#Viktor was always just going to give up on humanity and isolate himself for no real reason. Jayce was really going to be in the right

[stromblessed]

I’ve hit that point where there’s so much about Arcane that I want to discuss and level-set about for my own sanity

only to realize that it doesn’t really matter because season 2 was so noncommittal and so defanged, it unravels season 1 too. Like you really just have to discuss season 1 as its own entity. Looping season 2 into deeper discussions actively makes season 1 crumble into something just as derivative and just as thematically lost. Just imagining that season 2 was what the writers were angling for even in the final drafts of season 1 makes me so sad

[easily-distracted-ivashkov]

The good that she added, was them having their own Mori news and media. That was honestly a good idea, it felt very for them but still isolated from the human world. Everything else though, made no sense. Why did she give Viktor, Lissa's speech, why is Christian not as sarcastic and ready to defend himself. Why kill Mikhail when his and Sonya's storyline is a big factor to the story later on. And if she was going to do Bloodlines. Killing him off would not work for Bloodlines. As Sonya and Mikhail's story is a big factor for Adrian and Sydney. Why did she keep Mason alive then, like I get fans liking him but why keep him alive. She just did the absolute most and didn't follow the books at all. Which had great setups anyways. I see why so many fans were angry when she was announced. I was trying to give her the benefit of the doubt, but she just took away too much. Again, not sure if it was you or another anon that said. She believes her own hype as a writer. Because it definitely showed in the series and she wasn't that creative with it either

Yeah I always imagined they'd have their own news in the Moroi world especially because of the royals and whatnot. There's no shortage of drama there it seems 🤣 But yeah another huge thing that upset me was how badly they did Christian. Like I ended up shipping Adrian and Lissa in the show more than anything (and I don't normally ship them). They did Christian so dirty and made him such a crybaby loser LOL

[viktuuriangstbang]

Viktuuri Angst Bang 2019 - Masterlist

Here is the extensive list of the incredible and angsty works created for the Viktuuri Angst Bang. Thank you to all our beloved participants for seeing to the success of this event. 

If you participated and you do NOT see your work here or have found an error, please email corrections to yoiangstbang@gmail.com.

Open the ‘Read More’ to check ratings, warnings, tags, and summaries.

The Affair by Clarinda. Art by  DyeingDoll.

Danse Macabre by AurumAuri. Art by Bectara

By Chance One Turns by Louciferish. Art by Izzyisosaki.

Bound by you by KuraiOfAnagura. Art by R-Tengu.

Our Time, Gone Forever by  AJ Wolf. Art (1,2) by Elianthos.

Body of Evidence by Revampired. Art by Eli Grey.

And all pieces fall right into place by cottonee. Art by mferret9.

Faceless by allollipoppins. Art by Heavy Henry. 

embedded in my chest (and it hurts to hold) by Ace of Japan. Art by Baph.

Can You Hear My Heartbeat? by SchalaDresdan. Art by Bectara. 

you're with me (not someone else) by Adrianna99. Art by Kathe.

Conventionally Yours by Songbirdsara.

I See the Light by black_tea_blue_pens. Art by Bectara.

The Cost of Winning by Daffy. Art by Diem.

Find me in me (Act 1) by LenaLawlipop. Art by Clarinda.

When We Collide by topcatnikki. Art by Clarinda.

Under the Midnight by Mazarin221b. Art (1, 2, 3) by Elianthos.

Genie In The Bottle by PaintingWithWords. Art by smolkristen.

All That We Hold of Heaven by Kazul9. Art by Purin.

Appalachian Harmony by Heavy Henry. Art by cupromantic.

over the oaks by owlishann. Art by Hecate Mist.

The Truth About Agape by Kastuuki. Art by Purin.

Red Cuffs of Fate by Gabzjones. Art by Cerisebio.

strange as angels by astudyinrose. Art by Bullsfish.

The Brightness of Gold and Silver by Katineto​. Art by Ace of Japan.

Drag Your Soul to Shore by LinneaKou. Art by Baph.

Trade all my tomorrows for just one yesterday by Briapia @briapia95. Art by DyeingDoll.

To Love And To Honour (Esp version) by Midnight_Luna. Art by Caramel.

When You Really, Really Miss Me by cleverlittleradiator. Art by Caramel.

Sing to me like steel by Ravensmores. Art by Impatvish.

Pleurosis by SnarkyBreeze. Art by rettlecake.

Whiskey Lullaby by Rae. Art by Andi.

*Summaries are trimmed to fit better; please visit fics on AO3 to view full details.  **Chapter counts are as of January 16th.

The Affair by @clarinda0110 . Art by @dyeingdoll

E, 20k, Complete, Series. Canon AU - real world. Yuuri sits down to be interviewed for a retrospect of the career of Viktor Nikiforov. He has quite a story to tell.

Danse Macabre by @aurum-auri​. Art by @bectara​.

E, 110k, Complete. AU - serial killer. Warnings: Violence, Non-con. When Yuuri finds himself in the clutches of an infamous serial killer, everything he thought he knew suddenly is called into question.

By Chance One Turns by @louciferish. Art by izzyisozaki.

M, 90k, Complete, Series. Canon divergence - Kid fic. In 2011, Victor Nikiforov disappeared from the world of figure skating. Desperate to send money home, Yuuri looks for a job in the US. (...)The last thing he expects is for Victor to be the one who opens the door.

Bound by you by  @kuraiofanagura​. Art by @rtengu​.

M, 4/5, WIP. AU - historical arranged marriage, omegaverse. Warnings: Violence. Victor was so much weaker than this omega. Because he was escorting his brother Yuri to marry the love of his life, Yuuri, the alpha prince of the land of the Red Sun.

Our Time, Gone Forever by @ajwolf84​. Art (1,2) by @bowldeepfannish​.

