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Viktor leaned back in his chair, fanning himself with a stack of papers from the desk. Summers in Piltover brought on heat that barely relented even after the sun had gone down; working in the evenings was only marginally better, and Viktor had begun to idly wonder whether, once they're through with all their current projects, they could invent a way to control the weather as well. He has already lost his waistcoat and tie, and left a few buttons undone; but Jayce went a step further, dropping his shirt entirely, only using it from time to time to wipe the sweat from his face.
Seated behind him, Viktor was thinking about intricate mechanisms.
Par for the course, except in this moment, shamefully, he was thinking less of the wires and gears of the device his partner was working on, and more about him, the mechanisms of a body; keenly tracing the movement of each tendon and muscle under glistening skin, following every motion of his hands, strong but precise… Sometimes, Viktor just couldn't help himself. Taller and broader than him, Jayce simply occupied space around him in a way that was difficult to ignore. He drew eyes, drew attention.
“I think it’s ready.” Jayce gave the last screw a final twist before stepping back and eyeing the whole contraption critically, giving it a few seconds in case a cog was going to pop off somewhere. It seemed to hold. Viktor started from his chair.
Carefully, Jayce removed a crystal from where it was mounted in the smaller, prototype version of the machine, standing idle on a nearby table, and transferred it to its new counterpart.
“You have the sequence?”
Viktor peered down at his notes, the paper wrinkled and damp from being clutched in his sweating hand, and quickly checked his calculations for errors, at the same time reaching for the control dial, without looking up -- and meeting Jayce's fingers, hovering over it expectantly. They both instinctively flinched away, as if shocked by static.
“Oh, sorry, did you want to --”
“No, no, it's fine -- go ahead.” Viktor stepped back, and went back to his notes, this time reading the directions out loud. In his peripheral vision, sparks of blue light began to swirl, and he glanced up to see Jayce framed by the steel beam-and-wire archway, now lit with the burning symbols carved into it. The very air around them hummed and crackled as the crystal swivelled in its socket, and for a moment, as always, it seemed like the thing was about to blow, before it reached that critical point, and then -- equilibrium. They both released a held breath at almost the same time.
“It’s stable.”
“Let’s try it out, then.” Viktor moved towards the arch, only for Jayce to block his way.
“Wait, you’re not --”
“What?” He arched an eyebrow, fixing Jayce with a sharp look that he’s learned by now always worked like a charm. “Are you so selfish that you want to do everything yourself?”
“It might be dangerous!”
Viktor waved him away, dismissively.
“We’ve done enough tests. Performed all the necessary adjustments. It’s not going to be like… the first time,” he said, and saw Jayce wince; likely at the memory of the smoking, shattered mess left of the first few objects that they sent through their earliest prototype. “Besides,” he continued, “think logically. If something does go wrong, which one of us can run faster to get help?”
Jayce sighed, and shook his head.
“Let's at least try it on something else before you go.”
Viktor watched him pick up an empty coffee mug from the desk, and place it under the arch, before giving the dial another twist. He began to count the seconds: one, two, three -- the glow grew brighter yet, and he raised his hand, shielding his eyes -- four, five -- the floor reverberated under his feet, and he thought he heard the crackle of porcelain breaking, but he wasn't sure -- six --
In a flash, the mug vanished, and then a moment later, with another flare of light, reappeared under the twin arch in the opposite corner of the room -- intact.
“Seems to be in one piece,” Viktor said, and stepped towards the gate; and this time, though still somewhat reluctantly, Jayce let him. He wasn't even sure why he'd been so insistent to do it; his logical argument did make a certain kind of sense, but truthfully, as soon as Jayce raised an objection, Viktor just felt like being stubborn. He didn't need protecting; and maybe sometimes, he just wanted to be the first. He could surely argue about how meaningful that was, if he wanted to.
As the machine powered up again, and the light enveloped him, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, bracing himself. He felt his stomach churn, unsure if it was more anxiety than excitement. There was a prickling sensation, sending a shiver down his spine, and something like a powerful rush of air --
-- and he stumbled, hearing a clatter of something being knocked over and rolling across the floor, and reeled, failing to regain his balance as blinked dark spots and afterimages of blue sparks out of his eyes -- and fell right into the arms of Jayce, who stood by ready to catch him.
“Whoa, whoa -- are you alright?”
“Yes, I'm fine, just -- a little light-headed.” He tried to stand up on his own, and Jayce handed him his cane, though still offering his shoulder for Viktor to lean on anyway; an offer he gladly took, trying to breathe steadily through the nausea and dizziness.
