Chapter 1
“Is everything ready?” Jayce whispered over to Sky, who cast a secretive look over at Viktor.
“It is,” she confirmed, giving Jayce a thumbs up, eyes twinkling with excitement.
“Thank you for everything, Sky,” Jayce said gratefully, his voice pitched low so it wouldn’t carry across the lab to where Viktor sat sketching blueprints for their next project. “I couldn’t have done any of this without you. He would have suspected something.”
“That’s assuming he doesn’t suspect something already,” Sky said, giggling softly. She pressed her index finger against the brim of her glasses, pushing them back onto her nose. “He keeps looking over his shoulder at you when you’re not looking.”
“Does he?” Without lifting his head from where he was pretending to be going over the proposed schematics for the blueprints Viktor was working on, Jayce looked in Viktor’s direction and grinned.
“What are you two whispering about?” Viktor asked without turning around.
“You!” Both Jayce and Sky called out in unison.
“Hmph,” Viktor said, shifting on his stool slightly so his right shoulder faced them rather than his work. Jayce knew Viktor well enough to recognise his body language. This was a sign that as soon as Viktor finished expressing his thoughts on paper, he would turn and give them his attention.
“Go,” Jayce said softly, making urgent shooing motions towards the door. “Enjoy the night off. We’ll see you tomorrow, bright and early.”
“Bright and early, hmm?” Sky arched her brow knowingly as she gathered her notebook and reached for her coat. “If noon is what you call bright and early, then yes, I will.”
Jayce huffed a small, breathy laugh after Sky and had to agree that she was probably right. If the night went anything like he hoped it would, there was a good chance neither of them would be too keen on an early morning start.
When the door shut behind Sky, leaving him alone in the lab with his partner, Jayce sucked in a lungful of air, releasing it in a slow nervous exhale. He was about to get to his feet when Viktor held out his left hand, calling out, “Jayce, hand me the tri-wing screwdriver.”
Not bothering to ask how a screwdriver would help Viktor draw up blueprints, Jayce got up and went to the workbench. He knew better now than to question Viktor’s methods. Like him, Viktor was a visual worker. Chances were he just needed to look at the head of the screwdriver to conform a theory floating around in his mind before he committed them to paper with ink.
“Which size?” Jayce asked, staring down at the selection. Does it matter?”
“No,” came Viktor’s reply, confirming Jayce’s suspicion that Viktor just needed a visual to work with.
He selected the mid-size, hoping it would offer Viktor the best generic visualisation, then moved alongside Viktor, placing it in his open palm. Viktor’s fingers closed around it, his index finger brushing against Jayce’s still outstretched hand, sending a thrill of excitement through Jayce. The moment passed as quickly as it had begun, and for a long while, the lab was silent, save for the occasional hum from Viktor as he inspected the screwdriver, then a euphoric sound as he bent forward and scribbled away on the paper.
Jayce stood and watched, a hand on his pocket, fingering a small object he’d hidden away since he’d arrived that morning, waiting for the perfect moment to give it to Viktor.
While he waited, Jayce didn't just stand there nervously, wondering if it was the right time. He allowed himself to thoroughly enjoy the view in front of him.
Viktor working was easily one of the most gorgeous views Jayce had ever laid eyes on, and it boggled his mind that he got to see it every day. Even hunched over his work as he was, Viktor was a highly animated worker. If he wasn’t pacing or acting out the drawing on the chalk, he was bouncing his leg or rolling a pen across his knuckles or something equally mesmerising. It made Jayce want to kiss each and every freckle on Viktor's body.
Today, Viktor twirled the screwdriver in his fingers instead of the pen while his right hand scribbled furiously, adding the finishing touches to the blueprint.
“I can take that for you, when you’re done with it,” Jayce said, holding a hand out when Viktor had stopped twirling the screwdriver between his fingers.
“Thank you, Jayce,” Viktor said, eyes still on his work though the corner of his mouth facing Jayce twitched up into a smile as he held his hand out, passing over the screwdriver the same way he’d accepted it.
Jayce reached for the screwdriver with one hand while the other dipped into his pocket and retrieved the small object. In one smooth motion, Jayce took the tri-head screwdriver from Viktor’s open palm and gently placed his gift in the centre of Vitkor’s palm.
