#*rolls around and neglects adult job entirely to gush about this*

[tseecka]

@barnespls drew me the sweetest li'l JayVik sketch! Look at their pose! Their faces (Jayce's expression kills me, it's so sweet and vulnerable and needy, and Viktor's is so loving and indulgent, I am obsessed...)! The softness of the lines, the casual intimacy of their positioning, asldkgjdajgalkdjgalkjfakshga!

Anyways so I had to write about it obviously!

***

"Jayce, what is it?" Viktor asks quietly. He rests his fingertip on the page, marking his place as he pores through the proof, checking it once more for errors. "I was not expecting you back for another hour or so."

Jayce offers him a half-smile, but it melts from his face as quickly as it appeared as he scrubs a hand over his forehead and back, over his hair. "Council," is all he supplies; Viktor supposes, giving it a moment's consideration, that that's all he has to say.

He sets the notebook aside next to his hip, pages splayed and spine cracking, as Jayce's heavy footfalls cross the hard floor of their shared laboratory space. His partner has looked more tired every time he returns from another one of these useless Council meetings. Jayce tries his best to insulate him, he knows, not sharing the minutiae of what goes on in these discussions; but he's smart, and has many years of experience learning to read between the lines when Pilties attempt to be polite and politic around him. Usually, he is the butt of the joke in the lines spoken without speaking. With Jayce, it's the opposite.

He has managed to put together what happens behind those closed doors. The way Jayce is forced to stand at his seat and argue for the right of his people--Viktor's people--to exist. To lead lives that are rich and full, not bookended by suffering upon tragedy until they end far too soon. The way he must walk a precarious tightrope between ensuring the continued future of HexTech, and their dream, and finding ways to balance the pocketbooks of their investors. The way he has to put a price to every smile, every breath of unpoisoned air, of the people living in the fissures, so that he can balance the chequebook against the continued propserity of Piltover and the interests of its noble houses.

Jayce never complains, and he never gives up; but Viktor sees the weight of it on him, anyway, knows how much his partner would give to just be allowed to exist in their lab and work on the science and make the progress they've been dreaming of since this all started.

The meat of Jayce's palms collide with the edge of the lab bench, where Viktor has perched; when struggling with a particularly troublesome quandary, he sometimes finds benefit in finding a new physical perspective, to go along with the mental gymnastics of looking at the problem in a new way. He will suffer for this tomorrow, his back complaining from sitting on the unforgiving metal, his leg screaming from lack of proper support. But as Jayce leans, his weight pitching forward as though he is pulled toward's Viktor's frame, he thinks it must be a worthwhile cost.

"You are worth ten of them," he murmurs, as Jayce's head collides with his sternum. The man nuzzles his temple into the hard bone beneath Viktor's shirt and vest, pushing, as though he could get closer. In answer, Viktor lays his palm along Jayce's cheek, urging him gently nearer, to turn his head and rest his ear where he knows Jayce will hear his heart beating. He cradles Jayce's jaw in his hand, fingertips gently circling the flat plane just in front of his ear, massaging away the tension he knows he must be carrying in his jaw after hours of clenching it against the impulsive words and frustrated shouts Jayce wishes he could voice.

He feels as Jayce sags into him, the long, juttering sigh that he breathes, ruffling the lapel of Viktor's shift. Jayce lifts his own arms, wrapping them tightly around Viktor's slight frame. "I'm not worth anything, if I can't convince them to fund this project," he complains in a low mutter. Viktor tchs, and lower his head to press a kiss to the top of Jayce's hair.

"The Council does not decide the worth of the lives of the people of Zaun," he reminds Jayce gently, echoing back a paraphrased version of Jayce's own, oft-repeated, impassioned speeches, kindly spitting Jayce's own words back at him; then adds his own little flair to it. "Nor do they decide your worth. I think, perhaps, I am somewhat more of an expert on that subject than the stuffy Piltover elite, hmm?"

Jayce huffs a quiet little laugh, but says nothing, neither agreeing nor disagreeing; though Viktor feels the way his fingers tense where they hold gently to the back of his vest, his other hand spasming a little, clutching for safety against Viktor's thigh. That's all right, he thinks to himself. It is always hardest for Jayce to hear praise when he is fresh off of a defeat. He nuzzles deeper into Jayce's hair, breaking the cast of the styling products and separating the strands into something soft that he can nestle into. His lips purse in another, soft kiss.

"And I am telling you, miyela, that you are much more than whatever small box they have convinced you to tuck yourself away inside, today. Or do you not trust me, to know what is what?" His other arm comes up and around Jayce, gently stroking at the hairs at the nape of his neck, rubbing soothing little circles there, too. You have not disappointed me, he thinks, tries to communicate without words. You go to battle for me every day, and though you might not see it that way, that alone is enough. He can't think about it too much; it makes his heart ache.

He is gratified when that gets another soft laugh from Jayce, and this time, a tired but determined little nod. The warmth of Jayce's cheek is slowly smouldering through his clothes; it's a little damp, too, but Viktor chooses not to comment on it. Jayce has always been open with his emotions; they spill out his eyes more often than they do not, and Jayce does not appreciate it being commented on.

He pats Jayce's cheek gently with his hand, prompting the man to pull his face away from Viktor's chest, eyes blinking open and up at Viktor in a way that never fails to make his heartbeat stutter. He does his best to ignore it. "We will regroup, and tomorrow, we will try again. For today--perhaps you can help me decipher this proof? I am not certain that our application of Ramboldt's theory of equivalency has been correctly applied..." Jayce stays where he is between Viktor's knees, but reaches out for the notebook, flipping it over to see the work that Viktor has been reviewing. Entwined together in casual intimacy, they put their heads together, and continue the work.

A little jayvik sketchy for @tseecka !!! <3

[bonefall]

an interesting premise that's been rolling around in my brain: the clans and educational neglect? like sometimes cats have to double up on apprentices but some cats get kinda left behind. iirc,darkstripe and tigerclaw suggest doubling up when the time comes to apprentice fernpaw and ashpaw,and earlier,tigerclaw and lionheart both sort of mentor firepaw before he's switched to blue

The mentor/apprentice system is SUPER underused in the main series, especially as the series goes on. It's like it gets pushed to the side in favor of the familial drama, which is fine, but like... START with warriors, then?

I gush about TPB all the time but... maybe TPB should stop being so gush-worthy. The apprentice system in it is SO much better than later. Not only do you really FEEL like the main mentor is super important to the growth of the apprentice (Dustpelt's emotions towards Redtail, Ravenpaw breaking down over the first book, Firepaw and Bluestar), it ALSO so much less restrictive and open!

It's just... normal for apprentices to train with other warriors, end up on patrols without the main mentor, hang out on their own when they're not training. It really is like being a teenager and becoming a young adult, it's great.

And we should entirely get more cases of educational conflict. It sucks that no one mentions how Graystripe just utterly failed Brackenfur, or that Twigbranch had a whole journey about learning how to mentor her apprentice offscreen. I want bad matches, or mentors who are good friends but awful teachers, or even apprentices who are TAKEN from mentors who are doing a bad job.

It's such an untapped potential.