#the fact we are seeing exactly why jayce should be sorry about what he has done.... and we are seeing him suffer because of it... cinema ��

[hauntingblue]

ARCANE EPISODE 7!!!!

MY GOD I WASNT READY FOR ANY OF THIS!!! WHAT WAS THAT!!!

Also ekko wallpaper I got with my fries lmao

[binniedeactivated]

hi binnie i wanted to request a fem!reader x dom!yeonjun when she comes home late at night smelling like someone else’s cologne and he punishes her. (sorry this is very descriptive aha im no good at english ) :3

𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 | 𝐝𝐨𝐦!𝐲𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐣𝐮𝐧 𝐱 𝐟𝐞𝐦!𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐑𝐄 | 𝐬𝐦𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐬𝐭𝐲 𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐬

𝐖/𝐂 | 2.5k

𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 | 𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐱, 𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐚𝐠𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐬𝐞𝐱

“hyung, go to sleep”. soobin encourages over the video monitor.

“no we need to finish these lyrics”. yeonjun refuses. he was currently working from home in his home studio. it was more urgent to him than anyone else probably because of the real studio time he’s missed due to paternity leave. 

“hyung we can finish them tomorrow alright?”. soobin assures softly. he hated seeing the older stressing himself out. “how’s jayce? has he been sleeping okay?”. soobin asks.

yeonjun huffs and combs his hair back with his fingers in stress. he hasn’t been getting the sleep he wanted due to the six month old infant. especially since your boss needed you urgently, cutting your maternity leave and giving you later hours than usual. hence the reason why yeonjun has been practically banging his head over work. he palms his forehead in the video camera. soobin could see the weariness in his eyes.

“yeah I guess. I just put him down an hour ago. I hope he stays asleep”.

“good. you should use this time to get some sleep hyung”.

yeonjun huffs again, parting his lips to say something else before he heard the front door open and close softly. it was you trying to hurry and sneak in. maybe change your clothes and shower before yeonjun could suspect anything.

“fine I guess. I’ll get some sleep”.

“good. I’ll talk to you tomorrow hyung”.

“bye soobin”.

he waves before ending the call. he checks his watch. it was almost an hour later than when you normally came home. “babe is that you?”. he spoke.

you swiftly took your jacket off hanging it on the coat rack. you cursed under breath hating the fact that he even heard you arrive. “yes babe”. you call out from near the door.

“you know you’re like an hour late coming home. jayce was a handful today”.

you slip off your shoes. “I know, I’m sorry. I’m here now”. you tried to sound as sincere as possible. almost as if you weren’t fucking one of your best friends an hour prior.

yeonjun turns off his monitors and shuts off the equipment in his studio. he decided to check on the baby one last time before entering your shared bedroom. thank god he was still asleep.

“I’m not trying to be an asshole but baby I really need you here. why is your boss keeping you so late?”. yeonjun questions while you were digging into your closet. you were kind of glad he couldn’t see the guilty look on your face. but he definitely smelled the cologne each time you moved.

“I’m sorry it’s been really hectic at the company. I’ll talk to her to see if we can make some arrangements. why are you so upset junnie?”. you soft talked, hoping to butter him up. he sighs at the nickname, sneaking behind you to wrap his arms around your waist to smell you again on purpose.

you reeked of versace cologne. and yeonjun knew he never wore that kind.

“I’m not upset baby. I just miss you and jayce is always eating and crying”.

his lips sit at the coast of your collarbone. he peppers fluttering kisses until he reaches your neck. you breathed.

“isn’t that what you do too? eat and whine about things?” you accuse. yeonjun chuckles. “yes maybe”.

you wanted to shrug yeonjun off because honestly words couldn’t explain how fucked out you were. but you didn’t want him to think anything was up so you let his lips continue up your neck and finally to your jawline.

yeonjun could hear your breathing pattern shift due to his lips. but more than anything he saw how much you were trying to act like you wanted him, but really you wanted to tell him not tonight. that you didn’t feel like having sex because you already got your fix from someone else. and yeonjun knew it.

he pushes his bulge against your backside inching his lips to the corner of yours. you could feel him harden. “baby”. he hums. “baby please have sex with me”.

your heart raced at his words. you’ve never heard yeonjun beg in need before. you didn’t know how you were going to find the energy to oblige to his request. but he grips your waist tighter and you knew there was no letting go. he traces the outline of your breasts with his fingers, keeping note of the fact that your bra wasn’t on.

‘stupid’, yeonjun wanted to say. he knows you left the house with one on. yeonjun was furious.

“please? don’t you miss me?”. he whines again, sneaking a kiss to your lips. he glares into your eyes after he pulls away and you nod your head in counterfeit desperation. he grins into another kiss while his hand searched for the back of your thighs. while hoisting you up the both of you exchange sloppy kisses until you were being laid back onto the sheets.

he allows his tongue to roam your mouth once more before he pulls away with admiration glimmering in his eyes.

“I love you”.

you swallowed, the sheer happiness that overwhelmed him was enough to make you feel guilty about what you done. nevertheless you pout your lips and rub his cheek. “aw junnie. I love you too”.

he smiles and leans down to layer an abundance of kisses over your lips again. he  pins your wrists down gradually with his hands. “I know I haven’t been the best husband lately”. he complains in between kisses. “but I’ve been so tired and moody with the baby and you haven’t been here”. he raises your dress and pushes his bulge against the wetness of your panties. 

you pant feeling your breathing becoming shaky. “I’m sorry junnie. you’ve been the perfect husband okay? I don’t know what I was thinking working-- l-late like that”.

he tongue kisses your neck sliding your panties down your thighs in one quick movement. “you’re so pretty. I’ve been missing you”. slowly but surely he clutches your thighs and rocks down into your warmth. you wrap your arms around his neck with your gaspy moans driving straight into his ear.  your eyes roll up to the ceiling.

“godd---go a little softer junnie please”. you plead. and he follows your command slowly swaying his hips into you with care. he kisses your cheeks. “is this better baby?”. he pants into the small space between the both of your lips, satisfied with the way he was sheathed in your warmth. it felt so good and he hasn’t had it in so long.

“yes it’s perfect”. you mumble, grinding your hips against him at the same speed. it felt amazing. sex was always amazing with yeonjun. he leans down and plants another kiss on your lips. “so needy? what’s making my baby so needy? you missed me that much?”.

between your muffled cries you nodded. he was stretching you each time he inched deeper. he knew how much you loved him buried inside of you. enough to forget where you end and where he begins. “god yeonjun”. you whine against his neck. “i’ve missed you so much”. you whimper back. you felt so ashamed. you knew no one could ever fuck you like yeonjun could.

“I don’t want you to ever miss me baby. I want to always be here to love you and give what you want when you want it”.

you hold him against you, melting each time he bucks into you and feeling guilt eat you alive each time he spoke. “I’d love that so much”. you reply hazily glaring up into his eyes.

“and I love you-”. he cut himself off with a hard thrust jolting your body upwards. you gasp. he chuckles into your neck. “fuck--i hope you don’t think I’m a pervert. asking for sex as soon as you walk in the door”.

“mmmh no junnie-- you’re just as needy as I am”.

with his head buried into your neck he fucks into you a bit faster, groaning at the way you felt wrapped around his length. he got his desired effect though. you with parted lips clawing at his back. each time he rocked into you he heard you choke on your own moans and that’s exactly what he wanted. it turned him on.

“junnie I’m going to cum if you keep going like this---that’s why I want you to g-go slower”.

“I’m sorry it’s been so long I can’t control myself”. he tries his best to go at a slower pace but each time he tried he went back to the same pace he started with. you’re not far behind your orgasm and yeonjun knew just by the stutter in your hips.

“tell me when you’re about to cum baby”. he breathes.

“I’m a-about to ccum right now”. you were nearly shaking beneath him. and just as you felt like you were about release yeonjun stops his movements completely. you sank into confusion until you felt him roughly create a makeshift ponytail out of your hair and pin it against the bed above your head so you couldn’t move.

his facial expression immediately changed. instead he looked angry. his eyes were scary glaring down into yours.

“did you really think I’d let you cum you fucking cheater?”.

you glanced up at him with horror. “junnie--”.

“don’t fucking soft talk me“.

you crumbled at his tone of voice. he started pounding into you whilst biting his lips. you whimper in his hands.

“whose cologne is that hm?”.

if you weren’t choking to death on your moans before you were definitely were choking on them now. he was making you feel so good you could barely think of anything else while he was fucking you like this. you felt your orgasm build back up quickly.

“w-what cologne?”. he thrusts rough and sharp and stops just after he felt your hips stutter. you whine in desperation to cum just once. it felt like a punch in the gut.

“don’t play stupid. whose cologne are you wearing?”.

“it’s yyours”. you wanted to crawl into a hole and hide at the way he practically growled at you. he lowers his lips allowing them to overshadow yours.

“that’s not my fucking cologne and you know that. I don’t wear versace cologne. so how about you tell me who does?”.

and right there, he was filling you again. pushing his length into your depth just how you liked it, knowing it drove you insane. knowing it was just enough to make you want to cum again. his strokes were painfully slow, making your body wallow in a feeling of pleasure and anxiousness.  he bites his lips again.

