too hard. 

“It’s alright, Caitlyn, take your time.” He provided instead, surprised at the stability of his voice despite his strained vocal chords. 

She sighed heavily and her mouth twisted into a grimace as she forced more words out, “It’s- it’s everything,” and then she was holding back tears as a singular sob choked through her body. She buried her head into her hands and gasped, squeezing her eyes tightly and forcing a stream of tears to come rolling down her reddened cheeks, probably not for the first time that day. Viktor was slightly taken aback at the weight in her words, but allowed her to continue without interruption. 

“I- I don’t know if you knew this- but, last year- my first year here, that’s when I met Vi. It was the end of my first semester, and I was already in the middle of an argument with my parents that spanned across months, about my future and- and their idea of my future, it was just endless criticism and my mom- she-” Caitlyn pressed the heels of her hands firmly into her eyes, trying to stop the gushing of tears but only forcing out more. “She just said- that I thought I knew everything, but that I didn’t know anything, and how she couldn’t wait for the real world to eat me alive.” Viktor tried to conceal the twitching of his eyebrow, shoving his reactions down until Caitlyn could finish her story. 

“It was- it was terrible and- and I just went to the dorm people and asked for a- a spare room. I knew it was a long shot but- but I couldn’t handle living there anymore, after years of control and suppressing myself and bending to their whims, I just wanted to break away. I wasn’t thinking when I did it, I was just so upset, a-and I knew that every year there are some singles that end up not being filled, so I was just betting on a miracle, and-” she was gasping, panting at the length of her words and trying to gather her breath back as fast as she could. 

Viktor looked at her squarely, and slowly inhaled as loudly as he could through his nose. She looked up and he exhaled through his mouth. He repeated it, and Caitlyn’s own breathing began to fall into sync with his. She sniffed and wiped the underside of her chin, dripping with salty tears. 

“They recommended some off-campus living space. I ended up rooming with her. With Vi, I mean. She was so great, just so unapologetic and I’d never seen someone so in tune with their body and emotions and everything. I was just mesmerised. At first I sort of just spoke to her as a way to escape myself. Obviously my parents were upset that I moved out, and neither of us were really trying to fix our relationship anyways, but it seemed like any time I wasn't with them physically, I could hear them in my thoughts. Talking to Violet- just sort of made things quiet. But it got to a point where- where I wasn’t even thinking about them- my parents. And she brought me back to Zaun with her over the winter holidays.” Viktor nodded at the familiar story, they’d told it at the bar.  

“It was, well, you know. But my mother- it was a betrayal, I guess. She just- she just stopped talking to me altogether. I tried to deal with it as much- as much as I could, but it was so hard. I would have preferred to keep fighting with her, honestly. Anything would have been better than the silence. I just- I just tried to keep up with my life, and Vi and I were such a good thing, I couldn’t make her worry. I just…” 

The salty streaks of dried tears on her cheeks were replaced with fresher, glistening rivulets as she began to cry again. 

“I just didn’t- didn’t tell her. I thought we wouldn’t have to talk about stuff- this stuff- if she thought everything was fine between my parents and I. She brought me to meet her father, her siblings, and so many of the people she considers family in Zaun, but I couldn’t even bring her anywhere outside of our apartment.” Her voice was rising and Viktor nearly shrunk back at their impact. “ I avoided it, avoiding talking about it- my family, and she knew something was up, but I avoided it because I thought I could just forget it if I tried hard enough, like- like an idiot. It never- of course it wouldn’t go away- but I just-” Her words were becoming more forced and her breathing picked up again, tumbling through her sentences and cutting her off mid word as her lungs gasped for more air. 

Viktor reached out this time, placing his hand gently on the top of her taught shoulders and shushing her when she shook her head. He repeated the same meaningless phrases he’d grown to hate from his years in Piltover’s hospitals, substanceless it’ll be okays and apathetic it’s alright that he could see through so clearly they may as well have been plastic, just like everything else in the damned city. Plastic like gestures of peace between powerful families, plastic like the thick mask worn by people who felt the most, people like Jayce and Caitlyn who harboured feelings so deep and thunderous that they cracked through the masks, but only sometimes. Plastic like the conditional love parents had for their children, parents of Piltover, Caitlyn’s parents. 