T, 5/6, WIP. AU - Archeology, time travel. It's the archeological find of the century and Viktor still can't quite believe he's a part of it.

Body of Evidence by @revampired. Art by @unicornsovermyrainbow.

E, 44k, Complete. AU - Jack the Ripper, omegaverse. Warnings: Violence. Lost and alone upon arrival in London, omega medical student Yuuri is rescued by and befriends a famous local prostitute, Victor Nikiforov.

And all pieces fall right into place by @v-katsuki​​. Art by @mferret9.

M, 4k, Complete. Canon divergence - after Barcelona. After the Grand Prix Final, Viktor and Yuuri go separate ways for the rest of the season. They try to make their long-distance relationship work while both prepare to win a gold medal.

Faceless by @allollipoppins. Art by @snarkonice​.

T, 1/10, Hiatus. AU - Werewolf, soulmates, dystopia. Warnings: Violence. A beast roamed the streets of Hasetsu come nightfall and preyed on all whose face it looked upon. (...) A new disappearance gives Yuuri an opportunity to get to the heart of the problem, and face his own - not without consequences.

embedded in my chest (and it hurts to hold) by @theliteraryluggage. Art by @anonbaph.

M, 105k, Complete. AU - Artists are millennials, hanahaki disease. In which Yuuri falls in love, then falls apart, one petal at a time.

Can You Hear My Heartbeat? by @schaladresdan. Art by @bectara​.

M, 7k, Complete, Series. AU - Androids, temporary character death. In this world, androids are commonplace. At 18, people of this world can choose whether they want to be ‘transferred’ to an ‘transfer androids’ or not when their human bodies die.

you're with me (not someone else) by @iwritebetterthanispeak​. Art by @mandolinearts.

G, 2k, Complete. Canon divergence - Injury. Yuuri falls on the quad flip. He and Viktor end up kissing anyway 

Conventionally Yours by @songbirdsarawrites.

T, 10/11, WIP. AU - Artists. Yuuri Katsuki is fascinated by charming young artist Victor Nikiforov when he encounters him behind an artist booth at a convention. Nearly two years later, with a table of his own, Yuuri gets the chance to meet his hero.

I See the Light by black_tea_blue_pens. Art by @bectara​.

T, 15k, Complete. AU - The Little Mermaid AU. Warnings: MCD. Victor is the Crown Prince of the abyss merfolk. In order to escape from his work and obligations, he makes trips searching for something. He discovers the surface and a young boy who likes to dance at the beach.

The Cost of Winning by @narcissuspseudonarcissus. Art by Diem.

M, 1/10, WIP.  AU - Fairy tale curses. Warnings: Violence. Everyone on the continent of Bayuria could see the storm clouds on the horizon as they watched the King of Leroy stripping his lands of resources, and his people of their dignity.

Find me in me (Act 1) by LenaLawlipop. Art by @clarinda0110.

M, 5/6, WIP. Canon divergence - suddendly supernatural elements, character study, isolation. I was at the banquet, wasn't I? At Sochi? My head hurts a little bit. I think I need to get up and figure out what's going on. It's... probably for the best.

When We Collide by @topcatnikki​. Art by @clarinda0110 .

M, 24k, Complete. Canon compliant - post series, relationship problems. Days laid in bed with their fingers twined and their lips connecting had turned into hurried kisses to the cheek as Yuuri rushed out of the door. Hours of conversation late into the night had become muttered 'goodnights' and waking up to empty beds.

Under the Midnight by @mazarin221b . Art (1, 2, 3) by @bowldeepfannish.

E, 2/5, WIP. AU - Fortune teller, magical realism. Yuuri Katsuki is a ballet teacher by day and fortune teller by night. Thing is, he is actually a real fortune teller. Into his strange little life he's built for himself walks one drunk figure skater, getting his fortune told on a dare.

Genie In The Bottle by @paintingwithwords. Art by @smolkristen.

E, 5/14, WIP, series (3). AU - Epidemiology. [Zebras among the horses followup] Things are going well for Yuuri Katsuki.  But danger looms on the horizon, as it always does for someone in his line of work.  When people start getting sick, Yuuri must race to find out what has been set loose... and if there's any way of stopping it.

All That We Hold of Heaven by @kazul9. Art by Purin.

T, 20k, Complete. AU - Fallen angel. Falling—the act of it, the emotion of it—means a lot of different things to different people.For Yuuri, it means everything.

Appalachian Harmony by @snarkonice. Art by @cupromantic.

Not rated, 15k, Complete. AU - Apalachian trial. Warnings: MCD. Newly sober and almost forty, Viktor Nikiforov realizes that he has to make a change. Never a fan of half-measures, he quits his job in corporate law, rents his swanky Manhattan condo to his younger cousin and takes off to hike the Appalachian Trail.

over the oaks by @owlishann. Art by @hecate-mist.

T, 27k, Complete. AU - Spacetrip, time travel. Books have always called Yuuri, ever since he was a child. So when he gets the chance to answer the call, he does, even if it implies crossing the milky way in a tiny spaceship with Victor Nikiforov —the man Yuuri has been pining after since they met— by his side.

The Truth About Agape by @kastuuki. Art by Purin.

M, 2/7, WIP. AU - Superhero, temporary charactter dead. Looking at the picture in the newspaper, the superhero is carrying Victor in the most cliché way they could ever find themselves in: a bridal carry. It has become an iconic photo and the city just ran with it. Everyone loves a good love story, even if it’s not entirely true.

Red Cuffs of Fate by @gabzjones. Art by Cerisebio.

E, 38k, Complete. AU - Crime and police, soulmates. It was his first job as detective; hunting down the ever elusive Mercury, a thief who got his kicks from simply getting away with the crime. Yuuri had gotten close. Really close. And then he noticed the mark of the soulmate bond on his hand.

strange as angels by astudyinrose. Art by @bullsfish.

