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The only saving grace at yet another Gala is the fact that this one has a particularly well-sounding Orchestra; not all of them offer that.
Over the last two years since blowing up a lab and then stumbling into Viktor’s life, Jayce has dragged him to a not too low of a number of Galas, Parties, sponsored Events despite Viktors vehement dislike for them. Mostly sponsored Events. Events that started with stuffy smalltalk. Events that ended, usually, with Jayce being the center of attention, yet another rich heiress dangling off his arm as if he’d hung the moon and the stars in the sky, and Viktor waiting in his corner until some rich Piltie decided he looked interesting enough to stir up some conversation or the other.
It wasn’t pleasant, most of the time, but it brought in money, prestige, and a bigger lab, so Viktor endured it.
Events like this very one he was visiting right now were better. Galas had nicer food, better wine and those sparkling Cider that Topsiders were so fond of, and they had the Orchestras.
Viktor’s not a complete nutcase, even if some of the Members of the Academy seem to believe it, some of the Sponsors and their Assistants, too, probably. Some of them thought he only lived for the Lab, and did nothing else. He did live for the Lab - mostly. But he also lived for soft Orchestra music, the likes of which he almost never got to hear in Zaun.
He did wonder sometimes, if he had lived in Piltover. If he would have picked up one of the filigrane contraptions himself. A Cello, maybe, but it would have been bad on his leg; he wouldn’t have had the time for a Violin, probably. Viola, then, he settled in his mind.
So, the Lab and the dream of playing Viola, soft Orchestra Music at horrible Parties and playing often from the Vinyl Player that they had in their Lab, courtesy of Jayce after he had listened to Viktor hum one or the other tune while working.
Jayce enjoyed popular music, more electric, full of heavy lyrics. He liked one in particular, her Vinyls stacking up on the littlest shelf they had in the Lab, Each Album branded with a specific colour and style of music. Jayce liked the lightblue one, named after the year the Singer had been born. Viktor liked the grey one the best, wistful melodies and more storytelling aspects.
Jayce.
If he was being honest with himself, stuck at an awful Event, sipping Sparkling Cider that tasted off and too fruity to even be considered Alcohol, he didn’t only live for the Lab and the Music. He lived for Jayce, too. A little.
But not at the Gala.
Viktor looked over to where the music was still playing softly, and almost missed the way someone next to him cleared their throat. He didn’t recognize the person, a tall man with a slim stature, dark brown eyes and honey-coloured skin. His face was adorned by a monocle, and an elegant smile, inviting yet absolutely effortless.
“It seems more and more young people are taking to the dancefloor” The man said, and Viktor turned his head towards the mentioned dancefloor.
Stuck in his thoughts, he hadn’t even noticed that the general area was slowly but surely clearing out, now mostly adorned by older gentlemen and perfectly straight-standing women. Most young people had slowly made their way over, and he could see Jayce on there, too, navigating through a dance with a pretty heiress on his arm, her dark hair flowing over her back in clear display of what good of a job Jayce was doing.
“It certainly seems so.” Viktor said, and the Man gave him a warm half smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
“You must be Viktor. Mr. Talis told me about you, before he was led to the dancefloor.” The man said, “Would you like to dance?”
For a moment, Viktor considered it. The Man was not at all unattractive, and probably kind if he had taken Jayce’s words up about another man at the very core of Hextech, a Zaunite like him. For a moment, he considered a dance. But then he moved, and his cane became a thousandfold heavier in his hand, and he remembered that he didn’t know how to dance. The best he could do was shuffle around, and no man of Piltover Society would have liked to be seen with someone who couldn’t follow the methodical patterns of a simple dance.
“I’m afraid I can’t.” He said, giving a nod to his cane. I wouldn’t know how to, laid flat on his tongue, but he didn’t say that. Wouldn’t say that. Not being able to dance was one thing, but not knowing how was somehow more mortifyingly embarrassing to him.
“Of course not, Mr. Viktor.”
The Man gave him an understanding nod, and Viktor hated that. He didn’t like being pitied for his disability, especially not by residents of Piltover.
That’s why he liked Jayce so much, never pitying him, always understanding, kind Jayce. Wonderful, kind Jayce who was now leaving the dancefloor, the girl still with him, and coming over, over, over.