Still, what else could he have said? He didn’t understand, not in the ways that mattered. His mother had loved him from the moment he was born, leg bent and screaming and bloody as she held him tight and promised him love that only a mother could give. The fact that a mother could refuse to give such love, though horrifying, was almost expected in a city like Piltover. What were riches, what was power, when your own flesh and blood was crying, sobbing in a restaurant in the wee hours of the night, alone in every sense of the word except for the thin PhD student sat in front of her, because you were too blind to see that she was the only thing in the universe that should matter to you. 

How could her parents not see the injured child, scared and alone in facing the pain they brought to her? How could they not become sick at the sight of it, at the thought of Caitlyn’s bloodied knees scraped against the concrete confines of a life that they’d themselves created for her? 

It’s okay didn’t come close to it. But Viktor knew that it wasn’t the time for pity or his complaining. Caitlyn needed someone to listen, more than anything else. 

Caitlyn, however, had re-clenched her jaw, squeezing her hands together on her lap and trying to find that same slow, calming breathing pattern from before. At least the tears had stopped. 

Viktor remembered where they were, and squeezed her shoulder again before standing. Her head jerked upward, eyes wide and frown deepening , worried that Viktor might also leave her, once again alone to face a monster so undefeatable as a mother’s love. 

He wasn’t leaving, obviously, and looked at the clearly uncomfortable college student standing behind the counter, faced away from them but really unable to not hear their entire conversation, then back to Caitlyn. 

She pressed her lips together and nodded once, sniffing as she leaned back into her chair. 

When Viktor returned to the table, he was carrying a tray of steaming bowls, made hefty with the thick, chewy noodles and meaty garnishings inside them. A large bottle of water also sat precariously on the metal, and Caitlyn grabbed it as quickly as Viktor sat down, twisting the cap off before gulping it down greedily. 

Viktor smiled sympathetically and they ate silently for a little while, Viktor’s pace picking up when the feeling of the foodless day spent at the lab and a singular brick of protein pressed into his empty stomach. Caitlyn’s sniffing became less sharp and less frequent, and when the two of them pushed their bowls away, they both sighed. 

Caitlyn’s hands were shaking slightly still, and Viktor decided to break the silence this time, comforted by the still steaming bowls that glistened on the edge of the table, now empty. 

“So… Violet, she…?” He left the end of his sentence blank, unsure of any potentially-crossed lines, but Caitlyn was already nodding. 

“She found out, of course. It didn’t take much digging, and I was bottling up so much already, it only took one prodding question to get me spilling everything to her. She wasn’t happy, she didn’t want me to feel like I couldn’t trust her. It was hard for her to understand that it wasn’t personal, or that I’d been keeping it from her for some horrible reason, but she’s always thought I’m stronger than I really am. I was just- I was scared. Things became really hard for a while, over the summer especially, but we sort of just moved on.” 

Caitlyn’s jaw tensed, but Viktor didn’t think she was going to cry again. She looked away and huffed. 

“She tried bringing it up again this morning and I just freaked out. Ran off, literally. She wasn’t even mad, she just wanted to hear me out, but I just- something in me just retreated. I felt that fear again and just ran with it. She was so understanding, didn’t even come into the room, just let me wallow.” 

Viktor nodded slowly. “Have you seen her yet?” 

“No, I left to go take care of your plants-” her eyes were downcast, “but I couldn’t, I couldn’t…” See Jayce like that, Viktor finished for her, remembering the confusion on his face when Viktor had brought up Caitlyn’s visit.  “Just hid in the library. Tried to study, or something, but all I could do was sit there. Haven’t been back since, she’s probably up right now, maybe she’s worried. Too bad she fell in love with the worst girlfriend in the entire world.”  

Viktor raised an eyebrow. Caitlyn was a child, and she held a child within her heart that begged to be loved in a way any child would, but Caitlyn wasn’t childish. She had spent far too much time in her guilt to be speaking with her usual confidence. 

“She didn’t. She fell in love with you. And right now, you are sitting in a ramen shop at two in the morning with your much older biochemistry partner instead of talking things through. But sometimes that’s just how it has to be.” 