M, 1/?, WIP. AU - Just like Heaven AU, apparent MCD. Yuuri has a traumatic fall, and he's absent from the rest of the series. After Victor's fifth straight title at Worlds he feels strangely despondent, so he decides to leave St. Petersburg. The first night in his new apartment, he's haunted by the ghost of a beautiful Japanese man he's never met before.

The Brightness of Gold and Silver by @katineto​. Art by @theliteraryluggage.

M, 7/16, WIP. AU - Royal, medieval monastery, omegaverse. After the death of his husband the king, Viktor—childless and powerless—finds himself relegated to a small convent far removed from the royal court and its political games. As he struggles to adapt to convent life, he begins to notice how desperately he desires one brother's compabullsny—even to the point of sin.

Drag Your Soul to Shore by LinneaKou. Art by @anonbaph.

M, 36k, Complete. Canon divergence - supernatural, curses. Just before Katsuki Yuuri advances to his first-ever Grand Prix Final, the skating world is sent reeling when a stranger destroys Viktor Nikiforov’s life in more ways than one, resulting in him being banned from competing and gaining the hatred of everyone he knows.

Trade all my tomorrows for just one yesterday by @briapia95. Art by @dyeingdoll.

T, 1/?, WIP. AU - Kyoukai no Kanata AU. The youmu stops and Viktor, vision blurred and confused, notices something he never thought he would see again. A sword, slightly curved to the back, red, and clearly made of blood is emerging from the youmu’s front. He knows who that kind of power belongs to, but he can’t bring himself to believe.

To Love And To Honour (Esp version) by Midnight_Luna. Art by @caramel-draws​.

T, 1/?, WIP. Canon compliant - Disney's Coco AU. Warnings: MCD. On the day of the Obon, Hikari Katsuki'll have to embark on a journey without precedent to the Land of the Dead, uncover the secrets that shattered her little family and find the real reason why her father never let her go near a skating rink.

When You Really, Really Miss Me by @cleverlittleradiator. Art by @caramel-draws​. 

M, 2/4, WIP. Canon compliant. Warnings: MCD. In which Yuuri dies, Viktor lives, and he's not the only one left to deal with the aftermath. 

Sing to me like steel by @ravensmores​. Art by @impatvish​.

E, 2/2, Complete. AU - Hospital.

“I just know I’d hate myself even more if I didn’t tell you.” Victor’s voice is surprisingly hesitant as he wipes his face, hand still resting softly in Yuuri’s. “If- if I didn’t ask if there was still a chance.”

“You killed people Victor.”

Pleurosis by @kingfisherunion. Art by @rettlecake.

T, 1/?, WIP. AU - Hanahaki. 

Viktor doesn't take Yuuri up on his offer at the Sochi banquet, but someone else does. Depersonalized, depressed, and doubting that he'll make it through another season of marketing himself to an uncaring public, Viktor finds himself ill at Worlds, and nothing he does seems to help. When Yakov takes on a new skater, Viktor's health takes a turn for the worse and he's suddenly faced with a dire choice.

Whiskey Lullaby by @justrae2010​. Art by Andi.

E, 8k, Complete. Warnings: MCD.

The divorce papers had come through a month later. Yuuri didn’t come back.

Victor needed a drink.

[viktormaru]

okay here’s my full character analysis??? Headcanons???? canon retelling with my shit slapped on??? on

VIKTOR LEAGUE OF LEGENDS

(under read more cause its gonna get long)

Viktor is said to be born in the borders of the Entresol level of Zaum (aka the middle), but I’m guessing that means the lower border because of how often he’d have to move or stay away from home due to accidents.

I assume Viktor had good parents. They were artisans and seemed to encourage his creative pursuits with robotics and so on. (I also believe he is trans and that his parents supported him in that as well haha).

So yes, we have this child who likes building things. And he lives in this place that is not healthy or safe for the people that live there. His parents probably go to the upper levels to work and Viktor gets a glimpse of a better place there. He sees where he’s at and at first, he is motivated by both kindness and frustration. He is a child with a passion and all these leaks and accidents are getting in the way! So he starts studying to see what he can do. Time passes though and he realizes the extent of those things, the casualities of those humam errors. So he takes his work more seriously and soon he is producing results. But of course no one takes a teen seriously, no matter how good he is.

Until someone does and it works. His inventions are good! So he keeps doing it! He’s awkward and socially anxious but he really LOVES building things so he does it and sells his work to the factories until he gets the attention of the Zaun academy of techmaturgy (this is canon btw). 

He goes into the academy and he’s.... awkward... Like, Zaun is full of weird people sure but Viktor is pretty bad at talking about anything but robotics and stuff and comes off as blunt often, so he’s kinda isolated by his peers. He doesn’t mind, he’s there to study. But professor stanwick approaches him with interest in his work and Viktor is happy he is recognized by a professional. He’s a little naive back then and trusts his teacher a lot. Which is why he is convinced to move to Piltover, despite a bit of his reluctance to leave his home. His parents wave him goodbye and he leaves.

He moves to Piltover and gets a better lab, more tools, more money and more people to help. His work just improves in time and he’s put to work with a lot of people. He once again fails incredibly of socializing properly and falls into isolation yet again (hello darkness my old friend). People end up working with him either because he’s really the best option or because they can stand him for the time he is needed {:- (

Well, that is, until he works with Jayce. Jayce is infurating and doesn’t do things the way Viktor likes doing and has this weird outlook on how things are done that sometimes just works despite it all. He’s a puzzle that doesn’t make sense and the two end up doing a lot of things together. And having a lot of discussions. A LOT of them. They are both kinda lonely. But its like.. they don’t dislike eachother?? Because they kind skipped some steps in how socializing usually goes so it just kinda worked. 

