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Jayce’s hand on the back of Viktor’s neck. Viktor’s hand on Jayce’s forearm. He wants them to stay frozen like that. It would be the perfect way to go. Jayce feels the atoms in his body splitting apart in real time and stares into Viktor’s eyes as long as he can, hoping it might feel like forever. Before the inevitable end. Viktor doesn’t let go of his gaze.
They did it. They saved everyone.
They can rest, now. Together. Death won’t feel so lonely with his person at his side.
Jayce wakes up.
His head is spinning. He rolls to his side and coughs, his insides contorting up into his throat. He coughs once, twice, over the side of whatever it is he’s lying on but nothing comes up. It takes him a moment to gather his bearings.
When he does, he recognizes the fabric under his fingers. He hasn’t felt it since… since that day that changed his life. A cotton and linen blend, 200 thread count. Even though the light in the room is dim, he recognizes the almost white blue of his old bedsheets.
The sun isn’t up yet. It probably will be soon, though. The sky is emitting that telltale glow of near dawn, almost drowning out the artificial lights of the city. When he sits up, his vertigo kicks in again and he lurches forward, head between his knees, until the spinning stops.
When he’s finally able to open his eyes without feeling sick, his heart sinks. Surrounding him are the knick knacks, the lute, the workbench, the scraps and plans he’d lost the day his entire life went up in smoke. He’s wearing the same grey shirt and blue boxers, too.
That’s probably just a coincidence, though.
His heart pounds in his ears as he gets up and steadies himself. His head throbs as he adjusts to being upright. Somehow, he makes it to the bathroom, stumbling a couple times on his way. When he looks into the mirror, he’s met with a younger, shaven, eerie version of himself he thought had been lost to time. He can feel the difference in his body, too. It’s less weighty, less wide. His arms are less hairy, too. As if he’s aged backwards.
Oh god, he aged backwards.
He doesn’t really know what to feel, aside from nauseous. Not when he’d been so ready, so accepting of his fate. Not when he’d literally died moments before.
Instead of dwelling on the mounting list of things he can’t wrap his head around, he settles on trying to find the date. His body seems to remember where his little mechanical clock is set, just by his tiny kitchen, filled with unclean dishes. He has to move a few of them aside - how did he live like this - before getting to it, but it’s there, ticking like always. And the date is…
Well. It’s that day. The day he mulled over his notes and ate a sandwich with his coffee. The day he had plans to go to the undercity to shop for a few materials from Benzo’s shop. The day he would stop by the Kiramman’s to say hi to Caitlyn on his way home.
The day he was robbed and his apartment blew up.
The day he met Viktor.
This could be a second chance at something. He’s not sure what. But he knows he needs to find Viktor. And he can’t let the crystals leave his sight.
He gets dressed in his academy uniform, for old times’ sake. He lugs the case with the crystals with him on his way out. He’ll probably still get robbed today. But who knows about everything else.
The sun is rising when he steps out onto the street. Enforcers are doing their rounds, shopkeepers are opening up, bakeries are smelling like fresh bread. After the months he spent in the barren ruins of Piltover, and the constant conflict that came after, it feels strange and uncanny. It’s dawning on him that he’s the only person alive in this reality with any knowledge of the horrors he’d personally witnessed mere moments before.
Maybe not the only person, actually.
Jayce realizes he doesn’t know where Viktor lives. His partner had moved apartments a month or two after they had started working together, and Jayce had never been to his old place. He moves toward the academy, then.
He doesn’t have his hammer. His hammer doesn’t exist here. It’s a vulnerable feeling. Only mere moments before he was fighting for his life and the lives of everyone he’s ever known, and now he’s walking the streets of his hometown on his way to fucking school. The occasional metallic rattling in his case makes him flinch, images of lifeless, metal corpses and Viktor’s looming, unsightly, stretched limbs flashing through his mind.
. . .
He can’t find Viktor anywhere.
He tries to find his office, to no avail. He’s not in Heimedinger’s either. Jayce feels like a husk, aimlessly trudging around the familiar halls of the academy, growing more and more distraught with every step. He tries waiting in the quad, for minutes, then hours, with no luck. It’s late afternoon by the time he gives up and decides to head back to his apartment and wallow in self pity.
Luckily, someone else had the same idea. Viktor is sitting slumped next to his front door, knees up and arms wrapped around himself with his cane leaning haphazardly at his side.
He turns and looks at Jayce, wide-eyed. Jayce is on him in a flash.