“Should I go?”

“You could. Or you can stay as long as you’d like.”

So they stayed. Caitlyn was relieved, mostly because she was definitely not ready to face her girlfriend after crying for approximately eleven hours, and also because it was so nice to finally talk freely about her life to someone who she knew wouldn’t judge her for something like parental issues because he’d either seen much, much worse, or didn’t care about something like having a perfect family. Maybe both. 

Viktor was also relieved. He hated to see people cry - especially his friends, and he was pretty sure that’s what they were, friends. She had been extremely vulnerable with him about a topic that was deeply personal, so Viktor thought it safe to assume. He’d succeeded, in some way, in making Caitlyn feel better, and that fact was almost enough to erase the prior pain of the day. 

They chatted for a while, mostly about things that didn’t matter, as the day behind them had mattered a bit too much and they were growing tired of dealing with things. They talked about their research, about Caitlyn’s electives and her irritation in having to take three years of math as opposed to the normal two because she’d graduated highschool early and didn’t receive enough math credits. She was younger than he thought, only having just turned nineteen, but it gave her youthful brashness a more genuine touch, and Viktor supposed it made sense.   

He learned that Vi didn’t in fact go to their university, supported by the fact that her and Caitlyn shared an apartment that Piltover had designated for students from every university to reside in if on-campus living wasn’t an option. She attended the Public University of Piltover and didn’t take any specialty courses as her only real interest was mixed martial arts, and she only attended university at the grant of one of her boxing sponsors. 

They danced around the topic of Heimerdinger as a whole, daring not to open that can of worms, but laughed about some other anatomy professor that had been teaching — terrorising — the same grade for what could have been decades. 

When the overworked student cashier who was undoubtedly fed up with their presence, and general existence as a whole, it seemed, hung up their apron and began glancing pointedly at a clock on the far wall, Viktor and Caitlyn decided to take the hint and head their separate ways. They stood silently on the sidewalk outside of the small, dimly lit place, enjoying the fresh warmth of the summer night, breathing easily. Caitlyn turned toward Viktor with a sigh and open arms. She was enveloping him into a crushing hug before he could react, bending slightly downward to accommodate for their height difference.

She squeezed his shoulders with her lengthy arms, whispering a small thank you before pulling away sheepishly and waving. She turned and jogged away across the well-lit pathway, toward her girlfriend, he hoped. 

 When Viktor arrived back at his own suite, swinging the door open quietly and padding across the threshold, he noticed Jayce’s shoes placed carefully on the rack. He was definitely home by now, probably sleeping off the stress of the day, so Viktor tried his best not to make too much noise as he removed his own shoes and placed his coat back on its hook.  

He stepped out of the entryway and past the sitting area, beelining for his door, but his ears pricked up sharply at the sound of another one creaking open. 

Viktor turned around, angling his head at the darkness revealed by Jayce’s cracked door, the other man’s large frame filling most of it. Jayce rubbed at his closed eyes tiredly, breathing shallow as if he’d literally just stepped out of a deep sleep. 

“Mmmhey. Welcome back.” Jayce opened the door an inch further, revealing more of his bronzed and very shirtless chest. Viktor couldn’t help the way his gaze swept across the subtle rise and dip of his muscles, soft from sleep and somehow still distinct under the dim lighting of the warm entryway light. His eyes grazed over two jagged scars nestled beneath the man’s pectorals, pinkish but long-faded based on the way one could easily forget they were there. His broad shoulders gave way to an array of well-tended musculature that Viktor was pretty sure couldn’t even be possible for any normal human like himself, but the softness of a wide hand at his side betrayed his burly silhouette. He was standing, leaning, actually, against the door frame with his forearm by his sleep-tousled head and his ankles crossed underneath him. 

 Vikotr must have been more sleep deprived than he previously thought. Viktor tried to pry his gaze away, and avoid looking like a total creep even though he was acting like a total creep but he couldn’t help from wondering if he was this tan during winter, too, or if it was deepened by the shameless summer sun of Piltover, and if he was the type to get freckles after too much time in the sun, or if his skin was a sea of uninterrupted bronze everywhere. Viktor cleared his throat, which had tightened significantly, and made an effort to utter a response, but his voice was cut completely off when his eyes landed on Jayce’s well toned stomach. 