They could’ve kept going, getting comfortable in eachother’s spaces until they could just go out to chill together or something but neither of them was brave enough to try it (or smart enough to realize that could be good). 

But then at this time that awful chem spill happened in Zaun in the entresol level and Viktor rushes home to help.

I’d say this is where Viktor’s character starts like, solidifying I guess? Because I think for the first time, as a grown mature person, Viktor is seeing death and suffering with his own eyes. Death and suffering that could’ve been avoided. He’s watching all these people die and suffer and he can only do so much to repair the damage. If only it could’ve been avoided, could’ve been stopped. He knows it’s possible. Why didn’t anyone do it? 

He doesn’t find his parents either.

So he spends the next several months throwing all his energy and sanity into doing whatever he can to help these people. He builds blitzcrank and they fix evertyhign they can. It’s a fucking CHEM spill, can you imagine just how AWFUL it all was?? people were dying for several weeks after the accident , even after the damage to the structures were already fixed. These people were slowly suffering around him and he was trying and they kept dying around him. These are workers, families. It’s a pretty bad situation.

He learnes how to infuse mechanical parts with flesh in an astonishing way just to try to replace the rotten, sick parts of the people around him. Get rid of the parts that were kiling them.

And then! He finally goes back to Piltover, after it all, and the first thing he gets is the news that Stanwick stole credits on his invention of Blitzcrank.

Like.. the emotional toll of it all? He’s tired! He’s burdened with the ammount of death he saw and people wanna be shitty and play games like that for glory and fame! It’s stupid and he doesn’t understand it! He tries to fight for his right and loses because no one really bothered to support him through it (Jayce didn’t think he’d really have to and would you look at that).

He’s angry and upset and grieving and possibly traumatized. He keeps wondering why would people do that to eachother and comes up empty. So he’s here, obsessing with replacing every part of human error to garantee that people WILL live. Of course, he’s more isolated then ever and people don’t bother to sit down and listen, they just think he’s weird and obsessed and stuff like that.

So when he needs to do the colaboration on the dive suits with Jayce and they have their fight about free will, people side with Jayce quickly. They think Viktor is mad and they had seen it coming miles away. 

He gets fucking expelled from the Piltover academia and sent back to Zaun.

To his ruined home, alone, with nothing but his name and his thoughts.

Clearly that leads him into a deep depression. After all, he lost everything but he doesn’t understand why ! because sure these people in piltover like acting high and mighty and theorizing and politicizing but they didn’t have to watch children crying because they were coughing so much blood was coming out because their lungs were corroded and they wouldnt last another week. They thought viktor was mad. 

And viktor had a lot of time to wallow over it, and think about his failures and suffer on his own and he’s actual conclusion is that negative emotions ( envy, pride, sadness) clouded people’s judgemetns. They’d let others suffer for their own gain out of fear of losing. 

He thought that himself feeling sadness was just another obstacle to do what he had to: save people.

So he basically starts operating on himself until he can barely feel emotions anymore, removing his own happiness with it (but its not like he felt it anyway so what difference did it make). And then he starts plunging into work like never before, dedicated to this new cause that is the glorious evolution. He starts again from the bottom and once again he rises, because Viktor is a genious, and he is honest in his work, in his intentions. He wants to help.

 People were scared of the Mad Man Viktor, but Viktor would do anything he could to save you if you came to him. He understood limits though, he never imposed over people. Do no harm, as they say ( what would be the point of doing that?? )

And then the other toxic even happens in Sump, another really bad one, and Viktor rushes in to help. He’s keeping these people alive in his lab but he knows he doesnt have the power to keep them so. So he goes to Jayce after an energy source.

He thinks Jayce will listen to him now, now Viktor isn’t emotive and easily hurt, now he isn’t insecure, he has a cause, he has something he fights for. A brighter tomorrow.

And Jayce calls him mad. 

Viktor is kind of dissapointed, he’d think Jayce, who has always been so uncaring of people’s opinion’s would at least try to understand. He doesn’t. So he takes the crystal by force from Jayce (petty arguments can be saved for later, those people on his lab needed him NOW).

When Jayce follows him there with a hammer he understands the stakes. 

One life against hundreds is an easy math. Viktor chooses to sacrifice Jayce (Jayce chose to come here after all)

But then Jayce actually destroys his lab.

And like... imagine waking up to your laboratory destroyed, just dozens of corpses of innocent people laying around. yet another failure, yet another big price to pay.

He has to start from zero again. His reputation is completely stepped on ( he is truly crazy now by everyone’s eyes) and Jayce is a hero. Blitzcrank sticks around for a little while, moved by the same passion to help people, but blitzcrank can stand the deaths and the gruesomeness of viktor’s work, he leaves to try to help in other ways. Viktor lets him of course, blitz has free will and he isn’t anyone to stop him. 

Some people, desperate people, still come to him for help. He does his best to give them what they need. A strange cult forms and idolizes him, he hates it, he is no god, he is just another man. People thinking of him as an etheral being just proves his theory on how fear and wayward emotions lead to dumb, dangerous mistakes.

In the end, Viktor is trying to cheat suffering, cheat death at all costs.

I don’t believe he sent any golems or anything after Jayce, vengence is way too beneath him. Stealing? Maybe not, depends. I think Jayce became a bit paranoid after “defeating” viktor. Because Viktor said some big words and Jayce is suddenly realizing that truly, he has no purpose. He’s just a useless tool. He makes things sure, but what for? He’s raised as a hero but damn he doesn’t feel like it.

And to end it all, this is why I think Ekko and Viktor should sit down and chat at some point. They are so similar and so different all at once. They both love Zaun and its people, they both wanna protect them and have a passion for inventing. But while Viktor wants to reject his human side to achieve his goals, Ekko embraces it. Like, I don’t think Viktor shouldn’t even be his mentor, more like his colleague. Ekko is his own person and has a different way of doing things, but they could do a lot together as well. 

