Oh, Golden Boy

Jayce’s head snapped towards the voice, the familiarity of it causing his heart to jump inside of his chest. He knew that voice. He knew it better than he knew that sound of his own heartbeat. It was the one sound that he had been craving to hear again even since he and his partner split ways.

“Viktor..” Jayce choked, his voice horse and cracked, willing one foot in front of the other so he could take a step forward.

The lab was dark, the only light in the room coming from the pale moon which was covered 3/4s of the way by clouds, Jayce’s eyes adjusting to the darkness, his mind going a thousand miles a second as he took another step forward, letting go of the hammer than had been stabilizing his weight. With the current way the handle was turned on his brace, Jayce knew he shouldn’t be walking normally until he turned it again, but that was the least of his worries at the moment.

“Jayce? Why are you just sitting in the dark?” Viktor's voice came again, and it made Jayce’s heart flutter. He sounded a little different, not like when Viktor woke up after the accident, but like a few years before where he was happier. Healthier. “Though I can’t judge, I suppose, the big light, it is eh- Unpleasant to work with.” The man chuckled, and Jayce thought he was going to cry.

“Viktor..” Jayce spoke, his voice more stable now but there was still an underlying waver, Jayce’s feet taking one step after the other, his eyes used to the dark by now and his eyes landing on Viktor. Jayce couldn’t see the shimmering metal from Viktor’s leg brace, and the man's posture was straighter, a cane being used to support Viktor in the way he needed.

Jayce took a deep breath in as his eyes went to Viktor’s face, widening when he saw just how healthy Viktor looked, his cheeks fuller and eyes not as heavy. Jayce thought he was going to throw up again, his hand reaching out, almost hesitantly as if a simple touch would cause Viktor to shatter.

Viktor, in the meantime, could not believe his eyes. He had just seen Jayce this morning, and he looked nothing like this. Somehow Jayce looked like he had been through hell and back, his hair long and beard unruly. He was filthy, lips chapped and a new scar on them, eyes broken and oh so exhausted looking.

Viktor would have questioned if this was really Jayce at all or if someone had broken in and was trying to take the Golden boy’s place, but Viktor knew those eyes, and he could recognize the way Jayce looked at him. But that didn’t stop the questions that were popping into Viktor’s head, opening his mouth for a moment and snapping it shut again when Jayce’s large hand placed itself on his shoulder, the larger man letting out a little sob.

“You’re real..” He choked out, and Viktor couldn’t help the little scoff that escaped from his lips.

“Of course I am real, did you think I was imaginary?” Viktor meant for it to come out snarkier than it did, but it came out softer, his voice betraying him and revealing his concern.

His concern wasn’t helped when Jayce slumped into him, wet tears falling down the man's face, his body shaking with broken sobs and his arms wrapping around Viktor in a tight hold. Viktor wasn’t the best when it came to giving comfort to others, and he was never good with tears either, but his arms wrapped around Jayce regardless, hand rubbing his back.

Jayce’s legs couldn’t support him anymore, Viktor’s eyes widening as he was brought down with Jayce and the man's arms tightened around him. “Jayce-” he started, though he didn’t respond. His tears were too loud and his mind and body were exhausted. All Jayce wanted to do was to hold and feel Viktor, to be assured he was okay and alive in his own arms.

“I thought I would never see you again..” Jayce croaked, choking on his own tears and hyperventilating. He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think without his head throbbing in pain and his stomach doing backflips. Jayce didn’t fully understand how he was here, or if he was supposed to be here, he didn’t care. He didn’t think it mattered because all that mattered in his head was Viktor and saving Viktor from his fate in whatever way he could.

“I just saw you this morning. Jayce how- What on earth happened that caused such a change?” Viktor questioned, his brows pinched together and his nose scrunched, mouth quirked to the side in an expression Jayce had forgotten Viktor could even make.

Jayce tried to speak but word vomit and actual vomit threatened to come up, so instead he held the back of Viktor’s neck, pressing their foreheads together and keeping them there as his tears fell onto Viktor’s face.

Viktor felt his cheeks warm and his heart pick up in his chest. While pressing foreheads together wasn’t exactly common in Piltover, nor did it have much of a meaning, in Zaun it meant something more. It was a display of love, whether that be platonic or romantic or even familial. It was a deeper show of affection, and Viktor couldn’t for the life of him recall ever telling Jayce about it in their year of knowing each other.

The pair of scientists had deep, more personal conversations of course. They were with each other 24/7, you’re bound to learn things about someone like that. Viktor had shared things about Zaun, and what his life was like there occasionally, but he had yet to get to anything like this. Did Jayce somehow learn it by himself? Or was it one of those rare times where someone from Piltover was using a forehead touch as a display of affection?

Viktor didn’t want to overthink it, instead he took a deep breath and closed his eyes, allowing Jayce to keep him like this for however long he needed. Viktor could be sarcastic and teasing later, and interrogation could wait. At the current moment, Jayce needed him. Or well, needed some form of support.

“Jayce.. Do you.. Do you wish for me to get Councilor Medarda?” Viktor spoke slowly, keeping his voice quiet and gentle. At the mention of Mel Jayce seemed to tense, shaking his head and holding onto Viktor tighter, pulling him closer, and breathing in deeper so that he could memorize the way Viktor smells.

