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The crowd is, as usual, overbearing. Music, cluttery scrapping porcelain, glasses tinkling in toasts, laughter, and chatter. So much chatter. Those people were loud, in more ways than one; they took over the space, demanded attention; they were loud because they assumed they were the only ones worth listening to. Jayce picks at the knot of his tie, taking it away from his neck for a second to help him breathe.
It’s not that Jayce hates these sorts of social gatherings. Hell, he loved them at the beginning. Had loved feeling important, the center of the attention of those who had once deemed him unworthy of it. Heard. And he was good at it! He thrived under the attention he was given, tail wagging as Mel looked at him with pride and something else in her eyes.
That was years ago. Now? He can’t stand it. He’s been worn out, the skin of his hand sometimes felt too thin, burning as he shook someone else’s, his smile aching as if fishing hooks were responsible for pulling the corner of his lips. But no matter his distaste for it, he is still good at it. Promising. Approachable.
He resists the urge to sigh.
Usually, he would have a half mind at listening to whatever it was these people in front of him were saying. He was, after all, usually alone, and had no other goal but to make it through the night, and being occupied listening to strangers congratulate his work and babble about themselves at least helped the time pass.
Not today though. Because today, he convinced Viktor to join him. He still has no idea how he managed. He doesn’t know if it was because Viktor was feeling good today, or because he noticed how miserable Jayce was with only the prospect of tonight’s event and decided to indulge him. Probably the latter. Most likely the latter.
But even with the prospect of Viktor finally joining him in this event after years of denial of such invitations, choosing to lock himself in the lab instead, Jayce still wasn’t in the mood to come tonight. That was until he picked Viktor up at his apartment.
Viktor all but waltzed out of the complex to his car. He still had no idea how Viktor could walk, limp, with such grace. He tried it once, just for the sake of it when they were bored waiting for a reaction to complete at the lab, and he felt ridiculous. And by Viktor’s comment, he looked like it too. But Viktor looked… Sexy doing it? Or maybe that’s because everything Viktor did looked sexy to him. Even if he sneezed! (Which come to think of it, was very, very cute when he did it)
But today! Oh, today Viktor looked stunning. He wasn’t wearing his usual dark shirt with a vest over it. No, no. He was wearing a white shirt, with a corset over it, framing his waist sinfully. A corset. In House Talis colors.
At that moment, as Jayce stumbled out of the car to open the door for him — because Viktor was his date and he would treat him as such, he assured him — he didn’t know if he wanted to forgo the party and keep Viktor all to himself, or if he wanted to run to it and show Viktor off to the world like he was their newest invention at progress day.
Well… the corset was indeed revolutionary. He could power the entire Hexgates with the electricity running through his veins. Maybe he should showcase him on Progress Day. Gods, a corset!! In House Talis colors!!
“So, what do you think?” A voice asks.
“Oh, yeah, perfect!” Jayce replies. He isn’t thinking about the question whatsoever. He doesn’t know what he replied to if he was honest. Urgh, he can’t do this anymore. His brain has used up all capacity for frivolous things like business deals and investments, and now all that is left is the ability to think about important things. Like Viktor, on a corset.
When a slow song starts to play, he gives up entirely.
His eyes roam across the room, in search of said man. They got separated at a point in the night, and Jayce was almost okay with it. Viktor coming along was already enough, he wouldn’t make him stay by his side all night performing pleasantries. Gods know that was not his strong suit.
But now he needs him by his side, almost like he needs air to breathe.
After a couple of seconds, he spots him: alone, back to the floor-to-ceiling windows that looked over Piltover, gaze intently analyzing the contents of his wine glass. Jayce lights up. It’s stupid just how much more energized he can feel just by looking at him. He’s pathetic, like a dog who just seen his owner come home after he forgot his keys, and still welcomes them as if they had gone to war for years.
He doesn’t care in the slightest.
He forgets to excuse himself, his feet walking towards the man without even noticing. He stands beside Viktor, who finally shifts his attention from his glass to him with a raised brow. Jayce holds out his hand, and Viktor hesitates.
Jayce rolls his eyes, full of affection. “C’mon V, just this once.” He knows there must be a trillion reasons for Viktor to hesitate to take his hand.
One: Viktor doesn’t enjoy being the center of attention, and he gets that just by being near Jayce.
Two:
“Jayce, I can’t—” Viktor shies from him.
Sure, is not easy for Viktor to dance. His steps grow faltering by the day, proven by the crutch that replaced his cane not long ago, and the flares of pain are becoming more and more frequent. He knows this. But still, they created magic! It’s not impossible for them to find a way to dance.
“I’ll help,” Jayce insists. “Just trust me, please.”
