#a common trope in pre-s2 arcane divorce fics was viktor using the augmentations to save his own life and while that may not have come true

[danidoesathing]

A headcanon of mine is that League Viktor was also dealing with the same illness as his Arcane counterpart-but between Stanwick Pididly's absolute dickishness and Giopara being a jerk, he ultimately ended up hiding his illness and not telling anyone. This... Kind of bit him in the ass later when he was being tried, because he'd kept it a secret and revealing it then wouldn't have helped. (It probably wouldn't have helped much by that point, but hiding it made his research look absolutely insane and evil, instead of partially motivated by survival. (He is terminally unhinged, but all Viktors are by default.)

(Mostly, he kept it a secret because it didn't want even more pity and condescension from everyone; but another reason was because he didn't want Jayce to deal with the knowledge that his boyfriend/partner was dying of an incurable disease.)

(The sad thing about this HC is, I think Giopara would have been more accepting of Viktor's shady experiments if he knew why he was doing them-but Viktor kept it to himself, and the Defender didn't find out until years after Viktor became the Machine Herald. Giopara just thought he had an intense illness, but was under the impression he'd get better.)

OH THATS SO FUCKED (said with glee). i always thought that since it was likely Viktor's transformation happened earlier in his life (as they were still both students at the time of his exile) that his condition hadn't deteriorated nearly as much by the time he replaced his lungs but this is SO much worse (better). adds so many layers to it all

like viktor keeping his condition a secret because honestly what it would achieve? he's dying with or without the half-hearted pity of others, and he especially wouldn't want pity from the one person he likes respects. or even worse, depending if it was before or after the stanwick, he wouldn't think giopara would care, since he clearly misjudged how close they were. and then after the factory incident that just proves to him that jayce never would have cared or tried to understand the things he and other zaunites have to do to survive.

but like man. it could've been different. if he had told giopara straight away he probably would've been more understand. maybe he'd see the augmentations as trying to remove humanity but as a tool of survival. maybe he would've given viktor more benefit of the doubt, whether at the dive suits or at him asking for the crystals or even at the factory. maybe they never would've fought and viktor might've kept some faith in humanity. jayce doesn't understand but he could have.