He lifts Viktor onto his feet and wraps him in a tight hug. For the first time, Viktor actually squeezes when he hugs him back.
“Is this real?” Viktor mumbles into his shoulder. He feels so solid, warm and human in Jayce’s arms. It makes the past months, years feel like some kind of fever dream.
“I think so,” Jayce replies, soft. He’s suddenly very aware that they’re hugging in the hallway of his fucking apartment building. The last time was on some kind of alternate plane of existence, and the time before that was in his lab, Viktor’s body completely transmuted to metal.
Somehow, this feels more alien.
He pulls away, reluctantly, and holds Viktor’s shoulders, taking him in. His wide, hazel eyes are darting all over Jayce’s face. His shirt is half tucked in, pants rumpled, and hair looking like he just rolled out of bed. His body looks heavy with exhaustion. But he still looks just like he did when they met the first time.
It feels like a dream.
“You should… You should come in. For coffee.”
Jayce twitches when he says it. It sounds so anticlimactic after everything. He keeps a hand on Viktor’s shoulder as he ruffles with his keys and shakes as he unlocks the door, before reluctantly letting go of Viktor to finish the job. Viktor picks up his cane and Jayce picks up his case as they head inside.
Everything is just as he left it. No trifling, no robberies and no explosions. It’s still a mess and his dishes still fill the sink. He panics, slightly, and starts rifling through everything on the counter to find his coffee pot.
“I uh.. I’m sorry it’s such a mess,” he says, for some reason. When Viktor doesn’t say anything, his heartbeat quickens. “I’m not sure how I… used to live like this. I got better at cleaning up, hah. You helped with that.”
Viktor seems a tad relieved when Jayce glances at him. “I haven’t gone completely insane, then,” he replies, carefully. Jayce isn’t sure whether he’s talking to himself or not.
“No. Maybe.” Jayce blinks. “If you’re insane then so am I.”
He turns around abruptly, still kind of fixated on the coffee thing. It’s giving him something to do, and stopping him from completely freaking out.
The coffee pot is clean, thank god. He has enough coffee left, too. He prepares it all in silence, resisting the urge to just start maniacally cleaning everything.
Viktor is settled on the sofa when Jayce turns around again, two mugs and a fresh pot of coffee in hand. He sets them down and sits as close to Viktor as he can without completely invading his personal space. The chalkboard wall faces them, covered in equations and diagrams that Jayce has memorized time and time again, and the sight of it makes him feel ill. He shakes his head, and chooses to focus on Viktor instead.
His partner’s eyes are still fixed on the board. His eyes are wet, face sallow with disappointment. “I destroyed the city. My city—”
“You also saved it,” Jayce interrupts, without hesitation. “You… you didn’t know. We didn’t know.”
“Heimedinger warned us—”
“And we didn’t listen.” Jayce chuckles, a tight ball forming in his throat. He grabs Viktor’s hands in his own. Viktor flinches, but yields to it. He looks at Jayce.
“Why would we listen?” Jayce continues. “It’s not like us. We didn’t like being told what to do.”
Viktor huffs out a hollow laugh. They sit in silence for a moment, and Jayce pours their coffees and takes a sip. He figures they have all the time in the world, now. There’s no rush.
“How did we end up back here?” Viktor asks, following Jayce’s lead and taking a drink. He inhales sharply, his eyes widening. “ Oh… I missed coffee.”
Jayce laughs. “I’m sure you did. And uh.. I don’t know. But I also really, genuinely don’t care. I quit.”
Viktor raises an eyebrow. “You quit?”
“I quit science.”
“Okay. I quit too.”
They stare at each other for what feels like an eternity, before Jayce feels a wide, almost manic smile growing on his face. Viktor looks like he’s trying to stay serious, but it’s futile.
Jayce gets up, driven by a force outside of his body and grabs a rag from his counter. He throws another at Viktor before getting to work wiping off the entire contents of his chalkboard wall. It takes a minute before Viktor joins in, but he still does.
“You know, I have all of this memorized,” Viktor points out.
“It’s a symbolic gesture,” Jayce replies. “I also just don't want to look at it anymore.”
They keep at it in silence, until the entire wall is a blank slate and the ground is dusted with chalk. Something about it sets Jayce's skin on fire, just a little.
“What now?”
Viktor sits back down on the sofa and places his cane on the ground. He doesn't say anything, and instead stares into his half-drunk coffee mug.
Jayce, suddenly, feels like a complete idiot.
“God, Viktor… I'm sorry.” He rushed back to the sofa, to his side. “Are you… how are you feeling?”