“I think it will need some refinement,” he continued, “or we'll be having passengers passing out on arrival. Nevertheless, for tonight --” he looked up, and smiled. “I reckon we can call it a success.”
“Damn right we can!” Forgetting himself, Jayce slapped his back with nearly enough enthusiasm to send him sprawling. “Actually, wait here -- I have something saved for this very occasion.”
He ran into the next room over, and came back holding a bottle of champagne.
“I got it from Councillor Medarda last month, after we won the competition. I wanted to open it right away, but then I thought we'd have something even bigger to celebrate soon,” he explained. “...And, I also just realised I don't have any glasses.” He bent down to pick up the discarded mug, looked into it and grimaced. “I think this might actually take the credit for being the first living thing to travel through a Hexgate.”
Viktor shrugged, and grinned.
“We'll just have to drink it straight from the bottle,” he said. With its intricately gilded label, it looked really expensive, and it tickled Viktor a little to think that most people out there would probably be outraged at this fine drink being consumed in such an inelegant manner.
Even Jayce seemed slightly taken aback, though only for a moment. He popped the cork off, and immediately brought the bottle up to his mouth, trying to catch as much as possible of the liquid immediately bubbling out of it, and largely failing, ending up almost choking with foam dribbling down his chin. As the bottle was passed to Viktor, he noticed a strand of saliva, thicker than the champagne, clinging to the neck, and somehow it didn't disgust him. He thought, briefly, of how that was the closest he's ever come to kissing anyone, and took a swig that threatened to instantly go to his head.
“... and now I'm wondering whether we even need the receiving port at all. If we can just figure out how to give the gate coordinates, any coordinates -- it should work.”
They sat on the floor, leaning against the wall, Jayce still clutching the now empty bottle as he gesticulated emphatically.
“That time, when I was a kid, you know…” The bottle traced a spiral in the air. “That man didn't use any gates, he just waved his hand around, and suddenly we were somewhere else.”
Viktor nodded; he's heard the story before.
“So, what I'm thinking is,” Jayce went on, “in theory, if the first gate replaces that, a machine charting out the destination, instead of a person… it still should be able to send you anywhere in the world, right?”
Seen through the stained glass window of the lab, the city outside was made of broken, bent lines, swimming in blue. It lost its sharp contours, seemingly permeable, dissolving into the sky. Viktor's head rested against Jayce's shoulder. He still felt a little giddy, perhaps from the drink, perhaps more from the aftereffects of their experiment -- or the implications of its success.
“If you could go anywhere in the world,” he mused, “just like this --” he snapped his fingers. “It would make obsolete the very concept of distance... of borders.”
He fell silent. Suddenly, he felt so acutely how lucky they were for everything to have worked out as it did. His mind, unbidden, brought forth all the images of catastrophic could-have-been. Jayce's mangled body lying among the ruins of his workshop, in the aftermath of the explosion that exposed his secret. Or broken on the pavement below, all words of reassurance and encouragement dying useless on Viktor's lips as he found his partner-to-be a second too late. Or not dead, perhaps, but exiled, both of them, after they failed to garner the favour of the Council; Jayce back with his parents, and Viktor back in the undercity, with nothing. Or at any moment since, something going wrong -- and yet, here they were, with another breakthrough, another step towards an illustrious future. Lost in thought, he clutched Jayce's arm, as if afraid it might all disappear if he didn't hold onto it hard enough.
“Hey, what is it?” Jayce's voice snapped him out of it. “What are you thinking about?”
“You,” he replied, and realised how it sounded, and quickly corrected himself. “I mean, us.” No, wait, that's worse -- “I mean, our work…”
He glanced up, and saw Jayce looking at him with his brows furrowed in slight confusion; with hazy interest, with heartfelt concern, with deep fondness -- and realised this might be one of those moments when he just had to risk it, and pull through on sheer stubborn trust in what he wanted, and that he could get it -- and he reached up and softly touched the side of Jayce's face.
“...But also, just you,” he said. There was a silent moment in which Jayce seemed to process what was happening, and whether he was reading the situation correctly; and then Viktor felt a warm hand rest against the dip of his waist, and it felt like everything falling into place. His own hand slid down to the back of Jayce's neck, and he pulled himself up, to reach his lips.