More specifically the tiny, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it glint of a silver bar pierced innocently through his navel. 

Viktor tried as hard as he could to stop his jaw from going slack, but the metal bar had been jostled to the side in Jayce’s sleep and the way it was sitting so uncaring between the deep lines of his abs and the way it marked the beginning of a line of coarse, dark hair that moved down and down to the elastic band of his boxers had heat pooling in a completely unwelcome area in Viktor’s gut, so he was a bit distracted. 

Jayce sniffed again, eyes thankfully still squinting against the light as he probably wondered why Viktor was being so silent, or why Viktor was standing so stupidly in the middle of the hallway, cane posed halfway off the ground in a prelude to a footstep, with his jaw on the floor and hands tugging the hem of his knit sweater down below the waistband of his pants. 

“Yep. Thanks, night.” Viktor didn’t want to think about the way his voice cracked embarrassingly in the middle of his sentence but he didn’t want to think about the emotions coursing low in his stomach more as he turned on his heel and shuffled to his room as quickly as possible. Jayce’s hasty response was cut off by Viktor’s door closing gently shut, but Viktor couldn’t remember to feel bad. 

He screamed silently into an open hand and scrubbed his face with his hands, shaking his head to try and rid the image of indecent Jayce out of his mind’s eye. The damage was done. Though not Viktor’s usual type, being arrogant, highly masked and, more importantly, taken, the events of the day had pushed Viktor’s brain into quite a delirious state. 

His heart pounded, mostly due to embarrassment and a little but due to something that Viktor wasn’t about to name, and he shook his head incredulously at himself. 

Three days into the year, and he’d been inducted against his will into a friend group with a Kiramman and a Medarda, had to have the biohazard unit called on his lab whilst he was in it, and had nearly popped a boner at the sight of his roommate’s pierced belly button. He’d wished he’d received some sort of omen, some sort of unavoidable sign telling him to stay home this year or just drop out of school completely, something that would have prevented him from experiencing levels of shame not yet known to the universe. 

Naturally, Viktor’s tendency to find himself in entirely unfortunate situations had followed him his entire life, this past week being no different. He wondered if he would even survive the rest of the school year as he ripped his brace off, clothes following shortly after.

He set his cane carefully against the wall of the shower as he stepped into the small attached bathroom in his room, and ran the water as hot as it would go. He would have jumped in before it warmed up if his knee hadn’t fallen slightly slack at the removal of the brace, sending a nauseating ache through his knee cap and into his shin. Cold water probably wouldn’t treat his joints well at the moment, though he was deeply considering anything that would rid him of his unfortunate downstairs situation. 

Practically drooling over his shirtless roommate wasn’t exactly the image he wanted Jayce to have of him in his head, but Jayce’s half-asleep half-awakeness allowed Viktor a semblance of relief, promising that the man wasn’t paying too much attention to Viktor’s expression when he emerged from his room. Maybe he hadn’t noticed anything weird at all. He wasn’t convinced. 

After the shower, Viktor made his way under the safety of his thick duvet, closing his eyes and allowing sleep to easily overtake him for the first time in a long time. 

_______________________

It was afternoon by the time Viktor finally woke up, recovering after the eventful day in a deep sleep that only broke to consciousness when Viktor’s door creaked open for the second time in an hour. He hadn’t pegged Jayce as the worrying type, his outward demeanor instead suggesting an unquestionable confidence, but after he’d sat by Viktor on the couch until he fell asleep and woken immediately upon hearing him return to the apartment at three in the morning, there was no question about it. It was a surprise Jayce didn’t have any children of his own, with the way he seemed to dote nervously on the people around him, exemplified by the way he’d been peeking into Viktor’s room to check on him all morning. 