Viktor blinks at him. “... What?”
“I… this is all so weird, I'm sorry I just don't know what to say. But we can… talk it out? If you want. It might help.”
There was a time when Jayce felt like he understood Viktor, and that Viktor understood him, better than anyone in the world. It felt like they were on the exact same wavelength. Despite their differences, Viktor always knew what to say when Jayce felt down, and he liked to think he was good at returning the favour.
Something changed after the attack on the council. Jayce was so afraid of losing Viktor, he had forgotten the promise he had made to him.
And then Viktor turned into something incomprehensible.
Jayce doesn't say anything else. Maybe they can try again. Maybe they can be that listening ear to one another once more.
“I miss it.”
Viktor takes a breath, staring into his coffee again.
“There is a part of me that misses it. I felt… invincible. Powerful. For the first time. And I felt like I had every answer, too. No doubts, just utter conviction.”
Jayce nods, processing his words. He puts a gentle hand on his shoulder, and Viktor leans into it.
“I can't describe how it felt to have such a… command over so many bodies, so many souls. Or even, such a command over my own body. It was beyond anything I had ever imagined. And I enjoyed it. I felt addicted to it.”
“To what?” Jayce asks, before he can help himself.
“To pushing the limits of what is possible.”
To a degree, Jayce can relate to that.
“I didn't see the destruction it would cause. The destruction it had already caused.” He looks at Jayce, meeting his gaze. “Those people were no longer people. I thought I had helped them, at first. But they were empty shells. Vessels. Extensions of myself.”
Jayce sees images of them in his mind. The lifelessness, the mechanical, jerky movements. For a long time, they were the only things in his company.
“Were you afraid?” Viktor asks him. “When I used them against you? Or when I… confronted you, myself?”
Jayce nods.
“I was scared shitless. You're… such a force.” He shakes his head and knits his brow. “There were moments I thought you were gone, and that something else had taken your place. But there was something… I can’t describe, that made me feel like you were somewhere in there.” He smiles, shaking his head at his knees. “You could have killed me outright. Quickly. We both know you could have. But you danced around it instead, like you didn’t really want to. That’s how I knew.”
Viktor’s eyes are wet when he looks at him again, his mouth twisted slightly. The corner of his lip twitches.
“Am I that transparent?”
Jayce sighs. “You’re not transparent at all, honestly. You were good at hiding how you felt. It took… some other version of you telling me what you never did for me to see it.”
He slides his hand over Viktor’s again. Viktor hesitates, and then takes it, letting their fingers entwine together. It’s a small gesture, but it makes Jayce’s hair stand on end. They’re making progress.
“I used to think I could just… barrel my way through any problem, any fight. But that didn’t work with you. You’re just as fucking relentless and stubborn as I am.” Jayce laughs, moving a little bit closer until their knees touch. “I can’t imagine what drove you to where you ended up. But I do know what it’s like to lose yourself a little. I’m sorry I spent so long chasing power and notoriety over working with you on our dream. And I’m sorry I didn’t honour your wishes when you were dying. The second I realized I was losing you—” Jayce grimaces, feeling his eyes sting. He can’t stop now, though.
“That was the scariest part of it all. I know it was a mistake, and I know it unleashed some horrors that we can’t begin to understand, but I had to bring you back. You know you would have done the same for me.”
Viktor looks just about on the verge of breaking. It’s an unfamiliar sight — he was always so collected and calm. He’s holding on to Jayce’s hand like someone’s about to take him away.
Jayce sniffs and steels himself. “I’ll never fault you for anything you’ve done, or what you became. I love everything about you. And I’m so beyond glad that after everything, we somehow ended up on my old couch. I think we’ve been given a second chance, Viktor. And I just want to live a normal, boring life with you.”
Viktor sobs and moves to cover his face, but Jayce won’t let him. Instead, he pulls him in and lets him cry into the crook of his neck. Jayce can’t help but cry too. They’ve never done anything like this before, but it feels so insanely natural. Their bodies fit together perfectly.
He squeezes Viktor and rubs his hands firmly along his back as he feels Viktor’s arms snake their way around his torso. They stay like that for a long time as the crying calms down and is replaced with the smooth rhythm of their breaths, occasionally in and out of sync. Jayce is suddenly a little afraid of letting go and learning what comes next.
Viktor pulls away first. He wipes his eyes a bit and takes a deep breath before sitting up a little straighter than before. Jayce can’t bring himself to pull his hand away from Viktor’s back.