Wordlessly, Viktor’s hand closed over the object. He used his thumb to push it up his hand far enough that his index finger could grab hold of it. Then, as he looked up for the first time, he held it delicately between his thumb, index and middle fingers. Jayce quickly put the screwdriver down on the nearest surface and chewed his bottom lip as Viktor’s eyes slid from his work to the silver and blue ring perched between his fingers.
“Jayce…” Viktor said, voice slow and soft, wide eyes soaking up the ring.
Jayce took one step to his left, positioning himself as close to Viktor’s left side as the desk would allow, then got down on one knee. He looked up as Viktor put his pen down and swivelled his chair to face him.
“Do you have a speech prepared?” Viktor asked, “Or shall I give you my answer now?”
“I’ve got one prepared,” Jayce admitted, laughing nervously, “if that’s alright.”
“Go on,” Viktor urged playfully, lips twitching as if he was doing his best to hide a smile. “Let me hear it.”
“Viktor,” Jayce began in a shaky voice. Nerves and excitement pooled in his stomach, making each word require more effort. Three years ago to the day, and almost the hour, you saved me from making the biggest mistake of my life.”
“Three years? Already?” Viktor asked when Jayce paused for a breath.
Jayce nodded, then reached up and touched Viktor's thigh.
“You have become an integral part of my life in those three years. You're my work partner, my best friend, the lightning to my thunder, and my life partner for the last two years.”
Viktor rolled his eyes at life partner but didn't interrupt Jayce; he just nodded encouragingly for Jayce to continue. On their first day together, they agreed that the term boyfriend felt wrong. Their partnership was so much more than just a romantic relationship; it was all-encompassing in every aspect of their lives. However, they had never found a term they both agreed on.
“We've shared so much with each other. A bed, a lab, a home, a life’s purpose… Viktor, I was hoping you'd do me the honour of sharing one more thing with me. My last name. Viktor Talis has a nice ring to it if you ask me.”
“Viktor Talis.” Viktor’s tone was light and lofty. His eyes pooled with tears as he slid from the stool to kneel on both knees in front of Jayce. He cupped Jayce’s chin in one hand while he held the ring between them with the other. In a hopeful voice, he said shakily, “You would share your name with me?”
“Of course I would, Viktor.”
Jayce rested some weight on Viktor’s hand, leaning into the caress. His eyes briefly fluttered shut as Viktor’s thumb brushed over his cheekbone. He opened his eyes to see a tear work from the corner of Viktor’s eye down his cheek.
“Hey… this wasn’t supposed to make you cry…” Jayce reached up and brushed the tear away, then placed his hand on Viktor’s shoulder, letting his fingers curl around Viktor’s neck until he could play with the hair at his nape.
“It wasn’t?” Viktor asked, his tone implying he didn’t fully believe Jayce. “You do know what this means to me, don’t you? A name…”
“I do, Vik, I do,” nodding; Jayce rested his forehead on Viktor’s and looked down at the ring in Viktor’s hand while twirling his fingers in Viktor’s hair along the base of his head. “Only if you want it. You know I don’t love you any less because of where you were born, but if it helps…”
Early in their friendship, months before things between them had shifted from platonic to romantic, Jayce and Viktor, attended a party in their honour to show appreciation for their work on the hexgates. The party was a grand success for everyone except Viktor, who, at the best of times, felt like a fish out of water amongst a group of people. All the high houses of Piltover patronised this particular party, people who put more stock in a name than in an idea.
For the first time in years, House Talis had not only been invited to such a party, but had been the main focal point—the reason for the party. Jayce spent the night hearing how great his house was, accepted into the ranks for as long as he continued inventing great things for Piltover.
Meanwhile, Viktor had spent the party alone in a corner, watching as Jayce tried countless times to rescue him from his solitude, only to be pulled away just before he was within arm’s reach of Viktor.
It was a dark reminder that, though he was equally to thank for the recent upgrades to Piltover, he was not of Piltover. To them, he was just a kid from the Fissures, a man without a House name, an outsider without a title since stepping down as Heimerdinger’s assistant. Someone easily overlooked despite his achievements simply because he didn’t belong to a House.
“Jayce…” Viktor’s hand slid back along Jayce’s jaw, his fingers settling in the hair behind Jayce’s ear. Tears ran freely down his face as he looked from Jayce to the ring, truly taking it in for the first time since Jayce had placed it in his hand.