Also Ekko and Blitz are totally friends in canon so like.. yeah.. Zaun for life....

Anyway this is it thank tou all for reading this is UUUH like 1,8k words long 

extras or stuff I already said and will say again:

viktor is trans

he was an anxious yet hopeful (and maybe a bit naive) teenager

he still loves sweet things and thats canon.. he likes chilling sometimes

workaholic as seen

blames himself for literally everything like a dumbass

is kinda of very afraid of death in general

is not the kind of person that steals children to experiment on them cmon guys thats propaganda

is embarrassed of the cult following him

i guess he doesnt have his whole left arm anymore, chop chop it went

USED braces as  kid

loves blitzcrank like a son, doesnt realize it

I think thats all, sorry yall

[viktorredemptionarc]

Fic: Make me feel glorious [JayceViktor]

A/N: Available @ AO3 too. Set before Viktor starts working on Blitzcrank. I'd like to thank Riot for giving us this good good college au in the lore even though they then decided to make the boys tragic and hurt us all.

Word Count: 4.438.

Characters/Relationships: Jayce/Viktor.

Rating: G.

Summary: Jayce has got it bad.

Jayce wasn't expecting this party to be any less dull than the rest, but somehow it has managed to surpass all previous ones. He dreads the idea, but maybe he's getting old. Or the others are getting old, and less interesting with age, which sounds more likely. That seems to be the case with Professor Stanwick Pididly, at least.

He's heard about his new protégée. A supposedly bright and innovative man from Zaun that Stanwick stole from the Academy of Techmaturgy. Jayce has yet to meet him, and he can't say that he's thrilled at the prospect. Most people around him are boring, and those who aren't can only keep him interested for so long. That's the burden he must carry, with an intellect like his.

He taps his fingers on his empty glass, looking around. Nobody seems interested in approaching him. Jayce is aware that they know better than to, and his stomach twists with  uncomfortable, yet not uncommon, loneliness.

"Excuse me," Jayce looks at the man in front of him, and can't pinpoint who he is. Young, maybe around his age. He looks extremely unimpressed, and his weary eyes and rigid posture hint at how unused to this kind of gatherings he might be. "Do you have any idea when we'll be able to leave?"

Jayce shrugs. "Beats me. They could keep at it for hours, they could decide to wrap it up in ten. Who are you, though? Don't know your name, and that doesn't say anything good about you."

The man, to his credit, seems to remain calm.

"Viktor. Professor Pididly's pupil," he spits the word pupil out as if it's something rotten, even though his tone is even and tame. Jayce almost smiles. "I don't have the faintest idea who you are, either, wonder what that says about you exactly."

Ah, the bright and innovative man from Zaun it is. Quite a mouth on that one, it seems. Jayce narrows his eyes, considering if getting riled up by Stanwick's latest fancy is worth it or not. Stanwick will get tired of this man, he presumes, and move on to something else soon. That's always been his way.

"Jayce. Why are you here, exactly?"

He knows that people think that he's rude. Some might have left by now. Viktor, though, laughs. As if it wasn't a jab, which it was, and it's dry and humorless and it makes Jayce blink at him in astonishment.

"Not because I bloody want to, that's for sure," Viktor says, looking around with a grimace, and Jayce finds himself caught sharing a sympathetic little look with him. Just a tiny one. Because he hates these Progress Day parties with a passion. "I don't understand the need for this. We could all be doing more interesting stuff right about now, if we weren't losing our time here."

Grumpy. Jayce finds that he agrees, though, and he nods.

"A waste of time and intellect. Not that there's much of the latter to go around, mind you."

Viktor settles by his side, leaning against the table and looking at the rest of the guests. Jayce looks at his profile for a second, then finds Stanwick in the crowd and his jaw clenches. Sleazy little man.

"And it's all here anyway, isn't it? Right where you are standing," his tone is so flat that it takes Jayce a beat to catch up with the fact that he's teasing.

"It's nice to see someone who can recognize talent once in a while, that much I can't deny," Jayce leaves his glass on the table and Viktor laughs again, that sharp and short laugh, and folds his arms in front of his chest.

"At least you're not set on talking about the benefits of the status quo," Viktor spits, eyebrows pinched. He's been talking to some of their colleagues, then. Old and stupid, the lot of them. "Absurd, that Piltover's Academy holds such ignorance between its walls."

Jayce elbows him, and Viktor glares. It's the most emotional reaction he's gotten out of him. It would have intimidated a lesser man, he supposes.  

"They're holding you, aren't they."

Viktor sighs.

"Do you even know anything about me. I suspect you don't, yet you diminish me. It's interesting, if irritating."

The thing is that Jayce has been told that he's unpleasant. He knows that. People expect him to be humble, virtuous, and less of a jerk. When he fails to deliver, others usually tend to make their disappointment very clear in ways that sometimes can hurt.

This Viktor character has just said that he is irritating, he's done that openly, but Jayce doesn't feel hurt. It's amusing, if anything, the way he tries to make Jayce see reason.

"I know that Stanwick thinks that you are, quote unquote, bright and innovative," Jayce looks at Viktor, but Viktor isn't looking at him and he can't read anything in the way he stands. Still rigid, which must be tiresome, and little else. "I know that you intended to attend the Academy of Techmaturgy but ended up here instead. I know that this hall is full of idiots, and you might be one too."

Viktor shrugs. "Fair enough. Doesn't exclude you as an idiot, though. They seem to accept anyone here. Quite the disappointment."

Jayce, albeit reluctantly, has to admit that he likes how quick on his feet this Viktor is. Not a second to catch his breath, not a spare moment to reflect on his words, not a sliver of humility or fear. He gives as good as he takes.