“I think I like you like this. not being able to cum. you feel better around me”.

he’s groaning and you felt heat sit in your cheeks. your hips bucked up with need and he’s snapping his hips into you until he felt you stutter again. you pant heavily, grasping his shirt.

“yyeonjun please--pplease don’t stop I need to cum!”.

“tell me who wears versace cologne”. he snarls. in absolute desperation you answer, “a cclose friend of mine!”.

and just as you were about to finally cum his hips come to a halt once more.  you felt tears cascade down your cheeks. he chuckles in the midst of your pain.

“and you weren’t even smart enough to put your bra on before coming home to me. you’re pathetic as fuck. do you know that?”. he rocks his hips down again with brutal thrusts.

“jjunnie I’m sorry! it’s just I’ve been feeling so unsatisfied lately“.

yeonjun casts his eyes down on you with no remorse. he cared nothing about your explanation or your tears. you whimpered against his chest.

“how long have you been doing this? don’t lie to me”.

your needy cries were muffled into the material of his shirt. you decided to reply honestly. “s-since jayce was three months”. you sniffle.  “please let me cum yeonjun”.

for an affair that he thought was only just a few weeks ended up being months. yeonjun couldn’t believe you. he couldn’t believe you’d intentionally sabotage the family that the both of you started together. he knows he was stressed and moody lately but it was because he was taking care of jayce by himself. and you were no where to be found. tears rimmed his eyes.

his hips stop and he cums good and hard just how he hoped. except you didn’t. you were a tear stained mess beneath him shaking and crying. yet he didn’t care. he leaned off of you and started zipping up his pants. and almost as if he could sense that his father was near, jayce began to softly cry in the next room over.

yeonjun glares down at you in pure disgust.

“I want you to pack your stuff and get out of my house”.

[beclynn-herondale]

In Another Universe Chapter: 11 - Retrieving the Mortal Cup

It was still slightly raining when Simone pulled up at the corner and honked at them twice. Clar's heart took a leap, a part of him was worried she wouldn't come. Jayce squinted through the rain and said something about how the van looked like a rotting banana, which wasn't wrong.

Simone honked again. Clar saw her through the blurry wet windows. with a sigh he pulled his hood up over his head. "Come on, let's go."

They splashed through the filthy puddles on the pavement.

Simone crawled into the back to open the door for them, revealing the torn and beaten up seats, that had springs sticking out.

Isidore's nose wrinkled. "Are these safe to sit on?" "It's safer than riding on the roof," said Simone in a pleasant tone. "Which is your other option." She nodded a greeting at Jayce and Alec, ignoring Clar entirely. "Hi." "Hi indeed," said Jayce, and lifted a bag that held their weapons. "Where can we put these?" Simone pointed to the back, where the girls usually kept their instruments, while Alec and Isidore climbed into the van and sat on the seats.

"Shotgun!" Clar announced as Jayce made her back around the side of the van. Alec grabbed for her bow strapped across her back. "Where?" "He means he wants to sit in the front seat," said Jayce, pushing wet hair behind her ear. "It's something mundanes say."

"That's a very nice bow," said Simone, with a nod towards Alec. Alec blinked water off her eyelashes. "Do you know anything about archery?" she asked, in a tone of doubt. "I did archery camp," said Simone. "Six years of it." The response for this was three blank stares and Clar giving a supportive smile, which Simone ignored as well. She looked up at the sky.

"We should get going before it starts raining again." The front seat was covered in chip wrappers and food crumbs. Clar brushed as much as he could off.  Simone put her foot to the pedal before he'd finished, and flung him back against the seat. "Ow," he said. "Sorry." She still didn't look at him.

Clar heard the soft talking of the others in the back, probably discussing battle plans and the best way to cut off a demons head with getting ichor on your new leather boots. There was nothing separating the others from the front of the van, Clar still felt the awkwardness between him and Simone.

"So what's up with the 'hi' thing?" he asked as Simone turned the car. "What 'hi' thing?" she replied. "The 'hi' thing that people do. How when you saw Jayce and Alec, you said 'hi' and they replied 'hi' back. Why not 'hello'?" "Hello is not badass," she informed him. "Real badasses are laconic."

"So you're saying the more badass you are, the less you say?" "Exactly." She nodded past him, he could see the east river. "That's why in the movies the badasses don't say a word, just nod. The nod means 'i am a badass, and I recognize that you are a badass as well,' but they don't say anything cause they are Wolverine and Magneto and it would mess up their vibe to explain it."

"I don't have the slightest idea what you are talking about," said Jayce, from the back.

"Good," Clary said, and Simone gave him a small smile.

——————

When they got to Clar's house, the rain had stopped. Jayce, Alec, and Isidore, went to check the "demon activity levels" while they had Clar and Simone wait by the van.

Simone watched them as they went around the house. "Demon activity levels? Do demons like do workouts inside the house or something?" "No," Clar said and pushed his hood back. "The sensor tells them how powerful the demons are and if there are any demons around." Simone had an impressed look. "That's actually very helpful."

He looked at her. "About last night—" She held her hand up. "Don't. We don't need to talk about it. In fact I don't want to talk about it." "Let me say one thing," he spoke quickly. "I know when you said you loved me, my reply was not what you wanted." "True. I had always thought when I finally told someone 'I love you' they'd say 'I know' back, like in Starwars." "You're so geeky," said Clar, not able to help himself.

She gave him a glare. "Sorry," he said. "Look, Simone i—" "No," she said. "You look, Clar. Really look at me. Do you think you can do that?"

He looked at her. Looked at her brown eyes, her uneven eyebrows, her dark brown hair and shy smile and her hands graceful like a musician's that was all part of Simone, who was part of him. If he told the truth, could he really say that he'd never known she had loved him? Or that he had just never thought what he'd do about it if she did?

He sighed. "Seeing through glamour is easy. It's people that are difficult." "We see what we want to see," she said quietly. "Not Jayce," he said, thinking about those clear and emotionless eyes of her's. "Her more than anyone."

He gave a frown. "What—" "Okay," called Jayce's voice, interrupting their conversation. He turned to her. "We have checked it all, nothing. Very low activity. Most likely just Forsaken, and they probably won't bother us unless we bother them." "And if they do bother us," said Isidore, with a grin. "We'll take them down."

Alec pulled the bag out of the back of the van, dropping it onto the sidewalk. "You ready to kick some demon butt!" she announced. Jayce gave her a odd look. "Alec, are you ok?" "Fine." Not looking at her, Alec put her bow and arrows down in the back seat of the van and grabbed a wooden staff with two blades on the end. "This is much better." Isidore gave his sister a look of concern. "But your bow. . ." Alec cut him off. "I know what I am doing, Isidore."

The bow kay in the backseat, Simone reached a hand out to touch it, then drew back when she saw a group of young women pushing strollers down the street. They didn't notice the armed the three teenagers, standing by the van. "Why can I see you guys?" asked Simone. "What happened to your invincibility glamour?" "You can see us," said Jayce. "Because you know the truth of what you are looking at now." "Yeh," said Simone. "I suppose I do."

She fought a little when they insisted she stay back and wait with the van, Jayce told her the importance of needing getaway car by the curb and ready. "The sunlight is fatal for demons, but not to Forsaken. What if they come after us? What if the car were to get towed?"

The last Clar saw of Simone was her feet on the dash and going through Erica's CDs.

The moment they walked into the house the smell hit Clar, he couldn't quite describe it. it smelled like rotten eggs, bad meat and seaweed rotting in the hot sun. Isidore's nose wrinkled and Alec looked sick, but Jayce looked as if they were in a field of flowers and smelling the perfume of them. "There were demons here recently," she announced with a cold delight.

Clar with an anxious look, asked. "They aren't still here—" "Nope," she shook her head. "We would have picked it up on the sensor. Still." She jerked her chin towards Dorothea's door. "She may have questions to answer if the Clave finds out she has been dealing with demons." "I doubt the Clave will be happy to hear any of this," said Isidore. "Although, she'll probably fair better than us with this." "If we get the Cup they won't care," said Alec, looking around, her blue eyes taking in the foyer. "Especially if we take down a few Forsaken while we're at it." Jayce shook her head. "They are in the upper apartment. I guess that unless we try to get into the upper apartment, they won't bother us."

Isidore blew a strand of hair out of his face and frowned at Clar. "What you waiting for?" Involuntarily Clar glanced at Jayce, who gave him a sideways grin. Go on, her eyes said.

He walked across the foyer to Dorothea's door, gently stepping. The skylight was blackened with dirt and the entryway lightbulb was out,  the only light came from Jayce's witchlight. He reached the door and knocked lightly, and then again with more force.

The door swung open, light spilling out into the foyer. There stood Dorothea.

"Clar!" she exclaimed, and swept him into a hug. "Good God, boy," she said, shaking her head. "The last I saw of you, you disappeared through my portal. Where did you end up?" "Williamsburg," he said. Her eyebrows went up. "And yet they say there is no convenient pubic transportation here in Brooklyn."

She swung the door open all the way and gestured them inside. The place looked to be unchanged, everything the same as it was when Clar was here last: The same tarot cards and crystal ball on the table. He had the urge to grab the cards. Dorothea sat down in a armchair and stared at the Shadowhunters with Beady eyes. Scented candles burned on the table, which didn't do much for the smell that was in the entire house.

"I am assuming you still haven't found your mother and sister?" she asked Clar. He shook his head. "No. But I know who took them, now."

