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Jayce is tired. So, so tired. Every visit with the Council lately has felt like an uphill battle, arguing the same points over and over again just to make some headway.
"Like I explained here, we really need this particular alloy in case-"
Salo cuts him off. "And we understand, but it seems that will cause you to go over budget, Mr. Talis. Aren't you a forgemaster? That means that you should be able to make a different material work, correct?"
Jayce grits his teeth. Working in a forge didn't mean he could make miracles happen. "That's why I feel I can say with the utmost authority that this Ionian alloy would be better. It can withstand the vibrations and will be durable for longer, meaning less maintenance required in the future." He nearly gags on the last part. It always comes back to the bottom line, how the council can cut corners to line their pockets.
"We certainly see your point and we will take it under consideration," Mel tries, ignoring the frustrated click of Salo's tongue from across the table. "The last point is that we need to start considering how to present the next phase to your investors. Do you have any thoughts?"
Jayce starts to say, "Well, Viktor and I talked about-," but he's cut off again, this time by Cassandra.
"Jayce, I know that you're fond of your… partner, but we would like you to consider giving this next presentation by yourself."
"Why?" he asks, though deep in his bones he's sure he already knows the answer. He braces himself even as his shoulders tighten and his jaw clenches.
Heimerdinger, bless him, tries to be diplomatic as he says, "Knowing Viktor as I do, he's not really one for the spotlight. Prefers to be more hands-on and makes it a point to stay behind the curtain, so to speak." Which isn't far from the truth, Jayce knows, but he's not stupid. He knows what else they're not saying.
"We just believe that with your House and your background and your stature, you would be more appealing to investors," Bolbok adds and Jayce thinks there it is.
Because Viktor is from the Undercity. Because he's slighter, less polished.
Because he doesn't pass. Not like Jayce does.
On the outside, Jayce knows he looks like an Alpha. He's got the broad shoulders and muscle from his many years of blacksmithing. His scent is smokier, stronger than most Omegas, leaning more to something like sandalwood than the typical floral notes most Omegas carry. In the right circumstances, he can fool anyone who isn't leaned in close enough to really smell him.
He hates it.
"Duly noted," he manages to grit out. Everything about this conversation makes him want to bear his fangs at the insult, but he takes a deep breath through his nose. Fighting with the Council is not going to get them their alloy, or any future investments they might need.
The Council moves on to other business not long after and Jayce makes his excuses to leave. He needs to get out of here, he needs to go to their lab, to his nest with-
"We would like you to have a proposal prepared for the next Council meeting, Mr. Talis. Preferably the one for the presentation at the proposed gala," Mel calls out, her voice gentler but no less grating on his steadily fraying nerves.
He manages a shaky smile and replies, "Of course. I'll see what I can do." With that, he slams the door behind him and practically stomps his way back to their building. He stews as he walks, ignoring the protests at the harsh, hot scent of his anger that he knows must be wafting off of him. He doesn't care. Let them talk.
More appealing. More appealing. More appealing. The words turn angry circles in his head as he walks. He hates how they judge Viktor the way they do, even if the man himself cares very little for the opinions of the Council members. If only they knew that none of this, all of the potential money they see from their inventions, would exist at all if it weren't for Viktor. He was the one who saved Jayce from himself. The one who finished every thought, calculated every half-baked harebrained theory that Jayce can come up with. Ridiculous. It's ridiculous.
He's still hissing mad by the time he throws open the doors to the lab, startling Sky badly enough that she skitters out of the room with a squeak. Viktor, on the other hand, barely flinches. "It went well, I take it?" he asks drily, not even looking up from the blueprints he has scattered across the work table
Jayce just growls. He storms over to the makeshift nest they have set up in the corner of the lab and flops into it, resisting the urge to scream into the soft pillows. It smells like both of them, carrying his sandalwood scent laced perfectly with Viktor's warm bergamot. The harsh heat of anger pounding at the back of his head eases off a little and he can breathe again. "They want me to give a presentation on the next phase of development."
"Of course they do," Viktor agrees, still not looking up. "Surely this doesn't come as a surprise to you?"
"Just me. Because I'm more appealing to investors."
Viktor hums. "Of course they do," he repeats again. "You are the far more conventionally attractive of the two of us. It's the boyish good looks."
Jayce would be charmed if he still wasn't so angry. "And because I look like an Alpha."
Finally, Viktor looks up, stretching out of the hunch he'd been in. "I hate repeating myself, Jayce, but I will. For you. A third time. Of course they do." He gets to his feet and grabs his cane, making his way over to where Jayce is still sprawled out in their nest. Their nest. "Why does this bother you so much?"
"Because!" Jayce explodes finally. All the pent up anger makes his temples throb as he continues shouting. "It's stupid! None of this would be anything without you! And just because I don't look like an Omega and you do suddenly they want to plaster my face on everything and make it seem like I'm the only one working on this! It's infuriating!" He deflates after, looking up to see that Viktor has joined him.
"It is," Viktor quietly agrees. It must be a good pain day, or he knows Jayce is really upset, because he has climbed in the nest with him and sinks down, straddling Jayce's hips. "But I doubt it's only that. To them, I am just the professor's Undercity assistant still. Unlike you, I don't particularly care if that is what they think. The work is what matters, Jayce." He pulls Jayce forward so that his head is pillowed on Viktor's chest, making him feel small and cherished. "Do not worry for me. While I appreciate your anger on my behalf, it is not necessary."