Leather and something smokey, but there was an underlying sweetness there too. Jayce thought maybe it was brown sugar or maple, but whatever it was he liked it. He was there for an hour until he finally felt ready to let Viktor go, slowly standing up and helping the other man off the ground with him. Jayce was hit with guilt when Viktor seemed to wince, his eyes darting down to the man's legs and realizing it was likely his knee.

“I’m sorry..” Jayce spoke, sniffling and wiping his face. “You’re leg- Is it okay-?” He asked, his words quickly being brushed off by Viktor who shook his head.

“I’m fine Jayce, but you are not.” Viktor took a small step back, looking Jayce up and down. “You need a bath.. Come, my room is not too far.”

Jayce didn’t have time to argue before Viktor was holding his arm and dragging him down the hallway, his amber eyes shifting to take small glances at Jayce. The leg brace was new, and so was the limp, and the way Jayce’s back wasn’t completely straight. The wrinkles on his face were odd compared to just how baby-faced and smooth he had been earlier that morning, and it wasn’t possible for that much hair to grow that quickly in the span of a few short hours.

And Viktor was not stupid. He was a skeptic maybe, but he thought anything was possible even since he met Jayce and they started progressing Hextech together. So logically, the man deduced that this was not his Jayce. And if it was, then this was a Jayce from so far in the future that would be long dead before he could see what events caused this.

“Jayce, how old are you?”

“Thirty-two..”

Ah, so maybe not as far as Viktor thought. It made him feel more anxious than he expected, nodding curtly and making it to his bedroom, pulling out his keys and finding the right one on the ring. This meant that Jayce was older than him now, which was a funny feeling. Their age gap had never been that large to begin with, though With Viktor only being twenty-six, the age gap was larger now.

Oh well, Viktor never really minded older men. Found something rather attractive in them, and as horrible as Jayce looked in the moment he would be lying if this didn’t do a little bit for him.

But that wasn't what Viktor should be thinking about and he knew it. But who could blame him? He was just a man, and Jayce looked the way he did.

Once the pair made it inside the room, Viktor flicked the lights on and Jayce realized that he was never in Viktor’s room in their early days. It looked cleaner and more organized than the messy, hard to navigate apartment Jayce saw when he came to visit after the accident. This felt more like Viktor.

“The bathroom is to the left, you can use what soaps I have in there and uh.. Ch-ch-ch..” Viktor made the motion of rubbing his skin, eyes narrowing before they lit up. “A washcloth.” Viktor spoke, setting his cane to the side and navigating through his apartment. It was almost strange for Jayce to see Viktor walking without any form of support, and while Viktor had a limp, he could walk.

Jayce looked around, slowly walking towards the bathroom Viktor directed him to and opened the door, flicking the light on and being met with his own reflection in the mirror. Jayce felt sick again, not recognizing himself and knowing he was no longer the person that Viktor or everyone else here knew. He was a man with regrets and blood on his hands that he could never seem to wash off. He wasn’t Piltover’s Golden boy anymore, or The Man of Progress, or even the ‘Founding Father of Hextech’ as Viktor used to teasingly call him.

He was just tired now, stripping himself of his clothes and dropping them to the floor, whatever wounds he had on his body were covered with the same thing that was on the lizards he would eat. In the mirror Jayce could see that half of his face was hexcorsized, one eye paler than the other and heavy bags under his eyes.

Jayce was about to remove his pants when Viktor knocked and walked into the small bathroom, washcloth in hand and nearly running into Jayce’s back.

“Here you are Jay- Oh dear..” The man whispered, his brow pinching together as he stared at the large, jagged looking scar that ran along Jayce’s back. Well, Viktor thought it was scarred at first, but scars aren’t yellow and green and pink, are they? Viktor took a deep breath in and sighed, clearing his throat and resisting the urge to reach out and touch the other man's back. “Here.. Enjoy your shower, I’ll have clothes for you when you’re finished.”

Jayce nodded, watching Viktor leave and close the door through the reflection in the mirror and letting his pants drop as far as they could go, sitting on the side of the tub and working carefully to remove his leg brace. Being back in Piltover he’ll be able to improve it now, leaning it against the sink cabinet and stepping into the tub.

Jayce never thought much about how accessible things were in day to day life, and how it was likely difficult for Viktor or people like him to go through the city when it wasn’t disability friendly.

City of progress my ass, Jayce thought to himself, holding onto the bar on the wall in the tub and turning on the shower, his body tingling at the warm water before his leg and other wounds began to burn. But it burned in a way Jayce found himself enjoying, because the burn meant that he was finally going to be able to get them clean. The burn meant that he was safe.

Jayce enjoyed his shower until the water ran cold, feeling clean for the first time in ages and stepping out of the shower, wrapping a towel around his waist and limping into the other room. There wasn’t a proper bedroom, it reminded Jayce of a dorm setup. There was a kitchenette, a bathroom, and the rest of the room was the bedroom and whatever else Viktor needed it to be, the bed next to a large circular window where Viktor was sitting, flipping through a book.

“I’m done..” Jayce muttered, Viktor’s eyes flicking up from his book and looking at the nude man in front of him, letting out a little hum and gesturing to the pajama pants beside him.

“I apologize but I did not have any undergarments that would fit someone of your… Size.”

“It’s alright.. I can get clothes in the morning..” Jayce sighed, stepping forward and picking up the pants, the pattern on them looking familiar. “Viktor..”

“Hm?”

“Are these.. Are these mine from the inventors competition?”