The outer edges and middle were tungsten steel polished to such perfection that Viktor could see his and Jayce’s reflection in the metal. A blue band made of hextech gemstone ran along the middle of the ring. On top of that band were dozens of tiny gears and cogs; between them, half a dozen hextech runes were etched into the gemstone.
“Did you make this, Jayce?” Viktor asked, even though he knew the answer before Jayce nodded.
“Do you like it?” Jayce asked with a nervous laugh.
“Like it?” Viktor exclaimed, a warm smile brightening his face. Jayce, I love it. I love you. My answer is yes, of course,” he added as he slipped the ring onto his right ring finger.
Jayce didn’t question his actions. He knew if someone was lucky enough to have an engagement ring in the Lanes, they wore it on the right hand until vows were exchanged. Honestly, he loved that Viktor kept to the traditions he grew up with.
“Come on, off the floor before your leg cramps up,” Jayce said after Viktor did nothing but stare wide-eyed at the ring on his finger. He got to his feet, pulling Viktor up with him, then pulled his partner into a bear hug, asking in a hopeful tone, “I thought you could design my ring. I’ll make it if you draw it up.”
“I think I have just the idea,” Viktor said, his words coming out muffled as he turned into the hug, burying his face in the crook of Jayce’s neck. “So when you and Sky said you were talking about me…”
“We weren’t lying,” Jayce laughed, pulling out of the hug just far enough to look down at Viktor. He smoothed a lock of hair out, tucking it behind Viktor’s ear, then, with a fond smile, booped the freckle on Viktor’s right cheekbone then added excitedly, “Come on, there’s one more thing I had in mind for tonight.”
In a flurry of motion, Jayce turned away from Viktor, hurrying to a phonograph Sky had hidden behind a stack of rolled-up blueprints earlier that day. He cranked the handle on the side until he felt the gears tighten, then placed the needle on the record he’d pre-selected. Drums fill the room, but a moment later, as he activated a switch hidden next to the phonograph, a loud humming resonated in the room, nearly drowning out the music.
“Dance with me,” Jayce said, turning to face Viktor, his hand outstretched as a blue light from behind him illuminated the room.
“Jayce, I don’t danc-” Viktor said, gesturing over to his crutch with a sort of ’You know why’ look, but a low whoosh cut him off, literally sweeping him off his feet as gravity shifted, and he and Jayce began to float. “How did you do this,” he asked, awestruck as he looked around him at the room, where everything else was still perfectly in it’s place.
“Sky and I made a few adjustments,” explained Jayce as he floated over to Viktor, taking one of Viktor’s hands and placing the other on Viktor’s waist. “It was easy to figure out now that we know more about Hextech. So what do you say, Viktor? Dance with me?”
Viktor responded by giving Jayce a completely open and unguarded smile, looping his arm around Jayce’s, and resting his palm on the back of Jayce’s shoulder.
“This isn’t dancing,” Viktor pointed out, though he was laughing freely as they rolled through the air completely off-beat with the music.
“Sure it is!” Jayce said encouragingly, “It’s just our kind of dancing. More fun this way.”
“I’ll give you that,” Viktor agreed whole-heartedly.
So thank you for taking a chance on me
I know it isn't easy
But I hope to be worth it (oh)
So thank you for taking a chance on me
I know it isn't easy
But I hope to be worth it (oh)
“Is that?” he asked as they floated close enough to the phonograph for him to make out the lyrics.
“Imagine Dragons?” Jayce smiled and winked at Viktor, “Zaun is in the house.”
He often scavenged the Lanes, offering coin for scraps of metal or anything he and Jayce could use in the lab. Whenever Jayce joined him on those trips, he would take him to The Last Drop, where, if they were lucky, Imagine Dragons would be tucked away in the corner, filling the bar with their energetic music.
“You are ridiculous…” Viktor said fondly before closing the gap between them, pressing his chest against Jayce’s and looping both arms around Jayce’s hips. “Can I ask you a question, Jayce?"
"Hmm, yeah, of course," Jayce replied as his fingers danced along the upper edge of Viktor's back brace.
"You said I was the lightning to your thunder. Why am I lightning?"
"Because," Jayce said softly, hands coming to rest on the back of Viktor's shoulder blades, fingers curling around the curve of his body. "You have such quick wit; you're smarter than me and much faster than me at problem-solving. I'm the loud one, the one who gets people to listen to us. Without you, I'm just noise, but together we're a force to be reckoned with."