It reminded Viktor of his own mother, on days when Viktor felt too sick or when his leg hurt just bad enough to warrant him staying home from school. That’s when she knew it was really serious - Viktor loved school. So she would linger by his side in the mornings, touching his forehead for heat, only reluctantly heading off to work just to return shortly after holding a bag of steaming food and grinning widely. He missed the taste of the greasy fried dough and the remnants of powdered sugar on his fingers. It was, in his opinion, a delicacy of Zaun that overshadowed the rest of the distinct food scene, and his proclivity for sugary desserts like that one had only heightened when he moved to Piltover, unable to satiate his craving. 

Thankfully, Viktor wasn’t sick, so there was really no reason for Jayce to be so concerned. It was possible that he had been shaken by the events at the lab more than Viktor thought, and a pang of guilt shot through Viktor’s chest. 

He should probably get up. He inhaled deeply and stretched his arms above his head, back tensing at his bettered posture and spine popping in a few places. Once the calm flow of blood in his veins quickened, he sat up slowly and blinked the dust out of his eyes. 

The corner of his mouth curled but his eyes remained closed when the telltale creaking of his door swinging open again sounded.  

Whatever surprise that flickered across Jayce’s face disappeared quickly and he cleared his throat. “You alive? Thought you were gonna sleep the whole day away.” He chuckled smoothly, or what he thought was smoothly, but Viktor could still detect the slight nerve behind his voice. 

“I was. But someone decided to peep on me so I thought I’d better get up. In case I had to defend myself, or something.” He laughed as Jayce scoffed, throwing a hand across his heart in offense. 

“Defend-? I’m not the one waltzing around without pants in the morning! I should be defending myself against you!” 

Viktor worried, for a second, that Jayce was going to bring up his overly-comfortable sizing up of the taller man from last night. As usual, he had been right, and Jayce’s sleep-ridden state had been distracting enough to prevent him from noticing Viktor’s decided creepiness. He didn’t want to stress Jayce out more, and was feeling slightly touched by his concern, but Jayce made it far too easy to avoid. 

“Defending yourself against the scary international student.” Jayce shook his head wildly and glanced around as though worried about a potential audience hearing the accusation. Viktor wanted to laugh, but kept his composure. Barely. “Rather fixated on the pants thing, hm?” 

Jayce just groaned and swept a hand through his hair. “You’re impossible. Leave it to the university to room me with the one person on campus who finds it hilarious to make me tear my hair out.” 

“Lucky, right?” Viktor pushed back as Jayce turned to leave. 

“Of course.” was his response, words bending over the mock-accent, mimicking Viktor quite poorly as he shook his head and padded down the suite to his own room. 

Viktor rolled his eyes but let out a chuckle and began to lift himself out of bed. He paused when Jayce yelled from behind his bedroom door.

“Going out again tonight, different place! Get excited. None of us have anything today, so we can go together.” 

Was this how every college friend group was? Taking every opportunity they could to celebrate or drink or —he shuddered, remembering the bitter burn of the shots from a few nights prior — both? It didn’t seem like Viktor had a say in the matter, so he sighed and made his way out of bed.  

He spent the afternoon tending to his plants, wincing regretfully at the rather crispness of some of the leaves on a few of the more sensitive plants. He understood why Caitlyn didn’t fulfill her task, really, but he didn’t ask her to water his plants just to get her out of the apartment. 

The process was cathartic, and he fell into the familiar comfort of the repetition in filling his small steel watering can at the sink, carrying it gently to a pot, and pouring it over the deep brown soil. A small pair of shears allowed him to prune the more wily of vines and hanging leaves along with the ones that had begun to yellow at the ends. 

Though Viktor would never admit it, he spoke gently to the leafy plants as he went along, encouraging them gently and whispering words infused with positivity and love comparable only to that of a father with his children. It was a little creepy, so what? Not like that ever really stopped Viktor anyway.

The sun was pale and rigid in the sky, shining generously through the large window-wall and providing the plants what was no doubt a feast of warmth and light. Sometimes Viktor wished he could sustain himself purely off of sunlight in the same way, just sit outside in the calm of a summer evening for hours, filling up on the excited electrons and radiation. Even better if it were a sunny autumn afternoon, slight breeze crisping the air and setting the trees on campus ablaze with their changing colours, serving as a fiery reminder of the beauty of change, and Viktor could stand with them as long as he’d wanted, swaddled in a warm coat with nothing but the feeling of the sun on his face, in his skin. 