“Ah.” Jayce said, as he and his Accompaniment reached the height of where Viktor and the Man were still standing, “General Faberey.” He said, “I see you have met Viktor, my Partner.” He said, and the Man - General Faberey, then - gave Jayce a smile.
“I was just inviting him to a dance, actually.” General Faberey said, “But as that is not possible as it seems, might I ask you?” He said, and turned towards the Woman at Jayce’s side, who blushed and smiled at the General, her hand slipping into that of the Man.
The exchange was over in the blink of an eye, leaving behind only Viktor and Jayce.
“You did not have to abandon your dance.” Viktor said to Jayce, who for his part seemed a little speechless. Viktor understood him; normally, Residents of Piltover were more prone to drawing out conversations, riddled with secrets and passages he had to learn over many years of failed conversations with Heimerdinger and other people in their Academic sphere. To see a man - a high ranking General at that - abandon a conversation so quickly, and for seemingly no reason at all, was very unusual. Strange, even.
“I don’t trust General Faberey further than I can throw him.” Jayce answered easily, “And I’m sure Miss Lewitt will understand.” He added, “There is just - always a catch, with him, not that I don’t think you couldn’t handle him.”
Viktor took in the way Jayces face turned slightly red, a soft tinge on his cheeks, and he realized Jayce might be a little intoxicated by the Cider; never one to back down from a fight, he still chose to just give him a smile and a shrug.
“No need to save me” He added, and Jayce opened his mouth, stammered out a few sounds.Viktor gave him five seconds, before he cut it off, “I know that was not your intention, and you are right, I could have handled it myself. But it is also nice that you came here; you do know these people better than I do.”
The red colour on Jayces cheeks intensified for a moment, and, as Viktor quietly calmed his beating heart inside his mind, and despite his dislike for Events such as these, he couldn’t find it in himself to hate this one just as much as the other ones Jayce had him dragged to.
Neither of them mentioned the Gala or General Faberey for two weeks. There was too much to do, deadlines to meet to get the Hexgates up and running, projects that needed to be finalized, energy that needed to be extracted from the magic in the hexcrystals.
It had slipped Viktors mind, almost, until Jayce turned on the music in the lab one day, his usual choice of a blonde artists with multiple albums; today, he had opted for the dark gray album, the beauty of soft guitars and heavy drums rolling through the lab.
“Hey, Viktor.” Jayce said, and Viktor looked up from where he had been taking notes on the runes that were shifting before their very eyes, “What did General Faberey mean when he said it’s impossible to dance with you?”
“What do you mean?” Viktor asked, tilted his head ever so slightly; behind him, the runes were still pulsating softly. Almost in beat to Jayces music, it seemed.
“At the Gala. He said it’s impossible to ask you to dance.”
“Oh” Viktor said, shrugged as nonchalantly as possible, “That It is impossible for me to dance.” He said, tapped against his bad leg once; even in front of Jayce, he didn’t want to admit he couldn’t dance; but then he watched as Jayces entire face darkened for a moment.
“Did he say that? Such a stupid thing to say. Of course you can dance, if you have someone lead you who knows how to do so. I bet he’s an awful dancer.”
From where Viktor was sitting, the look in Jayces eyes almost looked a little jealous, and he reveled in it for a moment, before he raised his hand, shook his head a little. It was no use, making Jayce mad at a General, when he knew perfectly fine that the General had never uttered such words.
“No, no.” He said, “I can’t dance.” He added, and shrugged a little, “You know how it is. The best I can do is shuffle a little, maybe. Nothing like the pretty dances you dance at your Events.” He said, and he had expected many things, but not Jayce coming over to him, holding out his hand.
“I can show you” He said, “I’m sure you can dance just fine, if you have someone to guide you.”
Viktor winced, let his hand fall back into his lap. The truthful way, then; another reminder of the stark differences he had when it came to everything Jayce Talis was, and was not.
“I never learned how to dance, either, Jayce.” He said, “By the time I came here, I was already a cane user, and nobody expected a poor boy from Zaun at the Parties they were all going to, you know? So I never really learned.”
“Is that it?” Jayce asked, still suspended in disbelief, and Viktor raised his eyebrows a little, “If all that is stopping you is the lack of a Partner who knows how to guide you, and lack of knowledge…”
“It is not like people are lining up to teach me, Jayce.” Viktor said, turned back to his notes, and then turned back again, when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
“I could teach you. Right now, if you want.”