Viktor sighs, giving in. “Okay,” he smiles faintly, yet genuinely, and takes his hand. “I trust you.” And because Jayce is a pathetic romantic, so-very-gone man, he takes Viktor’s hand to his lips locking eyes with him, a look so fond and soft that the color of his eyes melts like natural resin.
Jayce doesn’t take them too far into the dance floor, fiding them a more reclused space near a corner. Because three: this thing between them is still new.
Sure, their friendship bordered on something more from the very first moment they met. There was no way one could save someone’s life and change the world with them in one night and have a regular friendship with that person. But it still took them ages to figure out exactly what this something more was.
Well, it took him ages, anyway. Viktor had figured it out out of the bat — like he loves to keep reminding him — but he assumed Jayce didn’t want anything with him, so he didn’t press.
Jayce, however, just thought that wanting to do anything to see him happy, have him be the best part of his day, find excuses for them to meet out of the lab because he really wanted to be with him all the time, and need to touch him at all giving moment, was just normal friend behavior.
When Jayce said that to him, Viktor laughed before asking, “ Will I need to be jealous of all your friends then, if this is how you think friendship is?” Jayce was quick to correct him that no, he didn’t feel like that for anybody else, he just hadn’t had a true friend except Cait for years, so could he really blame him for thinking that?
Regardless, thank the Gods Viktor decided he had enough one day and went for it anyway. And by going for it, he means that the man pinned him on their work desk and questioned him on his feelings. Because Viktor prided himself in his own intelligence, yet he was getting mad trying to understand the mixed signals Jayce was sending.
So either Jayce was being a total ass, which Viktor would scold him to the moon for, or Jayce didn’t know he was doing it. Either way, Jayce would have to decide what he wanted to do there and then so they could “ move the fuck on” with their work.
Jayce had never heard Viktor curse, but when he did, something snapped. To his day he doesn’t know what (it is already established he is shit at understanding his own feelings), but when it did, he realized he wanted nothing else but to be with Viktor. So he kissed him.
That was only a month ago. They haven’t gone out of their way to let people know, but they weren’t bothering to hide it either. They’d go on dates, hold hands, and even share small kisses while out, but slow dancing at a party filled with socialites from all over Runeterra was something else entirely.
Even at the corner, Jayce can feel eyes on them as he pulls Viktor close, arms embracing him and hands going to his lower back to support his weight. Jayce doesn’t care, and doesn’t look around to assess the room. He only has eyes for Viktor. And if he is to be honest, he wants them to look. If he could, he would be dancing with Viktor on a stage with the lights focusing on them, just so people could see how beautiful his partner was. His. That was important too. Very important.
“Did I tell you how beautiful you look?” Jayce asks as he sways them slowly with the music.
“Yes,” Viktor closes his eyes, leaning in like a cat enjoying the breeze. “Like five times already.”
Jayce leans down, pressing their foreheads together. “Then let me tell you a sixth time.”
“It’s the corset, isn’t it?” The smile is audible in Viktor’s voice.
“Well…” Jayce tenderly moves one hand up Viktor's spine, then down and settling on his waist for a second before returning to his lower back. Admiring. Worshiping. “That too.”
Viktor giggles and the air tickles Jayce’s face. Gods , how did he get so lucky he would never know. He closes his eyes too. “How okay would it be if I kissed you right now?”
He feels the body against him go rigid for a second before his shoulders relax and Viktor goes pliant on his arms. Jayce shivers as one of Viktor’s hands goes from his neck to the back of his head, bringing him impossibly closer to him. “Very,” he says, already against Jayce’s lips.
Suddenly, all of the earlier noise from before faded. No more cluttery scrapping porcelain, glasses tinkling in toasts, laughter, and chatter. It was only them at the party. It was only them in the world.
Never in his life did Jayce want to freeze a moment more than he wants to right now. The feel of Viktor against him, his tongue teasing his lips before interlacing with his own, all enveloped in soft music as they danced. It was nothing more than a gentle sway of their bodies, but Jayce felt like a ballet dancer on the moon.
Crazy how the world works, Jayce thinks. All his life, he believed he needed the most complicated science to create magic, and he thought he had done it that night years ago when the runes finally worked and he was lifted off the ground, weightless. He was wrong. Because this right here, this is magic. Maybe, the magic he felt that night had nothing to do with Hextech whatsoever. Maybe it had been all Viktor.
Jayce chuckles, and Viktor all but breathes in the sound before asking, “What?”
“You’re magic,” Jayce smiles as he kisses the beauty mark above his lips. He knows its position by heart now.
Viktor snorts, and if Jayce opened his eyes, he would probably see the crimson shade taking over the man’s face and ears. “Shut up,” he says, kissing him again before resting his head on Jayce’s shoulder, and staying there as they dance the night away.