Dorothea darted her eyes towards Alec and Isidore, who were looking closely at the Hand of Fate on the wall. Jayce, looking unconcerned in the slightest in her role as bodyguard was lounging against a chair arm.

Satisfied that the none of her stuff was being destroyed, Dorothea looked back to Clar. "Was it by chance—" "Valentine," Clar confirmed. "Yes." She sighed. "I feared that," she sat back in her chair. "Do you know what he wants from her?" "I know that she was married to him—" "Love gone terribly wrong. The worst."

Jayce made a soft, almost inaudible noise at that—a chuckle. Dorothea pricked her ears at that. "What is so funny, girl?" "What do you know about it?" she said. "Love, I mean." "More than you may think," she said. "I read your tea leaves, little Shadowhunter, remember? Have you fallen in love with the wrong person yet?"

Clar thought back to that day, when Jayce seemed to not be paying much attention to Dorothea reading their tea leaves and him drawing the ace of cups, in fact he was almost sure Jayce was probably only half there until the name Valentine came up. But he remembered Madame Dorothea saying something about her falling in love with the wrong person, and he wondered if she even cared.

Jayce said. "Unfortunately, my one and only true love remains to be myself." Dorothea roared. "Well, at least," she said. "You don't need to worry about rejection, Jayce Wayland." "Not necessarily, I do turn myself down occasionally, to keep things interesting."

Dorothea roared again. Clar interrupted her. "You are probably wondering why we are here, Madame Dorothea." "I figured," said Dorothea, "That you enjoyed the pleasure of my company. Am I wrong?" "I don't have time for the pleasure of someone's company. I need to help my mom and sister, and to do that there is something I need."

"And that is?". "It is something called the Mortal Cup," Clar said. "Valentine thought that my mother had it. That is why he took her." Dorothea looked astonished. "The Cup of the Angel?" she said in disbelief. "Raziel's Cup, in which he mixed the blood of angels and of men and gave it to man to drink, and created the first Nephilim?" "That's the one," said Jayce with dryness in her voice.

"Why would he think she had it?" Dorothea demanded. "Why Jocelyn, of all people?" Realization started to dawn on he before Clar could say anything. "Because she was not Jocelyn Fray at all, yes of course," she said. "Back then she was Jocelyn Fairchild, his wife. Who everyone thought was dead. She took the Cup and fled, didn't she?"

Clar thought he saw something flick in her eyes but it was gone so fast that he thought he Imagined it.

"So," said Dorothea, "have you any idea what you're going to do now? Wherever she has hidden it, t can't be easy to find—that is if you even want to find it. Valentine could do horrible things with it." "I want to find it," said Clar. "We want—" Smoothly Jayce cut him off. "We know where it is," she said. "It is simply a matter of retrieving it."

Dorothea widened her eyes. "Then where is it?". "It's here," said Jayce, in such a smug tone that Alec and Isidore came over from the bookcase they were looking at to see what was happening. "Here? As in you have it on you?"

"Not exactly," said Jayce, who, Clar felt was enjoying herself in an appalling manner. "I mean you have it." "That isn't funny in the least," she said with such a sharp tone that Clar was worried everything had gone terribly wrong. Why does Jayce always have to antagonize everyone? "You do have it," said Clar quickly. "But you—"

Dorothea sat up from her chair to her full height and Looked down at them angrily. "You are mistaken," she said with ice in her voice. "In Imagining I have the Cup and in daring coming here and call me a liar."

Alec put her hand to the staff. "Uh, oh," she said under her breath.

Bafflely, Clar shook his head. "No," he said very quickly,  "I am not saying you're a liar, I swear. What I am saying is the Cup is here, just you never realized it." Madame Dorothea still looking at him coldly. "Explain," she said. "What I am saying is my mother hid it here," said Clar. "Years ago. But she never told you because it had nothing to do with you." "she gave it to you disguised," Jayce explained, "In the form of a gift."

Blanky Dorothea looked at her. Doesn't she realize? Clar thought,  he was puzzled. "The tarot cards," he said. "The card deck she painted for you."

Dorothea's gaze went to the cards on the table. "The cards?" Clar walked to the table and picked the deck up. He found the Ace of Cups and pulled it out, setting the rest of the cards back down. "Here," he said.

They all were looking at him, perfectly still. He slowly turned the card over and looked at his mother's artwork: the hand wrapped around the golden stem of the Mortal Cup.

"Jayce," he said. "I need your stele." She pressed it into his palm. He turned the card over and traced the runes that were painted on it— a twist there and line here, they meant something entirely different. When he turned the card back over, the picture had changed:;the fingers had released their grasp on the Cup, the hand seemed to be almost offering it to Clar as if saying, take it. He slid the stele into his pocket. And reached into the small square of the card. His hand wrapped around it and he pulled it out, and thought he heard small sighs before, the card that was now blank disappeared into ashes.

Tag list: @khaleesiofalicante @chibi-tsukiko @spotsandclawsthings @megs-readstoomuch @magnus-the-maqnificent @replayfootsteps @simply-ellas-stuff @bookfast-at-tiffanys @my-archerboy @jazzkaurtheglorious

[simpingforthisonedeer]

Chapter 3: A Reprise

Summary: Whiskey, flirting, crack, talk about magic, more whiskey and then, a loooot of frisky 😏😏😏

Notes: This is just a fun chapter at a whopping 7102 words but every detail is important so keep that in mind...

oh and there’s NSFW at the end ;)

Aika spent hours until evening helping Raymond and the rest of the captains to come up with formations for every thinkable scenario while enjoying food and drinks brought in by the servants. And then she happily spent the last hour with Julius to come up with contingencies for specific scenarios while the captains and the Magic Emperor either tried to relax, or took a power nap while the two laboured through.

It was early evening when they finished, and all the captains packed up their papers, maps, notes and the official plan. Aika took off her heels and sat down in the nearest empty chair with a groan. Captains walked by and patted her on the back sympathetically and in ‘goodbye’ as they dragged their feet out the door. All except one.

Aika laid her chin on the heel of her palm as she watched Julius decant what she assumed was whiskey, with half-closed eyes. A warm hand on her shoulder drew her out of her drowsy state.

“Aika.”

“Yes, uncle?” she looked drunkenly over her shoulder. He looked as tired as she felt. Raymond’s eyes flickered to Julius before he looked at her reprimandingly. She shrugged imperceptibly and rolled her eyes and shook her head, telling him not to worry.

“Captain Julius wanted to speak with you for a moment.”

She yawned as she nodded. She assumed he would. She told him she was a traveling mage then she turned up at his meeting saying she was also a tactical strategist. Raymond squeezed her shoulder and laid a hand on her head.

“You did a really good job today.”

Aika gave him a toothy smile. “Thank you,” she murmured. 

He patted her head gently and nodded at Julius, who nodded back. Raymond silently made his way to the door and gave Aika one last, fond look and closed the door.

“Would you like some whiskey?” Julius asked sedately.

“Yes, please,” she took the Old Fashioned from him and smiled when her fingers brushed his. He took the seat opposite to her with his own glass, which was a significantly smaller portion than hers, and appraised on another.

Tall, short, blond hair, a killer jawline and deep, violet eyes twinkling at her in mild amusement. Aika stared hungrily at his bow-shaped lips as she bit her own.

“Is this what you meant by very soon?” Her eyes flicked up to Julius’ as she took a sip. Then it became clear. Her uncle was supposed to organize a meeting between Aika and Julius to let him know about her services but he called her in during a key, strategic meeting for her to show off her skills instead.

Aika nodded and gave him a lazy smile. She stood up with her heels in one hand and walked over to her backpack next to the window. She swiped the fake plans she needed to pass on to Jayce so he could deliver them to the Diamond Kingdom. Then, she paused abruptly when she noticed the trees she planted earlier. 

It was getting dark out and the wisteria trees shone brighter than she had ever expected. They lit up the whole area. Some guards, a maid and the Coral Peacocks and Praying Mantis Captains stood around and admired the trees and its flowers.

“What’s wrong?” Julius came up next to her in a flash. “Oh.” He noticed the trees

“They’re beautiful…” she whispered.

“They haven’t been there before…”

Aika turned to him with a coy smile.

“I planted them this afternoon for Master Raymond,” she put her sunhat, heels and papers into her backpack and shrugged it on. “Him and my father loved to relax in the gardens together when they were younger,” Aika opened the windows, swung her legs over the windowsill and perched herself comfortably on it.

“Master Raymond’s your Uncle,” He plopped down next to her, his starry eyes still on the bright, purple trees. “Why’d you reveal that to me?” He looked at her from the corner of his eye. “Sharing classified information with family members can get you and most likely Master Raymond arrested if you don’t work for him in official capacity.”

“I know.”

“Then why?”

Aika took a sip and sighed in satisfaction. This whiskey burned real good, and it soothed the nervousness in her gut. She turned to Julius and answered,

“I wanted to be candid with you and continue to be so because I want to leave you with no doubt that I’ve never lied.”

“It’s alright. Your work needs a cover so I understand any ‘lies’ about that.”

“Oh.” She expected the absolute opposite of that reaction.

Julius laughed when her face fell.