Jayce brings his arms up to wrap around Viktor, keeping him close. Their combined scents swirl around him and he feels like he can finally breathe again. "Maybe, but doesn't change the fact that it still makes me angry." He rubs his cheek against Viktor, spreading more of his scent. It makes him want to purr, smelling himself so thickly on his partner. "I just hate it. All of it."
A soft, rusty rumble begins in Viktor's chest, soothing Jayce further. "I know you do. I wish that it were not so, but it is. For now, let me soothe you. Be here, with me."
The last of Jayce's tension melts away, losing himself in their closeness. It's unconventional, the relationship they have, but Jayce has never wanted anyone more, loved anyone more than he does Viktor. Two Omegas that shouldn't fit together, but do. "I'm with you," he whispers, returning Viktor's rumbling noises with his own. Their scents thicken in the air and it makes Jayce's mouth water.
Soon, the heady scent of them together makes him begin to squirm. They're pressed together in the nest they share, in the lab that belongs to them, and it makes his head swim. "Viktor," he breathes out, pulling Viktor tighter to him.
"Hmm, are you sure?" Viktor asks drily, but the sharp, hot spike in his scent gives him away. "You are usually so particular about fucking in this nest, I would not want to upset your sensibilities."
Jayce knows he's teasing, but it pulls a whine from him anyway. "Please, want you here. Need you," he says on a sigh, pleasure beginning to curl hot in his lower belly. He's not in heat, but it feels like Viktor is making him burn up from the inside out. He can feel himself going soft and slick, his cock thickening up in the ridiculous dress pants he wore to the council meeting.
"Then you shall have me." Viktor shifts off of him just enough so that they can both shimmy out of their pants before Viktor plants himself firmly in Jayce's lap once more. He lines up their cocks and begins to rut forward.
It feels incredible. Jayce throws his head back and lets out another whine, clutching Viktor's hips like he'll come unmoored if he doesn't. The air fills with the heavy scent of both of them, Viktor leaking slick into his lap as Jayce dirties the blanket below them. "Viktor, please," he begs, not even sure what he's asking for.
Viktor hums, still rutting against him, leaving sticky trails of precome on Jayce's cock that makes him dizzy to watch. "Please what? Do you want me to fuck you here, in our nest?" he purrs out. He swipes slick from Jayce's thigh and wraps his hand around them both, making Jayce cry out and how good it feels. "I think you want people to hear you. To know that you take it so well."
Jayce's face flames hot. After hearing all morning about how easily he can pretend to be an Alpha, the idea of Viktor bending him over and filling him up makes his head spin. "Only from you. Only from you," he chants, unable to stop the movement of his hips. He fucks up into the circle of Viktor's fist, their cocks rubbing together deliciously.
"That is right, only from me. Just like you are the only one who gets to hold me down and fuck me. Just us, only us," Viktor says through gritted teeth.
The idea of anyone else with Viktor makes Jayce want to gnash his teeth. Viktor belongs to him, even if he hates how other people can't see how perfect his partner is. No, that's why they're here, in the nest they built, covered in each other's slick, marked and scented in a way that drives them both crazy. "Mine," Jayce grits out, clutching at Viktor even tighter.
They keep rocking together, pressed close. Jayce leans up and captures Viktor's mouth in a fierce kiss, all tongue and teeth that makes Viktor's rhythm falter just a little. Jayce digs his fingers into Viktor's hips to pull him closer, until Viktor starts stroking them both together again. Both of them are leaking now, a mess of sweat and precome and slick that has heat swirling low in Jayce's belly. God, they're going to have to air out the lab for days, but Jayce doesn't care. Can't care, not when Viktor is nosing at his neck and licking at his mating gland. They can't mark each other, not like they want to, but the tease is enough to make Jayce moan.
He'd wear Viktor's bite. Let the council tell him then how he passes for an Alpha with teeth marks sunk into his flesh.
The very idea of it makes him go rigid, cock flexing as he comes and his hole clenches around nothing as more slick pulses out of him. His head swims and he clutches tighter at Viktor, doing his best to rock up into his partner. "Need you, want you to come, cover me in it," he begs, still riding out the aftershocks of his own orgasm. It's pushing into the most delicious overstimulation, enough to make his head even fuzzier.
Viktor lets out another growl and sinks his teeth into the skin of Jayce's shoulder, hips stuttering as white-hot heat pours out over his fist. He tugs Jayce into a messy kiss as he rocks them both to a stop, only separating long enough to push his fingers into Jayce's mouth. Eagerly he sucks them clean, eyes rolling back at the taste.
They're both panting hard when they come down, collapsing together in the nest. Jayce holds Viktor tight to him and lets himself revel in the way their bodies feel against each other, sticky and messy as they are.
"What you needed?" Viktor asks, accent thick in his drowsy state. Jayce loves it.
"Always," he replies and means it. The knot of tension he'd been carrying all day has loosened into the perfect boneless lassitude that sex with Viktor always brings. "You always know what I need."
Viktor hums against his skin, nosing at the mating gland on his neck. "I try. For now, we should probably get up. Open a window, maybe."
They should. The smart thing to do would be to clean up and get back to work with deadlines to meet and projects to finish. Viktor had been in the middle of something when Jayce had stormed in, after all.
Instead, Jayce tightens his hold on Viktor. "Soon," is all he says, closing his eyes and breathing in the scent of his partner, focusing on the rise and fall of Viktor's chest against his own.
There's time. There's always time.
-END-