When he looks at Jayce, his eyes glint in the sunlight. He looks just like the moment they stood face to face for the first time in Jayce’s ruined apartment.
“I’m sorry for leaving you, and attacking you. I was… blinded and lost. I wanted you to see the light and join me, and I was so angry at you for resisting. I couldn’t make sense of it. No one else had even tried to stop me. Only you could.” He smiles. “I don’t blame you for trying to kill me. I was a danger to everything. You’re right. I am a fucking stubborn person. Too stubborn to ever accept how I felt about you, let alone tell you.”
Oh. Holy shit.
“I love you too, Jayce,” Viktor sighs, before leaning in and bringing their lips together.
Jayce hadn’t thought this far ahead. He closes his eyes and brings a hand up to Viktor’s jaw. He kisses with slow precision, as if testing the waters. Jayce tries not to jump out of his own skin and opens his mouth to it, thumbing Viktor’s cheek and sighing.
They don’t stop. There doesn’t seem to be any reason for it. It’s not like they have anywhere to be. They make out gently, but Jayce can tell Viktor is getting antsy. He places a hand on Jayce’s chest and pushes him down onto his back, leaning against the cushion and armrest.
Less than a day ago, he was fighting for his life with the eldritch being Viktor had become, and now they’re making out on the couch he lost when his apartment exploded. Jayce’s mind is swimming, incapable of making any sense of anything, but the second Viktor spreads his legs apart and leans between them, he’s grounded again.
He’s hard, too. Viktor seems to realize it at the same time, and grazes a hand over him almost hesitantly. When a moan escapes Jayce’s throat, he takes it as a sign to go harder. Jayce moves his hands down Viktor’s back, feeling the divots under his skin and the brace around his midsection. He goes lower, down to the bend of his lower back and his ass under his trousers, round and soft and somehow fitting perfectly in Jayce’s hand.
Viktor pulls away and sits up, his lips looking kiss-bitten and slick, his hair a little shoved to one side. He slides his palm up and down Jayce’s shaft in his pants, and his other untucks the front of his shirt.
“I can’t believe you put on your uniform,” Viktor tugs at Jayce’s tie and unbuttons his vest with long, dextrous fingers. “It’s awfully inconvenient.”
“I didn’t think this far ahead,” Jayce replies, breathless. He squeezes Viktor’s ass cheeks and bucks into his hand.
“ Mmh. You’ve thought about doing this, no?” Viktor straddles him, and Jayce can feel how wet he is through their pants. Fuck-
“I thought about it a lot. Didn’t think you were interested.”
“I was trying not to be.”
Jayce brings a hand to his jaw, thumbs his cheek. He drinks him in, incapable of suppressing a smile.
“Don’t ever try that again.”
They’re kissing again, harder this time. Viktor sucks onto his neck, his collarbone, and back up to his ear. He licks behind it, inside it, and bites its lobe gently, then a little harder. Jayce groans and bucks into him against the soaked fabric between them. Viktor gasps into his ear, only egging Jayce on further.
Viktor pulls back and keeps fiddling with Jayce’s buttons until he’s bare-chested. He kisses down his sternum, down to his abdomen, and Jayce tries not to think about how different his own body looks compared to the last time he saw it.
He feels a little silly for thinking about it, given Viktor’s… given what happened.
Viktor’s nosing at his lower abdomen and looks up. It’s a silent question. Jayce nods, and his pants are unbuttoned in an instant. He sits up and gets Viktor out of his shirt as quick as he can, tossing it somewhere across the room. He runs his hands along the brace.
“On or off?”
“Off. Everything off.”
He doesn’t need to say it twice. They fight themselves out of their clothes, and before Jayce can wrap his head around it, Viktor’s sitting in his lap in only his soaked grey underwear. His chest is speckled with dark moles, dashed with two very faint scars, and expanding and contracting with every breath. Jayce runs a finger down Viktor’s chest, feeling the warmth under his skin. He’d never thought he’d get to feel it again, let alone like this.
Viktor pushes him back and slides down the couch, pulling Jayce’s underwear off and onto the ground. His cock hits his abdomen, but Viktor wraps his fingers around it and swallows it before Jayce can think.
He’s good. Amazing, honestly. He’s taking his time, licking the underside of Jayce’s shaft as he bobs his head up and down, slowly. He spends time on the base, in the middle, and on his frenulum. When he sucks the tip into his mouth and flicks his tongue, Jayce gasps and throws his head back, his hips bucking erratically.