It's stimulating, and Jayce wonders for the first time in a long time if this man would be able to keep up with him if they started talking about something more serious. About progress, and the future, and robotics, and everything there is to talk about when they are both academics. It would be nice, if he could, but Jayce will keep his hopes down. He might have a quick wit, but that doesn't assure a strong mind. Or an interesting one, for that matter.

"Please, Viktor, do tell me about your research then," Viktor glances his way, and Jayce can swear that he sees the corner of his lip quirk up for the briefest moment.

By the end of the night, he's thrown all caution to the wind. This man has a view of the world that's not at odds with his, if they do disagree on some points, and a fascinating take on matters. He's direct, doesn't talk in circles, only bothers with theatrics if he feels that Jayce is getting bored. Viktor seems keen on calling him out when he starts getting arrogant, and the word flamboyant has been tossed around more than would have been ideal by the time the guests are guided out of the hall.

As they step out, Jayce finds that he wants to keep talking to Viktor even though they must have been at it for hours.

It's something he hasn't felt in a while.

He wouldn't mind getting used to it.

-x-

Stanwick's fancy was passing, but Viktor stays nonetheless, and as months go by Jayce can't say that he isn't grateful.

For a while, he entertained the notion of that conversation during the party being an exception. It would've been comfortable, easier, somehow. A one-time occurrence, a fond memory, and nothing else.

As it happens, Viktor keeps on surpassing his expectations in what seems to be an effortless way. At first, it was disconcerting. Jayce was thrown out of balance by it, caught in a situation that was as odd as Viktor. Where everyone would have already left, Viktor stayed. Dry, and disagreeable, but still there.

"You are doing that thing again," Jayce blinks, shaking himself out of his reverie. Viktor is staring at him, looking utterly unimpressed. "Zoning out, not paying attention as I speak."

Jayce grins, as wide and cocky as it gets. "You must have been saying some pretty boring things."

"I thought you were interested  in the deconstruction of the notion of humanity, but I must have been mistaken," the artificial light of the lab is harsh and sharpens Viktor's features to the point of making him look unapproachable. Jayce traces the long, straight, lines of his face with his eyes as he reflects on his words. Carefully. This is a matter in which they clash, and Jayce cares enough to come up with good arguments when Viktor is concerned.

He does care a lot, doesn't he. Worryingly so.

But that is something to ponder about later, when he's alone and Viktor isn't looking at him with a bland smile on his lips. As if he's expecting him to disappoint. Jayce bristles, irritated.

"Why focus so much on deconstruction instead of reconstruction?" Jayce says, and his stomach twists as Viktor's eyes light up with interest.

Viktor stands from his desk and walks towards Jayce. With time, he has learnt that his weary and rigid posture wasn't due to the party, it's just the way he holds himself. He would like to see him unravel some time, for scientific purposes if nothing else. So tight coiled, Viktor.

"Reconstruction does need previous deconstruction,"  he mumbles, and Jayce guesses that he's talking mostly to himself and has approached merely so that he can listen instead of missing it. He does that, sometimes, when he doesn't forget that Jayce is there. For all he accuses him of zoning out, he has a tendency to retreat into his own little world and isolate himself. Jayce has gotten used to that, and he has a second to be alarmed before Viktor chatters on. "Which doesn't mean destruction, mind you. It's way more complicated than that, isn't it? We can't work from nothing."

Jayce snorts, amused.

"Can't we?" Viktor's eyes snap to his, open wide and startled. He had forgotten about him. Impressive. "Isn't that what we do here?"

Viktor huffs. "Of course not. I was aware of how full of yourself you were, but this is ridiculous. From nothingness, nothing can be made."

"Everything can be made from nothing," simplistic, he knows. Viktor will harp on that with a vengeance. Jayce doesn't specially care. He did, during the first days, when he still wasn't sure whether or not Viktor was on his level. But, as it happens, he is and it makes for an interesting conversation or two. Jayce can deal with some teasing if that's the price.

"Is that really how you're going to defend your point?" Viktor quirks an eyebrow, and Jayce shrugs. It's true. As true as vaguely philosophical statements can get. They're academics, intellectuals, they know that. "It's completely devoid of meaning."

"Therefore it can be filled with meaning, and something can be created from nothing."

Viktor's eyes narrow. "Do you oversimplify everything like that?"

There it is.

It's going to be a very long evening. Jayce can't say that he minds.

-x-

Jayce is having a bad day. The worst he's had in quite a while. His head hurts, he feels sluggish and irritable, and people won't stop chitchatting at him as if he wants to listen to anything they've got to say.

He's about to snap at Stanwick, sitting in one of his lectures, when the door opens and in comes Viktor, as tense as ever, looking slightly harassed and incredibly tired. The way Jayce's entire body uncoils and relaxes at the sight of him is very worrisome.

Maybe it's familiarity. Maybe it's because Viktor is the only thing he's ever had even remotely close to a friend. That must be it. What else could it be.

His head hurts too much to think about it, anyway, and as Viktor sits by his side and squints at the blackboards Jayce entertains himself with looking at him. That is a thing that he does a lot too, isn't it. Worrisome.

Worrisome.

"Good grief, is that how Pididly is trying to explain the self?"

Jayce snorts. "It is, indeed. Aren't you glad to be his pupil, now?"      

"Shut up. I am not his pupil anymore," Viktor huffs, and Jayce can feel his exasperation rolling out of him in waves. "Those concepts have been outdated for decades."

"His understanding of the self has been outdated for decades," Stanwick has been writing some very misleading crap on his blackboards. Jayce loathes to see how many of the students are hanging on every single one of his words. It's dangerous. They're supposed to be Piltover's Finest, not Piltover's Sort Of Better Than Some People Maybe Who Haven't Read A Single Book.

