Washing Machine Heart
Here’s the thing; Jayce doesn’t really hate anyone.
He doesn’t hate Maddie, even if she’s definitely planning to ruin whatever Cait and Vi have going on.
He doesn’t hate Silco, who just has to talk like a wannabe-poet all the fucking time.
He doesn’t hate Sevika, he actually thinks she’s pretty cool and badass until she opens her mouth and curses at him.
And, if he’s really, really honest with himself.
He doesn’t hate Viktor.
Like, at all.
Quite the opposite, actually.
But since Viktor very clearly hates him, Jayce isn’t going to suck up and hug him like he wants too.
If Viktor thinks he’s an asshole, then what’s a nicer thing to do than to prove he’s right? To be an asshole and confirm whatever version the guy has of Jayce.
But he doesn’t know how much longer he can keep this up, keep pretending
He doesn’t know why, but it feels wrong that Viktor dislikes him so much, he’s not the best guy on the ship, sure, but he isn’t as horrible as Viktor seems to think he is.
The only time Viktor hasn’t scowled at him was when Jayce had stolen his card a few nights ago.
He wasn’t a snorer, he was just…sleeping peacefully, quiet breaths and small huffs from his chest, Jayce hadn’t really planned on sticking around but…
Well, Viktor was really pretty.
Something about his hair that suited him, or his two freckles on his face, or his accent, or his eyes when-
Shut up, Jayce
He shouldn’t be thinking about things like that, he shouldn’t have stared at Viktor while the guy was sleeping, he knew that.
But, there was just something about him that was so…so…
Whatever, none of that mattered anyway because Viktor hated him, so there was no reason to be thinking things like that.
But it’s not like he’s gonna face any consequences for it, not if he keeps it to himself and doesn’t tell anyone.
“Hey, pretty boy, how’s your star-cross love going?”
Shit
It turns out Vi was smarter than he thought.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Vi” Jayce didn’t turn to her, instead he just focused on the washing machine, fixated on it.
He and Vi were responsible for washing up the uniforms from time to time, so now they were only wearing the white tank tops underneath and boxers.
A few months ago Jayce would’ve demanded privacy, but he’s decided that there’s worse circumstances he could be in, so what if somebody else sees him? Vi certainly doesn’t care, she’s also wearing male boxers and isn’t fazed at all.
“Yes you do, you’ve been trying to get in Viktors good books for months , like, ever since you got here”
Jayce grabbed the cleaner out of a compartment and made his way back down towards Vi “I just don’t like it when people don’t like me, it makes me feel weird, like I’m always being watched or something”
“Yeah, I bet that’s how Vik feels as well”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re always staring at him, even if he’s on the other side of the fucking ship”
“No I don’t!”
“Yes you do, I can swear that the next time you see him your eyes are gonna be glued to him” Vi said, sitting on top of the dryer
“Yeah right” Jayce unscrewed the lid and began to pour the liquid into one of the compartments “Like you can’t say the same thing about Cait”
Vi turned a little bit pink “It’s different, Cait doesn’t hate me, quite the opposite I would say”
Quite the opposite
“Yeah, Sprout talks about you and your muscles every chance she gets”
“Sprout?”
“Yeah, It’s a nickname, ever heard of them?”
“Oh shut up” Vi groaned “I knew you and her were close but like, Sprout ? Where did that come from?”
“Are you kidding me? We’ve been friends for years, her parents would fund my science projects before Grace found me”
“Ahh right, the rich giving money to the rich, how funny”
Jayce bit his lip “Yeah it is pretty funny, isn’t it?”
“Oh come on, I’m just kidding- Hey guys!”
Jayce turned around after he turned the machine on.
And of course Viktor was there, holding the hand of the small girl with blue hair, what was her name…Powder?
“Hello, Violet” Viktor spoke
Jayce knew that Vi hated being called Violet, so he didn’t really know why she was so chill with Viktor calling her that.
Maybe Viktor had a charm of his own.
“Powder had gotten lost and then couldn’t find you, I am simply here to reassure her that you’re okay” he said, not even glancing at Jayce.
Fuck.
“Aw, I’m okay, Pow” Vi got down and hugged her sister “Where’s Ekko? Why aren’t you two together?”
As the two sisters started talking, Viktor finally turned towards Jayce, giving him an unimpressed once over.
Suddenly, he was embarrassed to just be wearing a tank top and fucking boxers.
“The washing machine is overflowing, Talis” He said
It took him a few seconds to even register what he said.
“Is it? Oh shit!”
“Jayce, what the fuck did you do?” Vi said angrily
“I put in the amount you told me!” He said as the two quickly moved to shut off the machine
“Oh shit, yeah you did” Vi said hurriedly
“The blind leading the blind” he heard Powder mumble, he didn’t care to respond
After a couple of minutes, the two had fixed the machine, and Viktor and Powder had left the room.
“I was right” Vi said proudly
“What are you talking about?” Jayce wiped his forehead
“You didn’t take your eyes off him for a second “