“Fuck yes—”
Viktor looks up at him with those eyes. He reaches for Jayce’s hand and places it on the back of his head. Jayce fucks into his mouth in earnest, incapable of looking away.
He doesn’t mean to finish so quick, but he can’t help it. Viktor takes it down his throat as he comes throwing his head back and seeing stars.
“Holy shit,” Jayce pants, finally closing his eyes.
“... Take me to bed.”
It’s like Viktor’s voice has some kind of command over him. He picks him up and carries him, legs wrapped around his waist, into his crowded, messy bedroom. His bed is small — not much of an improvement — but an improvement all the same. Viktor looks so beautiful sprawled on his sheets, eyes heavily lidded and mouth slightly agape. Jayce thumbs his lip, and Viktor opens for him, sucking on it and licking it.
It drives Jayce insane.
“Need to taste you,” he groans, taking his thumb out of Viktor’s mouth and pressing it against his cock, through his underwear. Viktor makes some kind of ungodly sound as he circles it, feeling how absolutely drenched his hole is. Jayce rips his underwear off and sucks Viktor’s cock into his mouth, his fingers making their way inside him.
He smells incredible. Feels incredible. It’s barely been long at all, but Jayce is hard all over again.
Viktor’s loud. He’s gasping and moaning and keening, occasional sobs escaping from his mouth. Jayce uses another finger, then another, fucking into him at a breakneck pace.
“Jayce — fuck I’m going to—”
He comes, loud and hard as Jayce slows down and savours him, his fingers rubbing circles on his g-spot. He could stay like this forever.
Jayce realizes that he kind of literally could. Not forever — but as long as they both want to. He looks up at Viktor and licks him again, and Viktor groans and nods at him before biting his lip.
He keeps going, a little slower and gentler to ease back into it again, but before long he’s got one hand pressing down on Viktor’s lower abdomen and the other four fingers deep. He’s sucking, and licking, and making out with Viktor’s cock until he’s met with more erratic, uncontrolled bucking and another loud scream.
This time, he lets Viktor breathe a bit. When Jayce looks up at him, he’s breathing heavy, eyes closed, those adorable crooked teeth peeking through parted lips. His chest is flush with a pinkish tint, an almost imperceptible layer of sweat covering it.
Jayce wants nothing more than to feel all of him, everywhere. He makes his way up until he’s face to face with Viktor and slowly falls on him, bringing their chests and abdomens together. Viktor blinks a couple times and looks at him as he puts one leg between Viktors’ and takes his head in his hands, fingers kneading on his scalp a little.
There’s something so simple, so human about all of it. So much of what they’ve both experienced the past while has been anything but. They spent so much time chasing power, advancement, pride and evolution, and missed out on this — connection at its most base, most raw.
“You’re so beautiful,” Jayce says, because he can’t help himself. “I’ve always found you so beautiful.”
Viktor blushes, like he’s not used to hearing it yet.
“Even when…?”
Jayce doesn’t fully understand at first, but he gets it after a moment.
“Even then. I was scared of you, sure,” he laughs. “But you were still absolutely stunning.”
Viktor nods. He looks really nervous, all of a sudden. Jayce leans in to kiss him and he turns away slightly, pushing Jayce up by the chest.
Jayce furrows his brow, sitting up. “Something wrong? We don’t have to go all the —”
“I need to show you something,” Viktor interrupts. He gets up off the bed, stands and walks haltingly into the middle of the room.
“Do you need something?”
Viktor shakes his head. “How tall are your ceilings?”
“What?” Jayce cocks his head. “Uh, standard size, I guess? Whatever that is?”
Viktor huffs out a laugh, before going back to acting all serious. It’s all kind of strange, given they were literally just having sex. It’s a little nerve wracking.
“We don’t need to go so fast, V. If you’d rather take it slow I totally get it —”
Viktor shushes him. He looks him in the eye. “Please, please don’t freak out.”
“Wha—”
There’s some kind of flash of light, and suddenly Viktor’s growing taller. The light is coming from inside him, skin and flesh turning into sinews of metal with a glow peeking through. So many things happen so quickly that Jayce has trouble keeping track, but at some point his face splits in half and that mask comes out of him, protruding and replacing where the middle of his face used to be, the mask's eyes glowing while his old eyes are shut. That claw grows out of his back, brightly lit red runes surrounding it. In what feels like only a few seconds, Viktor’s back to looking just like he did when he and Jayce were at each other's throats, save the cloak. It feels fresh all over again, and Jayce starts breathing heavily, panic mounting inside him.