It felt searing hot, alighting every nerve in his body, pouring into him like molten metal -- the warmth of Jayce's skin, the weight of his hands pinning him to the floor, the heat of his ragged breath between wet kisses pressed to his mouth, jaw, neck. His arms wrapped around Jayce's back, fingers digging in nails-deep, holding on for dear life. He could feel the movement of every taut muscle when Jayce shifted in his grasp, pushing himself up, and reached for the buttons of Viktor's still mostly done-up shirt, and in that moment, two thoughts collided in Viktor's head:
One, the realisation that things were already starting to move past what he had anticipated, and he could pursue the trajectory of this night to its most obvious conclusion --
And two, as his eyes roved over the contours of that all too perfectly chiselled silhouette above him, that he felt suddenly conscious of his own body in a way he hasn't really felt before; absurdly, because Jayce clearly didn't mind what Viktor looked like, and yet the thought of being stripped fully naked, and compared , made his blood run cold.
“Wait,” he whispered, caught between the two, and Jayce paused; and then refastened the button he already managed to undo.
“I’m sorry. We can take it as slow as you want,” he said, awkwardly.
“No, I was going to say… Maybe we should take it somewhere more… comfortable. Like my bedroom.” Perhaps he was stalling, just a little; and yet, at the same time, as Jayce didn't refuse the offer, he's only made it harder for himself to back away. Not that he'd want to. “Come on, help me up.”
He hardly had to say it, before Jayce pulled him upright with ease, and set about gathering their previously discarded clothes. By the time they were locking the laboratory doors behind them, Jayce had hastily put his shirt and vest back on; though buttoned askew and clinging to his sweat-damp skin, they only made him look even more dishevelled.
It wasn't a long walk. One of the privileges of being the assistant to the Dean, who at the same time was a Councillor as well -- and also, Viktor suspected, something he might've gotten out of kindness (or pity) for his condition -- was having his own small apartment close by, on the Academy grounds; it was only in the next building over, and the connecting corridor meant they didn't even have to go outside. And technically, they didn't have to sneak around either; they've done nothing wrong, this time, and they had every right to walk around whenever they damn well pleased. They didn't have to, when they heard someone else's footsteps somewhere around the corner, fall back into the shadows, clinging to the wall and each other, exchanging looks and stifling a laugh as if they were misbehaving children; and yet, for some reason, it seemed like the natural thing to do.
After a few seconds of waiting and listening for someone approaching, Viktor started down the hall again, and Jayce winced at the noise of his cane knocking on the marble floors.
“Maybe I should be carrying you instead,” he whispered, a playful note to his voice.
“Absolutely not,” Viktor snapped back, the glare he shot at Jayce dead serious, though a slight smile still tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Tuck your shirt in properly and we'll look like we were just working overtime, as usual.”
He couldn't be quite sure in the dim light, but he thought he could see Jayce blush.
Jayce looked around the room, and instinctively, Viktor looked around too, as if checking there was nothing embarrassing out there, even though he couldn't even imagine what that might be; all there was to see were a few bookshelves, a small closet and a single bed, neatly made, and a desk by contrast messy with papers and odd pieces of scrap metal -- though that could hardly be surprising. Jayce excused himself into the bathroom, and Viktor dropped onto the bed, stretching out his legs and folding his arms under his head; then, he pushed himself up on his elbows, into a half-sitting position. Why was he trying to make sure he looked good lying there? This was silly. He turned the bedside lamp on, then switched it off again, and fell back against the pillows just as Jayce stepped back into the room, and stood at the foot of the bed.
“Well, you can undress now,” Viktor said, and this time, Jayce definitely blushed, even though he had already been running around topless for the better part of the night. But he obliged, taking off his shirt and hanging it over the backrest of a nearby chair; and then, following with his trousers. And I didn't even have to ask for that, Viktor thought, biting down on his lower lip. He barely had time to appreciate the sight from this angle, though, before Jayce was suddenly much closer, on all fours above him, the mattress sagging under the added weight. He leaned down for a kiss, once again enveloping Viktor in his body heat, the smell of him, his inescapable presence, and for all his apprehension Viktor wanted nothing more to be even closer, skin to skin, and wriggled his arms in between their bodies to finally start undoing his shirt.
“Get these off of me,” he huffed, lifting his hips slightly. Jayce tugged down at the waistband of his pants, and managed to pull them down past the thighs before the fabric snagged on one of the clasps holding the brace around Viktor's leg.
“Shit, I'm sorry, I -- I forgot.”
Viktor rolled his eyes.
“It's fine, just be careful.”
He watched Jayce slowly peel his pants all the way off, and pause, as if faced with some puzzling conundrum.