Unfortunately, his biology was restricting in that way, and he did in fact have to eat something before his stomach decided to start digesting itself. Probably better to eat before going out with the group, anyway, he wasn’t sure he could handle another night like the last one. Plus, his leg had just managed to sink back into its usual levels of grating achiness, accompanied by a slight but expected stiffness in the rest of his joints from the week behind him. He preferred not to test its limits again, and risk another incident. 

So he made his way to the kitchen, popping an unremarkable foil dinner into the industrial microwave and setting up his laptop on the peninsula-style island to try and get some hours of work in before they left. 

Jayce remained in his room for the day, blasting music in a language Viktor was pretty sure was Portuguese,  but couldn’t exactly tell through the muffling walls and boosted bass. He had no idea how Jayce could focus over noise like that, he himself preferred a completely silent environment that allowed him to wrap himself up completely in his thoughts and follow mental rabbit holes as he worked. Still, it must have worked for him, if his work was as well-praised as it was. 

Shoving a pair of old headphones over his ears, carefully avoiding the bar fitted into the cartilage, Viktor resigned himself to finishing a couple of the papers due for his literature course. He ripped open the steaming foil and scarfed a couple bites of the greasy mixture down before pulling a few sheets of paper from his book bag. 

He worked for a while, finding and citing endless references whilst his hand cramped from the amount he’d written, and the sun set slowly behind him. 

Worried as Viktor was when he heard the same song repeat from Jayce’s speaker for the third time in a row, he decided not to interrupt whatever Jayce was doing, plus he was pretty sure he could hear the man humming along to the tune, so maybe the man wasn’t going completely insane. 

By the time he finished, Jayce was already sitting impatiently in the living room, dressed in a simple black button down that made Viktor think his tailor was playing some sort of joke on him, because it was definitely a size or two too small. 

There was a small knock on the door and Jayce leapt up to answer it, swinging it open and grinning widely at the group of women standing in front of him, reaching out past Mel to pull Caitlyn into a tight hug. Viktor raised an eyebrow, making fleeting eye contact with Mel over Jayce’s hunched shoulder, but realised he was perhaps staring a bit too obtrusively, so he twisted his head back around to face his own open computer. 

There wasn’t a single chance that Viktor would be able to get any more work done with Piltover’s brightest standing in his suite, so he shut it and turned on his stool. 

They each took turns in greeting Jayce, leaving Viktor sitting slightly awkwardly to the side waiting for someone to greet him, not wanting to be too intrusive but also feeling very present in the space. Thankfully, Mel broke free from Jacye’s hug hastily and turned toward Viktor, opening the small circle to him and offering a wave and closed-mouth smile. 

“Hello, Mel,” Viktor returned the wave and nodded, shifting his gaze to the couple beside her. Caitlyn was holding Violet’s hand gently, and they both had slight bags underneath their eyes. Viktor could have guessed what they’d stayed up for, but didn’t mention it. “Caitlyn, Violet. Good to see you again.” 

Violet grinned widely and chuckled and Caitlyn darted over, raising her hand in greeting in a way similar to Mel. “ ‘Sup Viktor. Ready to show these goody-two shoes how Zaunites party?”   

He wanted to respond but was crushed by another surprisingly strong hug from Caitlyn, earning a small shift in Jayce’s expression but nothing more. He smiled and patted her on the shoulder. “Not after last time, but, eh, feel free to represent on my behalf.” 

Violet groaned and made a snide comment about letting Piltover win again but Viktor was distracted by the small amount of distance Mel held herself away from Jayce with. One of his arms was around her shoulder, as usual, but they weren’t touching aside from that. He didn’t want to be caught staring, so he stood up and made his way to the front door, creating somewhat of a show as he slipped his leather shoes on that spoke clearly to his desire to not linger too long in his suite. 