He pushes himself on the mattress, back against the wall. Viktor walks forward, bending over since the ceiling is, as it turns out, a little low for his height.
“I’m sorry,” Viktor says, his voice that terrifying, fully mechanical baritone. His accent is the only means of recognizing him.
“What the fuck—” Jayce wheezes.
“I can’t give you a normal, boring life, Jayce. Tell me to go and I will go. If this is too much—”
He stops, his head tilting slightly, clearly noticing that for some fucking reason Jayce is rock hard again. It’s not like he’s hiding it. He’s completely horror-struck, sure, but two things can be true at the same time.
“... Oh.”
Jayce takes a deep breath, steadying himself. His eyes dart all over Viktor’s body, taking it all in. “Fuck normal. Fuck boring. Please, just… just come back to bed.”
Viktor just stares at him. It’s not like Jayce can read his face, so he’s not really sure what he’s thinking at all. Jayce relaxes a bit, inches closer to the edge of the bed and leans back on his hands, hoping to look somewhat inviting despite the underlying panic in his throat.
“... Are you serious?”
Jayce nods, a little frantically. He takes another deep breath, trying to clear his head and act at least semi-rationally.
“Are you still like… a hive mind? Cause I might not be cool with that.”
“No.” Viktor shakes his head. “It’s just me.”
“Are you uh, still gunning to evolve or whatever?”
Viktor makes what sounds like some kind of mechanized snort. “I am not. I also don’t think I could if I wanted to. I feel fully myself, I just… look different. Sometimes.”
It sounds like he’s talking about a haircut and not an extreme physical transformation brought about by their mutual misuse of void magic. All things considered, this is definitely the Viktor Jayce knows. He was always keen on understatements.
“And you can uh… change at will? You’re in control?”
Viktor nods. “Yes. The first time was random. It happened a few minutes after I woke up in my bed this morning. But I realized I could simply decide to change of my own volition. I can be… ‘in between’, too. Like I was before my face changed and I grew taller. But I—”
He cuts himself off, his body deflating slightly. He clasps his hands together, rubbing them together a little anxiously. It’s kind of adorable to see on such a looming, terrifying frame.
“I like being like this. I like that it’s not permanent, of course. And I did miss being… human. I will happily exist in public as such. But I don’t want to leave this behind. I think it’s a part of me now.”
It’s kind of touching. Hearing Viktor accept all of himself is… honestly everything Jayce ever dreamed of for him. He reaches for Viktor’s hands, long, cold and metallic, and cups them in his own very human ones. The contrast lights his skin on fire. He looks up at Viktor, right into the glowing eyes behind his mask.
“Well. That just gives me more parts of you to admire. I feel a little spoiled.”
He squeezes Viktor’s hands. Viktor squeezes back, and suddenly shifts and changes until he’s standing upright at his usual height, his face back to almost normal, his body still metal. His hair hangs on either side of his face, looking just like he did when Jayce barged into his commune and shot him with his hammer. He smiles, his eyes glinting with a slightly alien constellation of colours, like a mix of wild runes and his old usual hazel.
He’s ethereal, no matter what form he takes.
“How do you want me?” Viktor asks, his voice closer to normal with a slight metal tinge.
“However you want,” Jayce replies on instinct. Viktor looks unimpressed.
“I am genuinely asking. What do you want most? Right now.”
They search each others’ faces. Jayce kind of knows what he really wants, but he’s a little embarrassed about it. He would genuinely be happy doing whatever, so long as it’s Viktor. But he can’t say he’s not… intrigued by strange, horrific, alien things.
Viktor breaks into a small smile. He cocks his head and takes one hand to Jayce’s chest, sliding it up toward his neck. “Promise me you’ll tell me to stop if it’s too much.”
“What?”
“Promise me.”
“I promise.”
There’s a flash of light again, and Viktor’s back to towering over him, his face and body all twisted and stretched and beautifully fucked up. His eyes are the mask’s eyes again, and the runes around the claw form a reddish halo around his head. His strong, large, cold hand snakes around Jayce’s neck and holds him in place, squeezing slightly — less hard than when they fought, but hard enough to hurt.
Jayce’s heart staccatos, thumping in his chest. He feels sweat on his brow, and his cock growing harder all over again.
“You—you fucking liked this, didn’t you?” he gasps.
Viktor makes what sounds like a laugh. An evil, terrifying laugh. “Yes. A part of me did.”
He reaches around his head with the claw — the same claw with that death lazer attached to it — and brushes a tuft of hair out of Jayce’s face. Jayce whines, resisting the urge to close his eyes.