“That too. Go on.” Viktor cocked his head, and scoffed. “You're staring like you're expecting my leg to fall off.”
“No, I'm -- sorry.”
Viktor sighed. Please, just don't make a big deal out of this. He started to push himself up, and Jayce finally snapped out of it.
“No, no -- lie back. I've got it.”
Gently now, he undid every buckle and clasp, and pulled the brace off, leaving it on the chair before turning back to press a soft kiss everywhere its straps had left a mark. His mouth trailed up Viktor's calf, and over the knee, and then he paused, glancing up, and Viktor nodded -- and felt Jayce's lips on the sensitive skin of his inner thigh, each kiss like a sweet burn, blooming with heat, and he threw his head back, pressing the back of his hand to his mouth, stifling an undignified sound. When Jayce passed over his crotch, picking up the path again up his stomach, Viktor almost wanted to grab him and pull him back down. Instead, he lay there, splayed out, open and bare and near overwhelmed with the feeling of it all, as a kiss was left, he realised, over every mole on his chest and neck. He opened his eyes to see Jayce's face hovering over his, flushed and beautiful, and he couldn't hold himself back anymore; he pushed Jayce off and rolled over on top of him, hearing a quiet grunt as he lay on top of him with his whole meagre weight. His one hand rested against Jayce's torso, while the other wandered under him, grabbing his ass. He could feel them pressed together through the fabric of their underwear. He licked his lips.
“By the way, you should know,” Jayce began, “I've never done this before. With a guy or, uh, anyone.”
Viktor smiled. Honestly, it only made him feel better, eased some of the pressure, knowing he wasn't competing with anyone.
“Me neither,” he said. “But I'm sure between the two of us, we can figure it out.”
Just as Jayce did to him a few moments before, Viktor bent down to pepper light kisses across Jayce's chest -- except then, his mouth closed around a nipple, and he sucked on it, feeling it harden. He heard Jayce's breath hitch, and he bit down, and tugged. Jayce squealed. Viktor dragged his tongue over the reddened marks he had left, and looked up.
“You liked that?”
His teeth dragged across the skin of that body, spread before him like a feast, finding another place to sink into.
“Mhmm -- mh,” was all Jayce managed in response.
Oh, I could eat you whole.
He slid down lower, using his teeth to pull away the waistband of Jayce's briefs -- and released it with a snap; though afterwards, following a slightly clumsy attempt, had to help himself with his hands to actually get them off.
“Oh, Vik-- ah. ”
Velvet-soft and salty-sweet, and heavy in his mouth. Whatever Jayce was about to say, it dissolved into an unintelligible moan as Viktor took him in, and bobbed his head down -- and gagged, coughing as he pulled away.
“I'm sorry, uh -- I know it's pretty big,” Jayce said, sounding genuinely apologetic. “I was worried it might be a problem.”
Viktor regained only enough of his breath to choke on a laugh.
“Oh, how t errible for you,” he wheezed.
“Shut up.”
“Oh, poor me,” he continued, in a mockery of Jayce's voice. “No one will ever want to have sex with me because of my massive cock --”
A well-aimed pillow hit him square in the face.
“Shut up. ”
“Should I try again?” Viktor asked, wiping the tears away from his eyes.
“You could also fuck me instead,” Jayce offered. “If you want to.”
“Do you want that?”
“Yeah.” Jayce closed his eyes, like he was embarrassed. “I hope that doesn't come out wrong, but I have thought about it before. Imagined it.”
“Oh, really?”
Was he surprised? A little, for sure. He wouldn't have made a move tonight if he hadn't guessed before that his feelings were mutual, if he hadn't read it between the lines of their conversations, in furtive glances; but he hadn't quite suspected that Jayce's thoughts of him went that far. He hoped not to disappoint. Jayce shrugged, though the expression on his face was far from casual.
“Once or twice, maybe,” he admitted. He was so cute when being so coy. And cute, pretty boys haven't usually taken much interest in Viktor before; or at least, none that he ever noticed. But perhaps he simply wasn't paying enough attention. He found his confidence again, in how adoringly Jayce was looking at him.
“In the nightstand,” he said simply. Jayce leaned over the edge of the bed, and rifled through the drawer, searching between bottles of painkillers and assorted knick-knacks.
“Wait, did you plan this?” he asked, pausing mid-air with a bottle of lubricant in hand.
“No,” Viktor replied. “I’ve only had that for my… personal use.”
“Were you thinking about me when you did it?”
Alright, he understood now how it felt, to be put on the spot like that.