“And don’t worry, nobody is arresting anyone. You proved yourself to be quite skilled today. All the Captains were impressed and you got them all to agree on a plan which is nearly impossible,” A wry scoff escaped his lips as he shook his head. “Every rule has an exception and you were exceptional today,” he winked at her. She averted her eyes with a blush and a small smile.

The pair continued to admire the wisteria trees in comfortable silence as they took an occasional sip. While it was nice, Aika hated the silence because the ringing in ears got louder so she decided to continue speaking.

“You remember the night we met?” Julius nodded as he took another sip to hide a smirk.

“Felt like a dream, to be honest.” 

She turned to him with a perplexed look.

“A dream? What do you mean?”

He let out a wry chuckle.

“See, this one night, I just wanted to see some magic,” he began in an amused voice, “but then I got caught in this beautiful woman’s bear trap in the middle of the woods, got called delicious and instead of being devoured like I was hoping,” Aika’s mouth went dry at his intense gaze. “I discover she’s the only other Time Mage around. Then I get verbally thrashed and then we’re all friendly,” He threw back the last sip and sighed with a thoughtful look. “In fact, it never felt like we were strangers. We talked about Magic for hours. Turns out, the woman is not only really pretty but also super smart. It seemed like we had a lot in common,” he set his glass on the floor inside the room behind him and leaned forward on his knees with his eyebrows furrowed and a pensive look.

“We parted ways with a vague promise of seeing each other again and then the next day, I was told about a woman who’s been working with Master Raymond named ‘Aika Tolliver,’ someone who would possibly have to work with me after the war is over and I’m Magic Emperor,” he said, looking pointedly at her. Aika shrugged helplessly with a crooked smile.

She turned and stared at her glass as she swirled her drink. It was obvious he had been thinking about that night a lot and is absolutely shameless about it. She would be lying if she said she didn’t think of it often too. She had read up on all the files about him, his achievements, character profiles and open cases after that night. It was actually quite surprising that he wasn’t badgering her to show her more magic if the description of his quirks were true. 

It was an open secret, apparently, that Captain Julius Novachrono was often child-like and easily distracted by magic. He loved nothing more than to wander around the kingdom to witness more variety of magic than do his work. As far as they both knew, they were the only two arcane stage Time Mages. The Freese family had also used a form of Time Magic but it was a much weaker version. 

But he wasn’t exactly like the character profile stated. Yes, he was fascinated by magic, in fact they discussed Magic for hours the first night they met, but he wasn’t badgering her like it was the only thing he ever did like the reports implied. She was actually really flattered because he seemed more interested in her than her magic.

Aika knew that she shouldn’t court Julius while still wanting to maintain a professional relationship but she couldn’t really help it. He was so damn tempting.

“You sir, are,” she began as she bit her lip. “quite bold, I must say,” she said, addressing his beginning remarks. She shivered and hugged herself as a cold gust of wind swept by. Julius moved to take his cloak off and offer it to her but Aika took the edge of his cloak with a mischievous grin and wrapped it around her as she pressed herself into his side.

“Another thing we share in common,” she whispered as she nearly brushed her nose against his. Maybe a whole glass of whiskey was a bad idea. She was a little tipsy and a little too comfortable.

Julius parted his lips in shock. That was not expected. He knew he should be talking to her about what Master Raymond discussed with him: about her providing information about Clover’s neighbors, the underground, and covert missions. He was just being his flirtatious self to maybe bring her guard down but damn, two can play this game too. He recovered with a grin and wrapped an arm around her waist and held her close.

“I guess it is.”

She flashed a satisfied smile and turned to look back at the trees. She laid her head against his collar and took in a deep breath. The familiar, sweet smell of ozone came wafting from the man next to her. It was kind of like how her younger brother’s magic used to smell mixed with something that was purely Julius so she couldn’t help but smile at that. But as far she knew, Julius didn’t have any lightning magic like her brother, so she turned and pressed her nose to his collarbone to investigate the smell.

“Hey, that tickles!”

She pulled back with a laugh at his affronted look.

“Sorry, sorry.”

“It’s alright,” He assured her as he gave her one of those smiles where his eyes went soft and Aika felt like melting right then and there. She looked away before she did something stupid like kiss him silly.

There was another comfortable silence except for a shiver here and there from Aika which made Julius tighten his fingers on her hip. She controlled her breathing as she got warmer and pressed closer into his side. She had absolutely no shame.

“Hey,” he began as they both watched the sun set over the glistening trees. “I have a question about what Captain Leonardo said earlier.”

Aika looked up at him.

“About The Innkeeper?”

“Sort of,” he furrowed his brows again. “Why would The Innkeepers ask you for a favor if they had to face the two brigades? How would you help them?”

She tensed at his questions.

“I don’t mean to pry. Master Raymond has explained what you do for him in very vague terms, and your dossier was very bare. So, I want to slowly get to know you, either for work,” he looked at her shyly. “Or for just you.”

She was ready to get aggressively cagey and defensive again but she couldn’t help but melt again at his words. This man has been nothing but nice and cordial to her and she really needed to rein in her anger. Aika had also basically promised that she won’t lie to him, so she needed to tell him. And besides, she was a hatchet man for her Uncle and if she needed to continue being one when Julius was promoted, he needed to know.

She took his other hand with a fortifying breath. She brushed the back of it with her thumb in silent apology for her oversensitive reaction that he had no doubt noticed. But he was quick to reassure her nonetheless. He was patient and kind… 

Does he want her to work for him or does he want to seduce her? In the direction he was going, it seemed like both to Aika.

She squared her shoulders, excited about the possibilities and answered his question.

“If they called me for a favor because two brigades rolled up in their tunnels,” she looked at him blankly. “I would take care of it.”

An intrigued smile crept onto Julius’ face.

“Really?” He turned his nose up with a taunting look. “And how would you do that?”

“I will try to be diplomatic first.”

“Good idea,” he nodded approvingly. “And if that doesn’t work?”

She bit her lip and looked away.

“Then, I would bring the private army to settle things.”

“Wow, you’re really The Dagger?! I would love to see you fight one day! How—”

“Uncle Ray calls me ‘The Dagger?’ That’s—”

“A badass title, Aika? Yes, it is.”

Aika pinched Julius’ side with a laugh, drawing out an undignified yelp out of him.

“That’s a cringey name, Julius!”

“Okay, okay! But I’m not the one who said it!”

She looked away with an exaggerated ‘hmph.’

“He calls me that because he thinks it’s funny that I always carry a dagger,” she scoffed as she shook her head. “And besides, ‘Wizard King’ is away better title,” she said childishly. She fiddled with the edge of her skirt for a moment before she noticed that Julius went quiet.

“What’s wrong?”

“You want to be the Wizard King?”

A beat.

Aika gaped as her lips twitched in suppressed laughter.

“Wh-What?! No!” She couldn’t hold it anymore and burst out laughing.

“I’m so sorry I’m laughing,” she wheezed as Julius looked over at her in concern. “I have not wanted to be Wizard King since I was 8, and, and,” she breathed deeply before she continued laughing again. She apologized profusely as she tried to catch her breath.

“I don’t know why that’s funny to you,” Julius grumbled with a small smile. 

“No, no, it’s the way you asked. Like the sheer disbelief in your voice was hilarious. I’m so sorry, I don’t know why that’s so funny.” She wiped a stray tear. He had no idea.

“It’s just,” she took a deep breath. “I’ve given up on becoming Wizard King when my little brother said he wanted to be one too. Actually, I don’t even know why I wanted to be Wizard King in the first place. I was just a peasant in the Forsaken Realm who didn’t even know her attribute.”

“You were a peasant?” Julius blurted. “But isn’t your uncle a noble?”

Aika laughed. “My Uncle was a commoner who married into nobility and my father went to the Forsaken Realm to paint landscapes but fell in love and settled down there. So, I’m technically peasant-born...” she finished quietly, expecting Julius to maybe move away or be disgusted.

“Ohhh, that makes sense,” he nodded thoughtfully. He loosened his hold and turned to look at her with a starry look. “Will I get to see you on the battlefield though? I’ve heard so many great things about The Dagger and I want to see how you fight with Time Magic!”

“You’re not going to see me fight for a long while, Julius.” Aika was done fighting, especially other’s battles. It was why she left the Diamond Kingdom in the first place. She only ever saw her daughter during the weekends and the stress of her work, fighting and planning was getting to her mental health. She wasn’t going to fight again unless someone forced her hand.

“Aw, come on! Not even as part of an overwatch unit?”

“That’s a solid maybe,” she objected as she put her glass away. She wasn’t really the type to stand by and watch so she may change her mind after this weekend. But, after her ordeal with the Diamond Kingdom and their resistance movement, she was a lot more reluctant to pick up her swords again.

“Hmm,” he touched his chin. “Maybe,” Julius regarded her with a suggestive look. “I can change your mind.”

“Oh?” She raised an eyebrow in interest. He moves really fast. “And how do you pl—”

He quickly attacked her sides with his fingers causing her to squirm as she pursed her lips shut and stopped any laughs or screams from escaping. Tickling her? Aika hoped for something way more different. She composed herself as she shook her head when he began to try harder.

“I think,” she began in a shaky voice. “That you’re just looking for an excuse touch me.”

She nearly slipped off her perch but Julius quickly caught her and looked at her with a pout.

“Can you blame me?”

“Not as long as I get to return the favor!”