Viktor straddles him, sits in his lap. He’s so fucking heavy, it might be too much for the bed or, hell, Jayce’s legs. Luckily, Viktor raises himself a little, takes some of the weight off, and wraps his unoccupied arm around Jayce’s head until he’s gripping the back of his skull. From this close, Jayce can see every detail of the misshapen remnants of Viktor’s old face on either side of the mask. It’s grotesque, and so, so hot. He looks like something out of a nightmare.
“Try to move,” Viktor orders, in that voice again. He tries pushing against Viktor’s chest, squirming his head, straining his legs, to no avail. He’s literally trapped.
“I can’t,” Jayce mutters. His voice is hoarse and strained, barely able to escape his clenched throat.
Viktor’s head tilts to the side in an inhuman, jerky movement. He surveys Jayce’s jaw, looking at him from one side to the other. With every small move of his body, Jayce can hear metal grinding against itself at a frequency almost imperceptible.
“Are you afraid?”
Jayce’s instinct is to deny it. But he realizes that maybe Viktor wants him to be afraid. Maybe he wants to be afraid. He obviously didn’t like fighting Viktor when he felt like his life was on the line, not to mention the confusion and betrayal in seeing what his partner had become. But he also kind of didn’t want it to end.
“I… I could be more scared,” he ends up saying, for some reason. Viktor looks somewhat offended behind the mask.
“You are a piece of work,” he mutters, before bringing the claw next to his head and lighting it up.
Jayce’s eyes widen and he starts to scream in earnest, before Viktor shuts him up with a giant hand on his mouth. He pushes him down onto the bed by his throat, squishing him into the mattress. Something pops underneath them.
“Sorry. We will get a new bed.”
He straddles Jayce again, this time landing right on top of Jayce’s cock. He’s throbbing and leaking all over himself as the sensation of metal gives way to something distinctly wet and fleshy. Viktor rubs himself along Jayce’s shaft, tightening his grip even further until Jayce genuinely can’t breathe.
It’s insanely hot, but also a little concerning. Viktor seems to notice and lets go of him a little, allowing him to gasp for oxygen.
“I’m sorry. You were becoming purple.”
Jayce coughs, his eyes fluttering. “Then we’d match.”
Viktor shakes his head. He lets him gather his bearings a minute before grabbing him once again. He lets go of his mouth, reaches for his cock, and lines it up with his wetness and sinks down.
Jayce’s eyes roll back in his head. He groans deeply, unabashedly as Viktor doesn’t hesitate to start fucking himself on his cock. Strange, inhuman mechanical whines come out of him as he clenches himself and sinks deeper and deeper before pulling himself up again.
“Ffffuck, Viktor—”
Viktor looms over him until his face is right by his right ear. “You’re mine. All mine.”
It drives Jayce completely batshit insane.
They’re complete goners after that. At some point, the bed does in fact break, but Viktor keeps riding him on the mattress against the floor. Jayce comes right after it happens, bucking into Viktor as much as he can muster under his weight, though Viktor’s doing most of the work. After he finishes, they slow down for a second for Jayce to catch his breath, but his cock, somehow, remains hard.
Viktor pulls himself off, and Jayce whines at the loss. He sits next to him and seems all timid all of a sudden. Jayce grabs for his thigh and holds onto him as he comes to.
“Everything good, V?” he manages.
Viktor nods. He takes a hand to Jayce’s jaw, gently this time.
“There is… something else I’d like to try.”
Jayce nods, suddenly very alert. Viktor shifts onto the bed and lies down next to him, barely fitting next to him. In an instant he’s smaller, stretched limbs shrinking until he’s fully, unassumingly human and staring at Jayce with those same hazel eyes. He looks so vulnerable, all of a sudden. It’s hard to believe he’s the same person.
But he is. Jayce feels a sudden surge of gratitude that he gets to witness every part of Viktor, every shape he takes. That somehow, Viktor trusts him enough to show him everything.
He smiles, awestruck. Viktor actually meets his gaze. He hesitantly smiles back.
They kiss, deeply. Jayce realizes he missed it, missed his mouth. He grabs Viktor’s body and feels his warmth under his fingers again, mapping him with his hands as he pulls himself on top of him and positions himself between his legs.
They keep making out, at first, until Jayce decides he wants to explore. He licks Viktor’s ear, neck, collarbone and belly, memorizing the divots and moles and dustings of hair. He kisses and nips down his inner thighs, before flipping him over to worship his ass. He kisses it, squeezes it, kneads it in his hands until Viktor starts getting particularly antsy. Jayce slides a pillow under him to support his leg, and lines up his cock with Viktor’s hole.