The walk to the new place was shorter than the last one, but the location allowed it to be considered technically off-campus. It was similar to the other restaurant, but less neon and much more grungy, and it made Viktor wonder if Violet had been the one to pick it out. It resembled something that he might actually see in Zaun, if the brick facade were real and much more weathered. He could see that the brick extended into the actual restaurant, lining an accent wall that ran beside red-leather booths and faced a lengthy black bar. The speakers were reverberating with some 70s rock ballad, something Viktor was quite partial to, and he had to admit that the place was somewhere he could see himself actually returning to. 

They found a table easily, a small booth toward the back of the bar, though Viktor could see the place growing busier with each passing minute. Violet didn’t even pause to sit before throwing her Caitlyn’s small purse onto the seat and dragging her up to the bar with her. 

Viktor was sitting against the wall, being the first to reach the table, but Violet and Caitlyn had filled the seat in front of him, leaving Mel and Jayce to scoot in tightly to the space next to him. Viktor pressed himself tightly against the rough brick wall, trying to avoid touching Mel as inconspicuously as possible but ultimately failing. 

 If she noticed, which she definitely did, she didn’t say anything. Neither did Jayce, surprisingly, so the table was left in a heavy silence, waiting for the other couple to return. Viktor turned his head in an attempt to try and make conversation, but the slightly timid expression on Mel’s face and Jayce’s clenched jaw stopped him. Something must have been up, and the last thing Viktor wanted to do was make it worse. 

He glanced around, spotting a wide glass pitcher of water at the edge of the table and filling up each empty cup in front of him with polite thank yous from the other two.  He figured he’d be needing a lot of water throughout the night if he wanted to survive the next morning, anyway. 

 They sat silently for what seemed to Viktor like hours after, all breathing a sigh of relief when Violet and Caitlyn returned carrying a few pints of light beer each, grinning and bumping each other's hips as they fell into the booth. 

Each person on Viktor’s side of the booth quickly grasped for the handle of a pint, downing a significant amount of each before placing them — slamming, in Jayce’s case — down on the table. 

 “Damn, y’all all got something to drink about?” Violet sickered as Caitlyn tried to elbow her subtly. Viktor shook his head but jerked his head around when Mel huffed loudly. She was smiling, but it was a sort of mirthless smile that looked more like a snarl, and suddenly Viktor felt a pang of fear for Jayce’s sake. 

The beer worked its magic. After just a few drinks, and an equal amount of water from Viktor’s persistent pouring, the three women found themselves entranced in the middle of a heated argument between him and Jayce.     

“I’m saying it just wouldn’t work, if you’d been up to date on the studies that have come out about it-”

“I am very much up to date, smartass, you just refuse to look at it from a different angle, why do you think-” 

“Because any other angle is incorrect!” Jayce’s hands flew out beside him, exasperated, as he leaned over the table to point at an incomplete graph he’d scribbled onto a cocktail napkin. 

Viktor furrowed his eyebrows and his lips curled around a sneer, shaking his head incredulously at Jayce’s apparent stubbornness. 

“That is just- do you even hear yourself- how can you even call yourself a man of science if you don’t-” 

“There’s no room for creative thinking in mechanical engineering! Unlike biology where everything is, like, butterflies and puppies-!” Viktor’s face dropped, unimpressed at the generalisation. “We can’t just- like debate physical properties! That’s absurd- particle kinematics is an absolute concept, there’s no question over how things move!” 

“No question for you, someone who doesn’t think past what is taught to him by some old professor in a suit! If you’d seen half the things I have, I can assure you that you’d-” 

Jayce was shaking his head now, lifting his hand as if to physically brush off Viktor’s point. “I can assure you that you haven’t seen anything that can’t be explained with the basic laws of movement- and why do you care so much about it anyway? I thought your thing was, like, bacteria or whatever.” He waved his hand in a noncommittal gesture, glancing away as his face burned at the clear lack of experience with Viktor’s field. 

“My thing is the core sciences as a whole, I just prefer spending my time with living things as opposed to,”  Viktor snorted, “-metal hinges and wheels.” 

Jayce balked and turned to Mel for support, which Mel did not provide, hiding her quiet laughter behind her hand as she turned instead to Viktor and muttered, “Oh, he definitely enjoys his time with metal hinges and wheels. Maybe more so than with people.”   