"Our self is our essence," Stanwick says, and Viktor's pencil snaps between his fingers.

"Crap."

"Ease up."

"I can't, he's telling a room full of students that there is an essence."

Jayce snorts. It's the way he says it, so serious, so scandalized. It almost makes him forget about his horrid day.

Until Stanwick's eyes are on him.

"Mind telling the class the joke, Jayce?"

Crap indeed.

Jayce has nothing to lose, though, and he has never been famous for his self control or his sense of propriety.

"That concept of the self," he answers, and Stanwick frowns.

"You think you can explain it better?"

Whispers start rising around him. Viktor is the only one who seems to be silent, drilling Stanwick with a very unimpressed look of his own. As someone who's on the other end of that look very often, Jayce knows how annoying it can get.

"I think I can at least explain a concept of the self that isn't archaic," Jayce smirks. Stanwick bristles.

"Enough. Get out of my class."

Well, it's not like it's a great loss. Maybe even the opposite. He could catch up on some work up in the lab.

"He's right, though," Jayce freezes, halfway into standing up. Viktor has talked, deadpan. Stanwick glowers. "Equating the self to an essence is arbitrary at best and outright dangerous at worst."

"Leave. Both of you."

Their way to the door is almost solemn. Silent, slow, ceremonial. Viktor is playing along with him on this, and once the door closes behind their backs, Jayce starts laughing and doesn't seem to be able to stop.

"I can't believe you, Viktor," he nudges him with an elbow, and Viktor grumbles under his breath but smiles. "Thank you. A bit on the dramatic side, but great performance back there."

Viktor slaps  his arm, but the smile is still there. "Desist. It was nothing. You're the one who appeared set on starting a revolution."

He has a comeback on the tip of the tongue, he does. It's a good one, too, but all of a sudden he can't speak.

As he looks at Viktor, at the ever present tense line of his shoulders and the way he scrunches his nose as he thinks, Jayce finds himself wanting to kiss his reluctant smile.

Worrisome indeed.

-x-

The next morning, Jayce looks at himself in the mirror half expecting something, anything, to have changed. Yet he's still the same, nothing seems out of place. It doesn't feel right, that there hasn't been a significant noticeable change in him after realizing that he's fallen hard for Viktor.

When he gets to the lab, he's in a tangled mess of conflicting emotions that both annoy and terrify him, but at least he's alone. It won't be long until Viktor gets there, though, and he sits on his desk dreading the moment he does, and frowning at the books and pieces of paper on it as if they're at fault for his situation.

But Viktor arrives, muttering under his breath and looking like he hasn't had a blink of sleep, and Jayce looks at him and feels oddly settled. It's fine. He will be alright, they will be alright.

"I'm starting to worry about you," Viktor says, amused, and Jayce frowns. "I've said good morning three times."

Oh. He does have to work on this attention thing, doesn't he. Even the more so now that he has to worry about Viktor finding out. Which is a possibility that he hadn't even contemplated, not telling him but Viktor being able to figure it out on his own.

Jayce sighs. "Good for you, maybe," Viktor quirks an eyebrow his way, but doesn't comment. He's grateful. He feels like the barest of nagging would make him crack and tell him everything.

He throws himself into his work. Letting his mind wander won't do him any good and he does need to get things sorted out. He tinkers with mechanisms, reads lines upon lines of data that he's already used, and tries to avoid Viktor as nonchalantly as he can. It's easy enough, since Viktor has his own things to do, and Jayce is glad to see that by the end of the morning he has managed to both tune him out completely and stop thinking about the matter.

Yes. Good. It's fine. He can do this.

-x-

He can't do this.

It seemed easy enough, last week, when they each had their own thing to work on. He does think that Viktor has noticed that he's been avoidant, but he won't speak up and that's alright with Jayce.

But they've been assigned to the same project, now, and that requires not only spending a lot of time in the same lab, but doing it together.

Paying attention to each other, and talking, and being in close proximity.

Jayce spends the days with his emotions in an awful mess of anxiety, fear, longing, and hopefulness. He's hyperaware of Viktor in a way that he supposes is his own fault after trying to ignore him for so long, and he notices everything.

Like the way his hair gets all over the place when he can't stop running his hands through it, which is happening right now and has Jayce transfixed. Jayce groans, pressing the heels of his hands against his eyes.

He's got it so bad.

"Are you okay?" Viktor asks, and the concern in his voice makes Jayce's stomach twist.

"Yes. Tired, is all."

It's not exactly a lie. He tries to smile at Viktor, to reassure him that it really is nothing, but it only makes Viktor frown and, alarmingly enough, cross the lab and sit on Jayce's desk.

"Why have you been avoiding me, exactly?" Viktor sounds calm, but Jayce knows him well enough by now to be aware that he must be at least worried if he's asking.

Jayce shrugs. "It's nothing. You don't have to worry about it," Viktor laughs, dry and sharp, and leans over Jayce and right into his space. Jayce tries to flatten against his chair.

"I am not worried, Jayce, I am livid," Jayce glances up at Viktor. His mouth is set in a thin line. He's as tense as he's ever been, and Jayce yearns to smooth his frown out and has to grip the arms of his chair instead. "What is going on."

Viktor is very close. His fringe brushes Jayce's forehead and he takes a shaky breath.

"Nothing. Viktor, it really is nothing that you have to be concerned about," he feels horrible the second the words leave his mouth. He knows they're harsh, he knows why he's said them.

Viktor jumps down from the desk, and Jayce knows that he's crossed the line. That if Viktor was livid before, now he's well beyond that. But he can't tell him. He just. He can't.

He doesn't try to talk to Jayce again that day.