And before Aika’s hands could reach his sides, Julius launched himself off the windowsill, towards the gardens as he threw a grin over his shoulder. 

He wasn’t childish, he was just a mess of gorgeous chaos, and she could see it in the ever-present twinkle in his eyes that threatened to shine like the stars.

“Julius!” She leapt after him.

He landed gracefully on his feet and made a big show of running in the direction of the brightly lit wisteria grove as he laughed.

“Only if you can catch me!”

Aika landed behind him and ran after him with a wild smile. She ran past the guards, captains and the maid admiring the grove and followed Julius into the center where she created a clearing earlier that day. Aika blinked and he disappeared.

She situated herself in the center of the grassy area and spun on her heel as she scanned the area for an ambush. She was a Time Mage too so speed wasn’t really an advantage if he wanted to sneak upon her but she was too tired to properly use Mana Zone without accidentally suffocating someone so she avoided using her magic. She had to trick him instead.

She pretended to look in a direction longer than she did before and as predicted, a blond blur moved at her eight o’clock and she sidestepped him. 

Aika grabbed Julius’ arm and twisted it behind his back and tackled him to the ground. He fell with an ‘oomph’ and groaned when she straddled his back. He leaned on his left side to avoid aggravating the bandaged wound on his right with considerable strain as she pressed down on him. Aika watched with a pleased smile and a blush as Julius breathed hard below her.

“You really thought you could just get away with it?”

He turned his head to the side with a cheeky grin.

“I don’t know anyone as fast as me so yes, I did.”

She retaliated by folding her legs underneath her like a pretzel and put all her weight on him.

“Don’t sit on my back!” He exclaimed as he struggled to buck her off. She pressed his arm harder with one hand and forced his head down with the other. Then an idea struck him and his grin grew wider. “Sit on my lap instead,” he suggested lowly.

Julius expected to catch her off guard and give him an opening to free himself, but he didn’t expect her to lean down to his ear and whisper,

“If you don’t behave, that is exactly what I’ll do and more.”

He inhaled sharply as all blood rushed to his cock. 

Fuck. Not expected, but certainly not unwelcome either. Aika smirked as he stopped resisting and flushed redder.

“Are you threatening me with a good time?”

“And if I am?”

“Hey, Miss Tolliver!” Marcus, the Praying Mantis’ captain, called out as he entered the clearing with Leah, the Coral Peacock’s captain, at his side. Aika quickly masked her face with a playful smile and waved ‘hello’ at him.

“I didn’t know you were such good friends with Julius already. What did he do?” He asked with a laugh.

“Miss Aika!” Evan exclaimed in worry as he came running into the clearing, his hands ablaze with fire. Aika waved his concerned, mother-henning self off as she slid off of Julius’ back.

“I’ve known this man for less than 24 hours,” she addressed Captain Marcus as she made herself comfortable on the grass. “and he had already tried to push me out the window!”

Julius discreetly moved his cloak to cover his not-so-little problem as he quickly sat up next to her.

“Push you?! I didn’t push you and it wasn’t on purpose!” Aika crossed her arms and raised one sardonic brow. That was a lie to cover for him but if he wanted to blow it, he was welcome to do so.

“Oh, would you like to tell them what exactly you were doing then?” she motioned to Evan, Captains Leah and Marcus, who were becoming more invested in this conversation by the second. If he wanted to tell everyone that they were flirting, that was fine by her.

She turned in surprise when Jayce, her other guard, and Ellie, her maid walked into the clearing with cautious expressions. Perfect! Now, she could hand off the fake plans for the Diamond Kingdom. Aika waved them over with a happy grin as Julius stammered next to her.

She looked at him smugly, silently daring him to tell what he was doing that made her nearly fall off. He wiped the dirt off his face as he looked at her pleadingly. She hid a smile at his puppy-dog eyes and conceded.

“The window was opened and I was standing by it and he accidentally bumped into me. He didn’t say sorry so I chased him and he jumped out the window and I followed,” Aika lied. Evan looked between her and Julius in suspicion while Ellie and Jayce hid a snicker. 

“That sounds like Julius alright,” Marcus chuckled as Leah shook her head.

“Lovely trees, aren’t they?” Julius asked a little forcefully. Aika looked around and nodded at his remark, letting him change the subject. It was completely dark out and the flowers shone brightly with a purple tint, completely lighting up the area. Aika would’ve made some flower crowns with the Wisteria if they didn’t sting her so much. 

“Let’s continue speaking in the meeting room,” Julius addressed Aika as he stood up with a groan. He nodded at the Captains and the guards and offered a hand to Aika to get up. She nodded and took out the fake battle plans from her backpack and handed them to Jayce as the rest watched curiously.

“I was brought in today by Master Raymond, so they know,” Aika quickly explained when Jayce and Ellie threw panicked looks at the Captains. She took Julius’ hand and stood up next to him. “Give them directly to Generals Allard and Hennequin, okay?”

Jayce nodded seriously and tucked the papers inside his robe. The Captains turned to Aika in surprise.

“Are they your spies?” Leah asked in disbelief.

“Yep, the three of them are my assets. I trust you all can keep this little secret?” she pressed a finger to her lip with an enigmatic smile. “Master Raymond is already aware of them.” Aika let out huff when Julius gave them starry looks.

“What kind of magic do you guys use? Does it help you guys in spy work? Well, magic is too flashy so do you have transformation magic or something? I would think that would be the most usef—”

“Julius,” Aika pulled him back by his fur cape as he got all up in their space. “The answers to your questions are classified. Please don’t make them uncomfortable.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry, haha!” He rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish smile. Sometimes, he just forgets himself when it comes to magic. He turned to Aika with a small smile.

“I suppose we should continue speaking in the conference room?” He offered an arm to her. She nodded and took his arm graciously. Any excuse to touch him was fine by her. They both waved ‘bye’ to the slightly perplexed crowd and walked back towards the tower as they threw secret looks at each other.

Ellie waved back in confusion. Jayce wound an arm around her shoulder as he leaned heavily on her, his eyes still on Aika. Evan hummed thoughtfully next to them.

“What do you think they’re talking about?” he asked. Aika and Julius flew up together to the window and back into the conference room, linking hands as they did.

“I believe it’s about the Captains’ retirements,” Leah piped up. “and Julius’ ascension to the throne.”

“The throne?” Jayce asked as he reluctantly turned to her disbelief. “He’s just going to be the Wizard King, right?”

“King Augustus enjoys a stress-free lifestyle,” Marcus said as he shook his head. “He may resent Master Raymond for having equal power to the king during wartime but he certainly takes advantage of it and passes all his paperwork to the Wizard King.”

They all nodded in understanding as a smirk crossed Evan’s face. The others might not have seen it in the dark, but he had certainly noticed how they linked hands when they were further away. The way his boss looked at the young Captain...Things might get interesting around here depending on how tonight goes…

  Aika made herself comfortable on one end of the couch as Julius poured her a smidge of whiskey and settled down on the other end. She tucked one leg underneath her as she turned to face him. 

“Am I going to have to drink by myself?” she asked cheekily as he put the decanter away. He patted his chest lightly.

“I have a slow-acting rotting curse on my liver. It’s going to be a while before that goes away so I can’t drink.”

Aika’s demeanor turned serious almost instantaneously.

“I heard there was a hired gang of curse mages in the last battle. Was it from one of them?”

He nodded slowly.

“Couldn’t you just rewind to the time when the curse didn’t exist?”

“Ah, no. Immediately after getting hit with the curse, they tied a mana resistance spell and its duration to it so I can’t dispel it yet. The healer mage said another week or two before I could begin to heal.”

“Ooh, that’s a rare curse combination. Combining a curse and a reinforcement spell is difficult,” Aika said, nodding as she fished through her backpack. “And even then, a mana resistance is a gamble unless you are very specific with your spell, or else your target is completely impervious to all attacks.” 

She pulled out a vial of clear liquid and waved it at him.

“Here, catch!”

Julius caught it and examined it. It had a unique smell that he couldn’t name. He thought it smelled kind of like thyme and rain.

“Mana resistance is a good spell so there wasn’t a potion to remove it,” she motioned at the vial in his hand. “until recently.” 

He examined it more thoroughly as he understood what this little potion meant. Mana resistance was actually annoying when it lasted longer than it should but no one had really developed a potion to counter it.

“Was it developed because soldiers aren’t able to heal themselves in battle because of resistance?”

“Among many other reasons.”

“Wow, so cool! I haven’t been keeping up with potion-making and I don’t think my healer did either!” He moved to uncork the vial but Aika stopped him with one hand. She didn’t realize she had even moved. They both looked at where their hands touched with a jolt and blushed.

“Sorry, I was just-”

“It’s okay,” Julius grinned at her, a blush still present on his face. “I don’t mind.”

Aika lips twitched with a shaky smile. She cleared her throat and focused on the vial.

“You need to fill it up with your mana first before you drink it. You can only dispel it-”

“With my own mana because I can only overwhelm a mana resistance spell from the inside out.”

“Hey, you know your stuff! An unrivaled magic nerd like they say I see.”

He grinned proudly and did as she told him. Aika watched as the vial glowed in his hands as he poured his mana into it. He uncorked it and raised it in cheers before throwing it back.