And there was so much to do, yet Viktor couldn’t really say No to Jayce Talis’ big eyes, asking for attention, for approval. Instead, he sighed and nodded.
The music continued playing as he got up, reaching for Jayce’s still held out hand; it was rough under his fingers, as it had always been when they touched just by accident. Sometimes, they touched with intention, too, but that was much rarer, and Viktor tried not to read too much into it.
He tried not reading too much into this either, as Jayce led him over to the one spot of their Lab that wasn’t filled with things and blackboards, notes and half-finished prototypes. Jayce let go of his hand for a second, pondered the Vinyl player. He exchanged the still spinning, orange-brownish vinyl for one that Viktor had bought, some more melodic orchestral pieces.
“More fitting,” Jayce said, smiled the smile Viktor liked so much, his teethy one. It was nice, because it reminded Viktor that even though all of Piltover sometimes looked up to Jayce and saw Jayce Talis, Man of Progress, inside the lab he still had a tooth gap and slightly too big front teeth, “Though I assume you could do a wonderful dance to some of these songs on here.”
He returned to where Viktor was, and, after a second of deliberation, nodded to the Cane, “We’ll try, okay? You hold onto me, and I’ll show that pompous General that you can dance just as well.”
It was - foreign, to rest his bodyweight on Jayce instead of the Cane for once, and he could feel his leg protest when he moved wrongly; Jayces soft voice muttered instructions against him, and Viktor looked down between them to make sure he was following the instructions given.
“You’re a good teacher” He said, after they had somehow navigated through one of the easier dances, as Jayce had described it.
He let go, expecting this to be the main course of it. So, he could dance, if someone was narrating every step, and he was able to rest his entire body weight on the person he was dancing with. Not exactly rosy thoughts, and not something he was sure to try out at the next Event he was being forced to go to.
“We’re not done yet” Jayce said, his voice a little rough around the edges, probably from explaining and getting stepped on a few times, “Can I try something?” He asked, “I can’t guarantee it will work, but…”
“But that is what we are Scientists for, hm? To try things?” Viktor asked, a slight tease in his words. How many times had he told Jayce exactly that after many failed experiments and more than three explosions that had singed their eyebrows right off.
Jayce gave him a relieved smile, and in the next moment, he had lifted Viktor off from the ground just ever so much that he was standing fully on Jayces feet.
“Do not lift me again” Viktor said, immediately, and looked up. Jayce looked down on him, his eyebrows a little furrowed. This close, Viktor could have counted the freckles on Jayce’s honey coloured skin - if there was any need for it. He had counted them already, one of the few times Jayce had fallen asleep at the Lab.
“Let’s just try like this.” Jayce murmured. His voice, this close, was touching dangerous territory in Viktor’s brain; the territory he kept reserved when he wanted to torture himself.
So, they tried like this.
It was almost hilariously easy to dance like this, when he had to focus on nothing else but clinging to Jayce; he was even able to rest most of his weight on his good leg, the bad leg only piping up every third spin or so - and there were a lot of spins Jayce guided them through.
He was sure it must have looked funny from the outside, as if Jayce was just dancing with himself.
But it felt good to dance like that; close to Jayce, guided through spins and slow steps, even an almost dip when Jayce felt like it. Viktor looked up, and saw that Jayce was staring right back at him, eyes dark and focused on his face.
“It does work” He murmured, but that didn’t break the spell of tension that laid above both of them as Jayce slowly maneuvered them back to the table where he rested Viktors cane, “If my only dance partner is you, I guess I can dance.”
Jayce gently helped him down from his own feet, and Viktor let him care for a moment, let Jayce hold out his cane and reach over to drag his chair to where they were now.
“Do you want to dance with anyone else?” He asked. Almost casually; if Viktor hadn’t known Jayce as well as he did, he might have fallen for it. Fallen for the forced casualty, the way Jayce didn’t meet his eyes as he usually did when he was nervous, afraid Viktor might get mad at him for whatever reason.
“No.” He said, truthfully, and the tension exploded like the hexcrystal did on that faithful night when they first met; Jayce gave him a smile, and Viktor smiled back, and then Jayce leaned over and interlaced their hands.
“Me neither, then.”