He enters him from behind, caging in his body and kissing the back of his neck, the back of his head. His cock rests gently between Viktor’s cheeks. He savours his scent, the soft feel of his hair, the quiet moans he makes between bitten lips. Jayce pries his mouth open with his own and licks into him as he starts fucking him, and he loses himself in Viktor’s warmth.
It takes a little longer, but Jayce enjoys every second. He reaches around to pleasure Viktor from the front and comes deep inside him as Viktor loses himself too. They hold each other in silence a while, afterward, Viktor’s face buried in Jayce’s chest, arms wrapped around each other tight.
Eventually, one of them drifts off to sleep. Eventually the other does too.
. . .
It’s nighttime when they wake up. Jayce realizes he hasn’t eaten since they were literally in an alternate reality. It’s kind of dumb, really.
When he moves, Viktor holds onto him tightly, blearily opening his eyes.
“Where are you going?”
Jayce chuckles. “I need to eat, I’m starving.”
Viktor huffs, stuffing his face back into Jayce’s chest again.
“Your kitchen is a mess,” he mumbles into his skin. “And your bed is small. And broken.”
“Whose fault is that?” Jayce quips, his voice full of adoration. He scratches Viktor’s head lightly and gives him a small kiss on his forehead. “Maybe we could get dinner somewhere, clean up tomorrow?”
“Hm?”
“I mean, unless my apartment gets robbed and explodes again. But it feels a little late for that.”
He feels Viktor furrow his brow against his chest. “I miss bread. Maybe there is a bakery still open.”
“Maybe. Or maybe we get something fresh tomorrow morning and grab some stew at the pub tonight. Like old times.”
“Sounds like a nice idea.” Viktor sits up and stretches his neck, looking a little thoughtful. Jayce sits up next to him, surveying the damage.
“My bed really is fucked,” he points out. Viktor chuckles.
“Eh, it was a shitty bed anyway. I think we will need something… sturdier.”
It all feels so natural. Getting dressed, heading out the door, walking arm in arm down the street to the pub they used to go to all the time. Except this time, they aren’t pouring over notes, or discussing hypotheses, or designing new prototypes, or airing their grievances about academic bullshit. This time, they’re a couple. Just two normal-seeming people sharing knowing looks and light banter over pints and steaming stew. There are small moments when Viktor does something, moves a certain way, and Jayce is reminded of what they were up to only hours before. But these moments are fleeting, because seeing Viktor alive and happy in front of him is its own incredible sight to behold.
“Was there ever something you wanted to do besides Hextech? Something I don’t know about?” Jayce asks, as they finish their plates.
Viktor thinks for a moment. “I had sometimes fantasized about opening a bakery. In Zaun.”
Jayce blinks, a little shocked. “A bakery?”
“A little bakery cafe. It would serve sweetmilk and lattes and sourdough, made with my starter. You know I have a starter?”
“I had no idea.”
Viktor smirks. “It died when I started working on Hextech. A hobby I abandoned for work. But it’s alive right now, in my fridge. I had made it from stolen flour back when I lived in the lower city.”
“That’s… really fucking cool, V.”
Viktor purses his lips, thinking. “My bakery wouldn’t be like these fancy, uptight bakeries around here in Piltover. It would be straightforward, to the point. And maybe we could make sandwiches.”
Jayce can kind of see himself doing it. He’s no stranger to hot ovens and working with his hands. Baking is a kind of science, and a kind of magic too.
“I could do the manual labor,” Jayce offers. “I’m good with my hands.”
“You certainly are,” Viktor smiles. “I could help you in my… other form. But during opening hours I can man the cash.”
“This is all hypothetical, right?”
Viktor huffs. “Of course.” He takes a sip of his beer, before setting it down. He’s quiet all of a sudden, lost in his thoughts. After a moment, he meets Jayce’s gaze.
“Thank you, really.” Viktor kicks his foot lightly under the table. “Without you… I don’t know what I would be. Thank you for accepting all of me. Whatever we end up doing, I will be happy spending this new life with you, Jayce. It’s a gift I will never take for granted. I can’t guarantee that it will always be easy. I have some… wounds to heal. But I will cherish every moment. And I’m committed to making it work.”
It’s all Jayce has ever wanted to hear. He slides his hands over the table and takes Viktor’s hands in his, beaming.
“So am I. Thank you for sharing all of yourself with me. I can’t wait to see what we build together.”