“Mm, maybe.” He forced himself to look Jayce in the face as he began to pull down his underwear, and then Jayce broke eye contact first.
He's been half-hard already, but now with a slicked-up hand stroked himself to fullness, Jayce idly touching himself too as he watched. A man was touching himself while looking at him; it could go to his head a little. With a small, self-satisfied smirk, he slid one, then two long, thin fingers inside Jayce -- and felt him tense around them, and heard him suck in a sharp breath.
“Just relax,” he cooed, probing at the texture of unfamiliar flesh pulsating under his fingertips. Opening him up before thrusting in, and seeing Jayce's hands curl into fists, grasping at the bedsheets.
“Does it hurt?”
“Just -- give me a moment,” Jayce grunted, and groaned, and then exhaled deeply. “Alright. Alright.”
Viktor leaned forward, burying himself deeper in; Jayce's hands ran up his back, tracing the craggy line of his spine, before resting braced around his ribcage, holding him in place as he rolled his hips, slow and steady. He could feel the heat radiating from this touch, building up inside him, strands of hair sticking to his forehead with sweat. Jayce's moans changed in pitch, from a sharp sound of pain and discomfort to languid, mindless pleasure, wordless noises interspersed with breathy sighs of oh, yes and oh, Viktor, you're so good -- melting into a soft, pliant state. Viktor leaned in, wanting to taste him again; to press closer to him, nipping at his skin, kissing every inch of this gorgeous body, taking him in so readily. Devouring it with his mouth, with his eyes, by morning he would learn it by heart, determined to touch every fibre of it and know how it feels. He was a studious one, after all.
It was only when he began to feel his legs cramp up that he began to wonder how long exactly was this supposed to take, and decided to expedite matters somewhat. His fingers wrapped around Jayce's cock, and he saw his eyes flicker open.
“Hello there,” he teased. “I was beginning to think you fell asleep.”
“Mmm, never --”
He knew the motions well enough, even if this was the first time he had to perform them upside-down. Still lazily thrusting in, but his hand was pumping now at a much faster pace. He could tell that Jayce was close to the finish; but then, the sensation of muscle clenching around him pushed him over the edge first, a moment before the other man. Hastily, still leaking onto the bedsheets, he pulled out, and he wanted to try and suck Jayce off again, just there at the end, to swallow every drop that would come out of him, but he managed it to the same effect as Jayce's earlier attempt with the champagne, succeeding only in making a mess of his face before he collapsed onto the bed alongside Jayce, with a giddy laugh that twisted into a pained grimace as he stretched out cramped-up muscles. He felt gross and sticky all over, and even with the window open the room was so hot and stuffy it seemed as if he was going to suffocate, but it was still the best night in his recent memory. Jayce, for his part, seemed to agree, as he breathlessly announced,
“Wow. That was great. ” And then, he must've noticed something in Viktor's pinched face, because he quickly added, “hey, what is it? Everything okay?”
“It's just a cramp. Don’t worry about it.”
With his eyes screwed shut, Viktor only heard the rustling of bedsheets before Jayce's large hands dug into the meat of his thigh, making him gasp --
“It's alright,” Jayce said, “just trust me.”
For a moment, the pain only seemed to get worse, but eventually, the tension began to ease up, and he felt like he could move again. And thankfully, because he needed nothing more in this moment than a cold shower. Well, what he really wanted was to just curl up against Jayce and stay there until the morning, but he knew he really should wash up first.
“Better?”
“Yes, thank you.”
“Maybe next time we should swap around,” Jayce suggested.
Next time. He imagined Jayce on top of him, pinning him down, taking him; lovingly, tenderly, but not overtly delicate, letting Viktor feel it -- the steel grip of his hands, the girth of that cock inside him. It was certainly an alluring thought. And he wanted more, his appetite only piqued; he wanted to try everything, do anything, any way Jayce would have it.
“Maybe,” he said.
“Need anything else?”
“A glass of water, and a shower,” he replied. “In whatever order. Oh, and a kiss first.”
Jayce pressed a kiss to his forehead, and got off the rumpled bed. Looking up at him, Viktor noticed a few tiny, bloodshot-purple bruises blooming underneath his tan skin. How long were they going to last, hidden underneath Jayce's clothes as he goes to work, goes about his day, only privately carrying those little mementos of tonight? Maybe there will already be a next time before they have a chance to fade. As Jayce padded to the kitchenette, for that glass of water, Viktor closed his eyes, his mind churning with dreams of a wonderful future.