Viktor suppressed the surprise that shot through his ribs at her joke, smirking up at Jayce triumphantly as he furrowed his eyebrows pleadingly and threw his hands up again. He couldn’t ignore the charge behind Mel’s words, however. It was the type of joke that came off initially as completely innocent, lighthearted though badgering, but thinly concealed an air of genuineness that electrified the words and added extra weight to them. Viktor felt like he’d been placed suddenly in the middle of whatever tension existed between them, a means for Mel to express her frustrations to Jayce without actually speaking to him directly. It sent a shiver through Viktor’s spine. 

Violet, ever the saviour whether intentional or not, alleviated the crackling electricity between the three of them with a casual remark about science-types and their fixation with their specialties. She wasn’t exactly wrong. Viktor himself would rather spend his time tending to his plants or exploring a nature reserve than deal with whatever was happening between Mel and Jayce, or with Caitlyn’s parents, or any of the other complexities that came with being in his mid-twenties. 

Jayce sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I don’t need you two teaming up. I might go grey before I turn thirty. The only two people dead-set on humbling me every day of my life.” 

“Well, we wouldn’t want, eh, Piltover’s Sweetheart to ruin that poster-ready face of his would we?” As planned, Violet sucked in a breath of air, nearly choking on an enormous gulp of beer, before letting out a loud, wheezing cackle. She yanked her hand up and pointed obtrusively at Jayce, index finger coming close to the bridge of his nose.  

“Piltover’s what?” She yelled, nearly tipping over her still-full glass of water as she leaned over the table. Clearly she didn’t care about Jayce’s defense to her accusation, as she doubled over immediately after, diving into a now giggling Caitlyn’s lap and laughing rather loudly and clapping her hands together. 

Jayce had turned a bright shade of scarlet. It might have been cute, if Viktor wasn’t riding the superiority high of his embarrassment, skirted by his irritation at the man’s stubbornness. 

Jayce’s mouth worked around an answer, but he just stuttered and slammed his hands against the table, lifting himself up and announcing loudly that he was going to get more beer, you’re welcome, and that they were taking it “out of context”.  

Viktor leaned back and sighed, satisfied with his performance and lightly buzzed from the empty pints in front of him. Testing his luck further, he turned to Mel. 

“How do you deal with that? I think I’d go crazy.” He was grinning, and there was no real weight to the words even though Viktor believed them to be true. 

Mel looked like she was trying hard to smile back, but all she managed was a small quirk of her lips. She pressed her lips together and looked down. Viktor wanted to backtrack, wanted to take back what he said as soon as she reacted, wanted to remove himself from the awkward emotional space between the couple, but it was too late. He didn’t risk a glance back to Caitlyn or Violet, though their jovial chatter had paused also. 

They were all slightly taken aback, if not very. It was rare that Mel allowed people into her emotional bubble, that much was clear just from her demeanor, and it was even rarer that she alluded to potential relationship issues with Jayce. The two had been together for the better part of eight months, boasting an attractive pairing and two highly successful individuals that seemed untouchable to mere mortals like everyone else. If they were having issues, it was unbeknownst to the city around them. 

The implications that came with Mel’s reaction were worrying, at best. If she stopped caring about the reputation of their relationship, then she’d stopped caring about the public perception of them, meaning she’d stopped caring about the importance of their relationship, meaning… were they breaking up? 

It was a leap, Viktor had to admit, from just a small shift in Mel’s expression, but the woman didn’t do anything without the utmost care and thought behind it. Everything she did was intentional, and they all knew it. But it was too late. She’d done it. 

She sighed and bowed her head further away from the group, avoiding eye contact as a dark loc fell from its place upon her head and slightly obstructed her face. “I don’t know. I don’t- I don’t know.” 

Viktor saw Caitlyn and Violet look at each other in his peripherals, but Mel looked up again, tucking her hair back into its place pristinely on her head and smiling in a way that didn’t reach her eyes. 

“He’s so- he’s something else, right?” Mel chuckled breathily and Viktor followed suit, more than eager to move past that strange moment. 

Violet and Caitlyn picked their conversation back up, chatting lightly to each other about their plans for the week, or something. Jayce returned shortly after, carrying more pints as promised.

Mel was quiet for the rest of the night.