He handed the vial back to her and hovered a hand over his liver. Accelerating time wasn’t an option because that would leave him with a damaged liver. Rewinding time would mean the mana resistance would be back.

“What are you waiting for?”

Julius looked up at her big, expectant eyes and he forgot to breathe for a second. The moonlight from the window illuminated half of her face in the dimly-lit room and lashes fanned her cheeks when she blinked at him with an innocence he knew she didn’t possess.

“Um,” He motioned vaguely at his chest as it rose unsteadily. “I can’t rewind or the mana resistance would be back.”

“And accelerating would leave your liver damaged,” she finished with a thoughtful look on her face. Julius’ mind went blank when his eyes focused on her mouth. They spoke about magic with the same passion as his, lips that turned pink for a moment whenever she bit her lip flirtatiously, lips that would look wonderful wrapped around him— 

“Hey, Julius?” she asked lowly. Gooseflesh rose at the nape of his neck when she leaned closer. He prayed that his trousers were covered in shadows.

“Yes?”

“You kind of spaced out. You okay?”

“Yes!” Julius shook his head to clear his thoughts and looked at her properly with a shining smile. “Yes, I’m feeling fine.”

“Okay, good,” Aika’s shoulders fell slightly as she gave him a relieved look. “I got an idea on how to rewind and step over the mana resistance. Well, it’s a theory. We would have to use combination magic though,” she said with a mischievous smile. That caught Julius’ attention. He had never used combination magic before! People with arcane magics often can’t.

“Aren’t our rewind spells the same?”

“Not necessarily. Your rewind spell is actually very different from mine.”

“Oh? In what way?” 

She grew more excited as her idea became more coherent.

“My rewind spell undos the effects but your rewind spell, it’s resurrection something, uh,” Aika snapped her fingers and lit up when she remembered. “Chrono Anastasis, right? In the description on your grimoire page, it said that it undos events and keeps using the rune ‘event’ over and over again, compared to mine where it says ‘effect.’”

Julius furrowed his brow as he absorbed that information.

“How are ‘effects’ and ‘events’ different?” Aika settled down closer to his side, her knee pressingly eagerly against his leg and bit her lip with a smirk.

“Say for example, I tore your shirt off and threw it to the side,” she began casually, willing her face to stay still when Julius’ eyes nearly bugged out. “If I used my rewind spell on the shirt, the tear would repair itself but that’s it. If you used your rewind spell, the tear would repair itself as the shirt makes its way back on you.”

He swallowed thickly as he processed the information.

“So you’re saying that my spell, er, has a bigger sphere of influence at the base than yours.”

“A bigger diametral place, yes. And I’ve experimented with my Time Magic and I’ve learned to use it in pieces rather than letting the spell run its course. I’ve skipped over certain effects when rewinding but it's really hard. But, if I combined it with your magic where it distinguishes events specifically, I can differentiate the dispelling of mana resistance, get to the rotting curse, and rewind it!”

Julius gaped as Aika gave him a sunny look. He willed himself to breathe properly when her eyes flickered down to his lips.

“Do you get it?” He nodded as he gathered his wits and squared his shoulders. He lifted his hand, palm facing her as he let his giddiness take over. He was going to do combination magic for the first time! He’ll concentrate on that for now.

“Let’s do it then.”

Aika pressed her palm against his and nearly drew back when she realized how cold he was.

“Your hands are really cold,” she murmured. He smiled as a rush of cockiness overtook him.

“Maybe, you should keep them warm for me.” 

Aika paused a beat and stared as he raised an eyebrow. Oh, she wasn’t going to back down from a challenge.

She twisted her wrist and took his hand, brought it up to her lips and placed a slow, open-mouthed kiss on his knuckles. The bold move short-circuited Julius and his erection pressed almost painfully against the front of his trousers. He stared at her in mild surprise as she looked at him from beneath her lashes.

“It would be my pleasure,” she said softly. She laced her fingers with his and nodded in the general area of his chest.

“Should we get to it then?”

“Uh,” he blinked and slowly pressed his legs together, not that it was going to hide much. “Yes. How do we do this?”

“Lend me some of your magic and I’ll rewind the wound,” Aika explained as her eyes stayed resolutely on his face for the sake of his dignity.

He nodded and closed his eyes and let his mana seep into her. He began hesitantly but relaxed when she squeezed his hand comfortingly.

Aika’s hand hovered over his liver and she watched in fascination as a blueish clock, very different from her own, spun counterclockwise. It kept spinning and accelerating until she knew she went back two weeks. 

This was much more effortless than doing it with her own magic where she had to calculate the exact moment she needed to skip and actually perform the spell. It was kind of amazing to feel a different kind of time magic slide against her own mana. She expected to have some issues because combination magic that wasn’t spur of the moment required a certain amount of trust, and the proof that he trusted her even a little bit set her heart racing.

Julius took a deep breath and exhaled in relief when it didn’t hurt.

“Wow, it feels so much easier to breathe!” He exclaimed as he touched his chest. He gave her a big smile. “Thank you!”

“Your welcome, and now you can finally join me.” Aika let go of his hand and handed her glass to him. She stood up with a wink and instead of bringing the nearly empty decanter, she walked back to the sofa with a bottle of whiskey and another glass in her hands.

He raised an eyebrow. She shrugged shamelessly.

“I hope you’re not a lightweight for both our sakes,” he jibbed as he took a sip.

“A full glass couldn’t get me tipsy, Julius. Another glass wouldn’t make too much of a difference,” she plopped down next to him and reclined as she crossed her legs.

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that, Aika.”

“Mm, if I want to wake up, brain all sore, among other things,” Julius choked. “who are you to stop me?” She patted his back as he recuperated. He cleared his throat and turned to her with a deadpan face as if to ask if that was really necessary. She giggled.

“So Time Magic,” Julius gritted out in an effort to change the topic. “What else do you think we could do with our combined magics?”

“Well…”

They talked about time, space, the end, and the beginning, till their glasses nearly emptied.

“Your teleportation spell is not a time-space spell! It’s literally spatial magic! How-” “Nonono, if I’ve been somewhere before, it’s a moment in time. I can’t really go back in time, but I can go back in space.”

Aika snorted derisively as she threw back the last sip in from the bottle.

“Yeah, whatever you say, space boy.” Julius huffed in mock anger. “I would’ve asked if you were for hire if you weren’t so busy trying to become king—I mean, Wizard King.”

“Speaking of hiring,” Julius began suddenly as he looked into his glass with uncharacteristic solemnity. “Would work for me? This meeting was supposed to be about me convincing you—”

“I thought it was the other way around,” Aika blurted. “I thought I had to convince you?”

“Oh...”

They burst out laughing.

“I think we were too busy talking magic to be convincing each other of anything,” Julius wheezed out between laughs.

Aika breathed deeply in a futile attempt to catch her breath.

“Well, I at least know that you would be fun to work with,” she giggled as she tried to get the last drops out of the whiskey bottle. She looked up when he spoke.

“But you still didn’t answer my question,” Julius took a sip as he crossed his legs. “Would you work for me?”

Aika barely registered what he said. Her eyes were only on the drop of whiskey on his lip. His tongue darted out to lick it and it set her blood on fire. She resisted the urge to squirm and instead focused on the glass in his hand.

“Yes, of course, I’ll work for you.”

He grinned.

“Great! Three ‘yeses!’”

She hummed as her hand slowly inched towards the glass on his hand.

“Can I have the rest of it?”

“What?!” He looked at his glass and swiftly raised his arm above him and out of her reach. “No!”

“Please?” She pouted. Julius’ face flushed redder.

“You’re already six sheets to the wind. Any more and we’re looking at alcohol poi—”

Aika plucked it out of his hand with a smirk.

“Hey!”

She clambered backwards to the opposite end of the sofa as he leapt after her. She kept him at bay with her legs as she attempted to drink from the glass but he pinned one leg down with his hip and stretched his arm out to grab it from her. Aika quickly shifted up and arched her back over the armrest and kept it out of his reach.

He grunted when she tried to tickle him with her other hand. Julius looked down to scowl at her as she gave him a shit-eating grin but their faces fell when they realized what position they were in.

Julius was straddling one of her legs as he hovered a few inches from her face. Aika’s hair was fanned out in a halo around her as her breathing grew heavier. 

Julius smiled drunkenly as his eyes flickered down to Aika’s lips. She pulled him gently by his cape and carefully brushed her lips against his, testing the waters, asking permission.

Suddenly, she was drowning in whiskey, lightning and the heady sensation of his insistent lips on hers.

Aika haphazardly set the glass down and threw her arms around his neck and kissed him with equal frenzy. He hummed appreciatively and pressed his weight on her but kept his hips at a respectable distance.

He brushed the hair out of her face with featherlight touches and cupped her cheek tenderly. She knotted her fingers in his hair, lightly pulling as she went. She had been longing for him since that night a week ago and now her body ached to have all of him, feel him, surround him.

Aika brought up the leg he straddled and pressed it against his straining erection. Julius made a keening noise against her lips as he ground down against her thigh. She traced the arch of his spine appreciatively as he wantonly rode her thigh, making needy noises at the back of his throat as he did.

She ran her hands up the back of his thighs and squeezed his firm ass. He stiffened in her arms and sat up immediately, his eyes, sober and aghast. Aika’s heart stopped, thinking it was rejection.