-x-

"I'm sorry," Jayce has barely set foot in the lab when Viktor talks, standing by his own desk. His head is hanging low, and Jayce freezes by the door. "I shouldn't have pressured you yesterday it's just...I'm just frustrated."

Viktor raises his head and looks at him and it's like a punch. He sighs. Jayce doesn't know what to say, so he says nothing at all.

"I don't know how to help you, and you won't let me. Something is going on and I..." Viktor pauses, smiles ruefully at him in a way that doesn't reach his eyes and makes Jayce's heart clench in disapproval. "Forget it. I don't want to start all over again. What do we have to do today?"

Jayce feels like he had gotten close, so close, to getting something and it's been yanked away from him. He has no idea what it was, but he doesn't like the feeling.

"I meant it, what I said yesterday," Viktor's shoulders tense even more. Jayce didn't think it possible. "You really don't need to worry. I'm okay. I will fix it."

Viktor snorts. "As you do with everything, right?"

A wave of relief washes over him. It's okay. They're okay. Back to normal, and away from the odd tension and the scorn and the worry. It's fine.

"Exactly," feeling more confident than he has in days, Jayce strolls into the lab and to Viktor's desk and looks down at his notes. He pretends that he doesn't notice Viktor shuffling by his side, his arm pressing against his, his warmth. "What would you rather do, figure out why that gizmo Stanwick made isn't working, or read a million papers about things we already know?"

Viktor laughs, that awful laugh of his that makes something flutter in Jayce’s stomach no matter how horrible it is. He can feel his breath on his cheek. It's quite distracting.

"I don't know. Both sound thrilling," Viktor nudges him with his elbow and Jayce turns his head to look at him. So close. Again. What is it with Viktor and getting awfully close to him lately. "What do you want?"

Jayce's breath catches in his throat. Viktor looks like he knows. The barely there curve of a weary smile, tired eyes pinning Jayce to the floor. Like he knows and like he doesn't mind, and Jayce swallows around a knot in his throat because it can't be true. It must be his own mind. He is an arrogant idiot, or so he's been told. Many times. He can't read into everything. No matter how undeniably he can feel the tension around him, he can't trust himself.

He smiles nervously. "I call dibs on the gizmo," Viktor's groan does funny things to his stomach, and he regrets not being brave and trying to tell him the moment Viktor steps back to fiddle around a cupboard looking for the papers.

Again, Jayce feels like he was about to get something and it was yanked away just when he was grazing it with his fingers. Only now he's the one to blame.

Feeling confused and worn, Jayce sighs heavily and walks to the work bench.

-x-

Stanwick's invention doesn't work because it's built all wrong, and Jayce's frustration has reached its peak by the time the sun starts to set. It just doesn't make any sense. Its mechanism has been assembled in such a warped fashion that it's almost impossible to imagine how anyone would expect it to work.  

When Viktor approaches the work bench, Jayce is tired, sweaty, frustrated, angry and about as done with that thing as he's going to get.

"I see the thing still isn't working," Jayce grunts as only answer, and Viktor taps his shoulder. "May I?"

Jayce slumps on the chair, closes his eyes, and sighs as he hands Viktor the thing. "Suit yourself."

The sound of Viktor tinkering away at it by his side is soothing. He lets it warp around him, reveling in the closeness. Viktor starts to hum after a while and Jayce snickers, lazily opening an eye to look at him. He's focused, but relaxed. He has been messing his hair up and it's absolutely everywhere. His fingers move fast and sure around the thing, and Jayce hums. He's got it so incredibly bad.

"I found the problem," Viktor says, and Jayce opens both eyes and stands to look down at the thing. "The problem is everything, and we should throw this away."

Jayce snorts. "That we should do. Stanwick won't be pleased though."

Viktor shrugs, and Jayce can feel it against his own arm. So close, again. Unnervingly so.

"He isn't pleased with us anyway. Don't know why he hasn't kicked me out yet," he leaves the thing on the work bench and turns to face him. Jayce huffs.

"He hasn't kicked you out because he can't. You're brilliant, he wouldn't be able to justify it."

"That sounded dangerously close to a compliment."

"It was. Don't let it go to your head, though, I think one overbearing inventor per academy is quite enough."

"We are academics, don't think Piltover is going to run out of ego anytime soon," Viktor doesn't step back, and he's destroying Jayce with his closeness and his warmth and his teasing. His eyes are alight in a way that Jayce doesn't see often and it's wreaking havoc in his already crumbling resolve of never telling him.

He can't lose him, but it's getting ridiculous.

Viktor sobers up, still smiling but subdued, and everything about him seems softer then, under the dimming light of the laboratory. "It's good to have you back."

Jayce's breathing hitches. Looking into Viktor's eyes, searching, the feeling of being about to get something is back with a vengeance and he'll be damned if he lets it get yanked away again.

He takes a fortifying breath, straightens his back and reaches out to brush his fingers against Viktor's. He doesn't flinch, steadily holding Jayce's gaze.

"It's good to be back," he whispers. It's now or never. He doesn't know if he'll be able to do this again, if his nerve will hold. "I missed you."

Viktor takes his hand, and he's so relieved he's afraid his knees will give out.

"I missed you too," Jayce looks at Viktor, really looks, and stops trying to tell him that he can't see what he does. He sees the same longing he's feeling, the nervous anticipation, the barely there quirk of a bashful smile. He wants to kiss it.

He leans in, and he brushes his lips with Viktor's. It's everything and it's nothing, and Jayce closes his eyes and kisses him. Viktor kisses back, fingers clenched around Jayce's, and his heart beats strong and steady in his chest. Yes, he thinks, yes and finally and right, this is right.

Viktor leans back first, and he smirks at Jayce and Jayce rests his free hand on his hip mostly because he can.

"Could've done without the flamboyance for a while longer, though," Viktor says, and Jayce laughs and kisses his smirk away.