“I’m so sorry,” he exclaimed. “I didn’t mean to kiss you so suddenly! I was just reaching for the glass and I didn’t really think. I don’t know if you were just flirting for fun or if it was serious and I shouldn’t assume like that.”

She gaped as he apologized profusely. Was this man serious? He was about to get fucked within an inch of his life and he’s sorry?

“Julius,” Aika called out, stopping him mid-rant. She stared pointedly at his straining cock and raised an impressed eyebrow. “You’re not sorry and I’m not either.” He flushed redder, if that was even possible, as her eyes roved over his debauched form. She grinned when an idea crossed her mind.

She planted her feet on the couch and flipped them over. He grabbed onto her hips at the sudden movement and grit his teeth to hold back any noises as she ground her thigh into his cock. Aika licked the sliver of skin high up his neck and bit his earlobe.

“You don’t get to flirt with me, touch me, kiss me and ride my thigh,” She ran her fingers down his chest “and be sorry about it.”

She wrapped her fingers around his clothed length and latched her teeth on the fluttering pulse of his neck. She gasped and tightened her hold when he whimpered in her ear.

Aika pulled back, her face pleasantly surprised. Julius panted through swollen lips and hooded eyes as he stared back at her, unabashed and eager.

A smirk crept up onto her face and she licked her lips. Perhaps she should move on to the next phase.

“I will tie you to my bed and wring every ounce of pleasure out of you,” she brushed her lips against his jaw. “if you promise to keep making those pretty, little noises.” 

Julius let out a shuddery gasp when invisible hands began to stroke and caress every straining nerve on his body, any place that could elicit pleasure. Hands he couldn’t see touched his inner thighs, raked down his sides and stroked his chest.

“Yeah, just like that,” she cooed.

“Wh-what is that,” he gasped out.

“Mana Control: Mana Hands,” she explained. “Magic gets you excited,” she giggled as she continued “So I wondered just how excited it would make you to know that magic could also be used for pleasure.”

He bit his lip and moaned quietly at her words.

And suddenly, a knock sounded on the doors.

“Aika?”

Julius and Aika looked at each other in horror.

Oh, shit.

Notes: I hope you horny bastards enjoyed that ;)))

[aaronhart93-archive]

discord II text Roman & Aaron

Discord thread featuring: Aaron and @romanbeckett​

Mentions: @davieslandon​ @malakhai-ozera​ @jayceelynd​ @alison-haynes​

Where: Aaron is at his house and Roman is at his house.

When: evening of May 26th-monrning of May 27th, 11:30p-2:30a

Description: Roman texts Aaron and they talk all night until they both fall asleep

Trigger Warnings: smut, what I would imagine harry’s peen to look like, really cute shit

Roman.

Hey.

Aaron.

hi

Roman.

Khai broke up with me, so. With us.

with Jay and I. And he left.

Aaron.

oh my god...im sorry Ro

Roman.

Can’t say I didn’t see it coming.

Aaron.

what did he say? Like why...?

Roman.

He told us that he loved us but needed time to work on himself or whatever.

Aaron.

I don’t know Khai that well but it does seem like he’s got a lot of shit to figure out

how are you doing with it?

and jayc? Should I reach out to her or....does she not know we’re talking

Roman.

you can talk to her if you want. I think we both just don’t really know how to feel to be honest.

Aaron.

im sorry

i hope he's okay

and i hope you and Jayc are okay too

Roman.

don’t be lol honestly Aaron, I set myself up for it the second I agreed to close myself off, knowing all of the issues I need to work through as well

contrary to popular belief, I’m far from having it all figured out.

Aaron.

that makes two of us

that was quick tbh

Roman.

Yeah. I just feel like an idiot.

Aaron.

what no....thats not what i meant

Roman.

anyway.

how are you

Aaron.

okay....no please dont feel like an idiot. its his fault not yours

im....okay....getting better than i was last week

miss you though not gonna lie

Roman.

I miss you, too. A lot.

Aaron

:(

im sorry

idk why i am i just feel like i need to apologize

Roman.

you have nothing to be sorry for lol at all

if anything, I’m sorry.

for bringing you into all this drama

and making you eat at a Chinese buffet lol

Aaron.

making me eat at a Chinese buffet is the only thing you have to be sorry for

also

i inserted myself into this mess as well. and didn't pull out once i realized who you were to landon

Roman.

does it make me immature if I laugh at you saying you didn’t pull out once?

Aaron.

RO

YES BUT IM HERE FOR IT

Roman.

I might just be high, but now I can’t stop laughing lol

Aaron.

sksjks

im sober and laughing so

well not sober

i had a few drinks

Roman.

everyone knows you’re a lightweight Aaron, stop tryin’ to be sly lol

Aaron.

who you callin a lightweight, lightweight?

Roman.

only when I haven’t eaten anything LIGHTWEIGHT

Aaron.

https://tenor.com/view/uncalled-gif-5394176

michelle tanner voice

Roman.

You miss me. Just a reminder.

Aaron.

you miss me

another reminder

Roman.

I’m not the one calling you rude lol

Aaron.

you called me out for being a lightweight and i retaliated

forgive me

Roman.

you’re in denial is what you are :fingerguns2:

but I’ll forgive you.

Aaron.

idk you'd think for how much i drink i'd have a higher tolerance

i need therapy

Roman.

probably lol I’ll go with you

Aaron.

lol couples counseling?

jk

jk

Roman.

I actually think it would be quite funny to see what they have to say about US

Aaron.

i need a therapist to tell it like it is

then again i do have ali

that woman calls me out on my shit literally daily

maybe shes just a free therapist

Roman.

LMAO that’s...amazing. I like her already.

Aaron.

she do be driving me up a wall

but

shes family

Roman.

Ah, family. I’ve been trying to get my sister here, but she’s being an ass lol

Aaron.

asshat

who wouldn’t want to move to New York

Roman.

satans demons.

Aaron.

exactly

whats keeping her from coming?

Roman.

she’s not as hellbent on big cities as I am lol

Aaron.

weird

city life has always been for me

arent you from manchester? is that not a big city?

Roman.

it’s not New York lol

she lives in the country now though.

Aaron.

no city is new york

Roman.

exactly lol

Aaron.

what are you doing

besides getting high

Roman.

I’m naked on the couch eating cherry gilato while watching good mythical morning on YouTube

Aaron.

i would very much like to be naked on a couch with you

Roman.

I painted my nails and did a facial first lol i could do yours as well

Aaron.

ill take the facial

i couldn't pull off the nails though

Roman.

you’d look so kickass with some black nails

Aaron.

you think?

Roman.

hell yes. Even a sky blue, like those eyes

Aaron.

i blush

maybe we can try the toe nails first

in case I end up hating them

Roman.

OH, I’m also trained in Swedish massage, head to toe. If you want a personal spa day

Aaron.

that would just give me a boner

Roman.

well, it’s a FULL body massage after all.

Aaron.

sksjsks

dont tempt me

Roman.

Aaron. I just.

is it bad that I don’t want to stay away from you anymore?

that’s a dumb question

I know it’s bad.

Aaron.

its not dumb

I don’t want to stay away from you either

but I promised Landon

Roman.

I know. So did I.

You’re right, I’m sorry.

Aaron.

he’s my best friend

dont be sorry

im glad you’re being honest with me

I just don’t see Landon being okay with this anytime soon

Roman.

I know! I know. He’s mine too, and I care about him more than I care to admit. I shouldn’t be like this.

Aaron.

damn this is fucked up

Roman.

I shouldn’t have said anything

Aaron.

I wish this could be easier

im the one that started with the boner references

Roman.

Not really. I offered you a massage

Aaron.

okay yes but

I told you I wanted to be naked with you

Roman.

because I said I was naked

Aaron.

I just don’t want you blaming yourself that’s all

Roman.

I know, but it is what it is. I made a mess of everything, and now everything I had is ruined lol I deserve it.

Aaron.

Ro

I’m sad you think so little of yourself

Roman.

I don’t. It’s just consequences. I made bad decisions, and now I have to deal with the consequences. That’s all. It’ll all be okay.

Aaron.

I wish I could make you feel better

Roman.

you already do. I promise.

Aaron.

I just smiled

Roman.

show me?

Aaron.

sure

Roman.

omg bad idea my heart

Aaron.

oop

Roman.

you’re so fucking jahshsbzjdndjendj

Aaron.

AKDJDJAKALhdja

Roman.

I’m mad at you

for looking like that

Aaron.

Well i can’t stop thinking about u

Roman.

let me just

Aaron.

yeah I kept drinking

and as we’ve established I’m a lightweight

okay I showed you a selfie now you should be a selfie

Roman.

oh yeah? Trying to boss me around again are ya?

Aaron.

do what daddy says

Roman.BOTToday at 2:02 AM

yes daddy.

Aaron.

brb gotta go jack off

Roman.

stoppppp

Aaron.

not kidding

Roman.

you don’t need a better picture than that to do the deed

??? Lolll

Aaron.

I mean....you could send me some

Roman.BOTToday at 2:09 AM

Does this help?

Aaron.

holy fuck

ugh I wanna fuck you so bad

and put all of you in my mouth

Roman.

I want it too. I shouldn’t, but I do. I want you to fuck me with my hands tied behind my back, and you pulling on my collar from behind.

Aaron.

fuck don’t put those thoughts in my head or I’ll act up

I wanna tie you up so bad

and punish you for being so naughty

Roman.

I’d want to call out your name so loud, but you’d have to let me.

Aaron.

you can’t do anything without my permission

Roman.

I’ll do my best daddy. You know I like to make you proud.

Aaron.

Ro I just came into a sock so hard

I want you so bad but the fact I can’t have you makes that even hotter to me

Roman.

forbidden fruit, hm?

Aaron.

you’re my forbidden fruit for sure

Roman.

wish I could have been there to help

Aaron.

you did enough helping trust me

Roman.

are we terrible people lol

Aaron.

I know

we are

im trying though

so that’s gotta count for something

Roman.

I hope it does, for both our sakes lol

Aaron.

if this doesn’t work out we can always be together in hell

Roman.

that sounds like a rightful ending

at least I’ll be tan.

Aaron.

we’ll both be hot and tan chilling in hell together

and we can fuck all we want

Roman.

sounds like the next big Netflix series.

Aaron.

could you imagine a Netflix series about us

Roman.

no, I’m scared to lol it would be more insane than Tiger King

Aaron.

you think our lives are more insane than Tiger King?!?

Roman.

scary, right??

Aaron.

thats definitely...quite the comparison

Roman.

I would have loved to have seen your face watching it for the first time

Aaron.

watching that together would have been so fun

I can picture us watching that and freaking out together

Roman.

maybe one night we’ll trip acid and watch it again

Aaron.

confession I’ve never tripped before

Roman.

whaaaaaa

do it with me!

Aaron.

I mean yeah I used to do a lot of coke when I got drunk and sometimes still do but that been the extent of my drug use

hahaha I will trip with you, Roman Beckett

Roman.

aces! Just tell me when and where, and it’s a plan!

Aaron.

”aces”

but yeah let’s do it this weekend

Roman.

I’m British you knob. Shut up lol

Aaron.

I know MATE I was making fun of you

Roman.

sends long audio clip making fun of Aaron’s New York accent

Aaron

brooooo

I do say that though

Roman.

I know, I’ve listened to you talk enough

it’s cute though

ready for bed?

Aaron.

just about

I was gonna go to bed a while ago but wanted to keep texting you

Roman.

same.

tuck me in lol

Aaron.

do u want me to tell you a bedtime story

Roman.

yes, but make it snappy

and I want warm milk

Aaron.

damn

so bossy

but okay

Roman.

you know I’m spoiled.

Aaron.

that must’ve been my fault

okay Des like this one:

By the African river, know as the Nile The sun fell away and it rested a while The rhinos had braved all the smoldering heat They lay down to sleep as they wiped off their feet The elephants marched to their elephant beds And gently they rested their elephant heads Slowly the hippos sank into the river The water so cold that it gave them a shiver (Hippos can't swim, like the pelicans think They also can't float, they could easily sink) The hippos went bathing in cool, shallow pools Thinking the rhinos and elephants fools Underwater, they fell to the soft river bed On darkish green plants with a smidgen of red They strolled on the bottom, then bounced up for air They did it for hours, without any care The fish followed closely, and wove in an out Under their belly, and up to their snout Each of the hippos came up to the shore To feed on the grass by the river once more They dried off their bodies by shaking and stomping And took bites of grass, chewing and chomping With night fading fast, they were full from the feast The sun returned back, rising up form the east The hippos crept off to collapse for the day While rhinos and elephants got up to play Enjoying the warmth of the sun and its light Never knowing the story of hippos at night

just read it in my New York accent you’re so good at

goodnight Lois

Roman.

that was perfect. Goodnight Clark.

[calucadu]

The Light’s Child - Chapter 5

The Light’s Child, a League of Legends Fanfic. Chapter 5.

Summary: Lux has some worrying symptoms, and she thinks she might just know what it’s all about. Katarina wants to find out the light mage’s dark secret, what will she do to discover it?

Pairings: Darius/Lux, Ezreal/Lux, implied Garen/Katarina

Characters: Darius, Lux, Ezreal, OCs, Garen, Katarina, Talon, Draven, Soraka, Ekko, Swain, Jinx, LeBlanc

Rating: Mature

First chapter // Previous chapter // Next chapter

Read on AO3

Read on fanfiction.net

Or read below the cut

“You agreed to what!?” Talon coughed up part of his drink, as he’d chocked on it while laughing at the surprising thing Katarina had just said to him.

“What? It’s perfect. That kid is literally brain dead. I mean, I’m already spying on him and all of his family and then he goes and asks for training classes. It’s like he wants me to spy on him some more.”

“Maybe he’s just got a crush on you.” The other teased, grinning. “He’s at that age. He must be curious about girls and seeing a striking woman like you, well…”

“Oh, you think I’m striking now, huh?” Katarina smirked, now her turn to tease.

“I’m surprised you said yes.” Talon mulled it over out loud, ignoring what she’d just said.

“Like I would refuse such a golden opportunity!” She huffed, rolling her eyes.

“When are you going to train him?” He asked.

“Tomorrow morning.” She said, finishing her own drink in one go and getting up. She left some coins on the table and walked out of the Bar of Legends, not turning back to look at him.

‘I will not fail.’ She thought, walking back home, a sly grin spread on her face. ‘Tomorrow’s my time to shine.’

The sight Darius encountered that morning was more than just peculiar. He entered the training room only to find Katarina and Ethanial chatting. She was touching his arm in an over-protective kind of way which made him narrow his eyes in suspicion. The General felt that something was off as he walked over to them, who hadn’t even noticed he’d entered.

“Good morning.” He said when he was within listening range.

“Oh! Good morning, Darius!” Ethanial jumped a little when he heard his voice and quickly started stumbling with his words. “I’m sorry, I asked Katarina to train me yesterday, I’m eager to learn about knife throwing and daggers, I hope you don’t mind.”

“I do recall you telling me you were interested, yeah.” The Noxian scratched his chin before looking at the woman. “Katarina, can I have a word with you, please?”

“Sure” She answered sweetly before turning to Ethanial. “Keep practising. Remember, it’s all in the wrist. When you think you have the movement done, try it out on those practice dummies I set up for you.”

They left the room and she quickly sighed and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Ok, what’s this.” He grunted, baring his teeth at her.

“What’s what?” She answered bitterly, almost disgusted.

“This is none of my business I guess but it still sickens me. Isn’t he a bit too young for you?”

“What?” Her mouth dropped open and she finally looked up at him.

“I saw the way you were touching him, Kat.”

“Wait, it’s not what you think!” She started to panic, waving her hands in front of her.

“Plus I thought you already had a Crownguard?” Darius raised an eyebrow, now amused, especially by her reaction.

“I’m just going to ignore that.” She muttered, but then she looked serious. “Ok, I’ll just tell you. I don’t believe that Ezreal is that child’s father and I’m trying to figure out who his real dad is.”

“That’s ridiculous, Katarina. Why would they lie to us?”

“Because I believe the father is Noxian.” She responded bluntly. Darius’ eyebrows raised and he took a step back in alarm.

“Well, that would explain the lying thing... But, I’m still not convinced.”

“Look at him, Darius! He looks Noxian!”

The General was silent for a few seconds. He had to be very careful with everything he worded.

“Do you have any candidates?” He whispered after a while.

“Well…”

“He resembles Talon a little bit.”  Darius cocked his head, pretending to be deep in thought.

“I also thought that. But I already talked to him and he denied it. He’s like a brother to me… I know when he lies to me and he didn’t lie to me then.”

Darius’s eyebrows creased.

“I’m trying to think of candidates. Jayce? He’s not Noxian, I know, but…”

“Then why have Ezreal cover up?” Katarina grunted, rolling her eyes.

“True. It is odd…” Darius sighed, running a hand through his hair.

“So, I was thinking…” Katarina talked slowly, trying to find a way to say what she needed to without messing it up. “That Draven might have something to do with it.”

“Draven?” The General raised an eyebrow, unsure of how to react.

“Oh, don’t look so surprised. You know how he is.”

Darius sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. “I have caught Draven trying to have sex with women before, but isn’t it a little ridiculous?”

“Get your head out of your arse, Darius.” Katarina snapped, her eyes narrowing and boring into his. “Your brother is a disgusting excuse for a human being.”

“He’s still my brother.” The man snarled, slamming a fist against the wall beside her. “And you have no right to speak like that about him, especially with no evidence.”

“That’s why I came here. To you. To the kid.”

“To me?” He moved the hand away from the wall, but was still inches away from her face, his posture not at all relaxed and his eyes still searched her face frantically.

“He looks a bit like Draven.” She whispered, looking away. “And who knows Draven more than anyone?”

“I think the correct answer to that one is Draven.”

“Darius! Be serious here! Do you really think Ezreal is the father?” Katarina nearly whined.

There was a silence before the man shook his head and whispered a low “No.” He sighed and rested his back against the wall. “I stopped Draven from abusing Lux a very long time ago. I don’t know exactly when, but I stopped it. Although I cannot say that it didn’t happen again.”

“Are you being serious?” She questioned, needing to make sure.

“Yes. I heard her trying to scream and broke down the door to his place. Found her crying and I intervened. I don’t care about her – or any Demacian, really – but I cannot tolerate those kind of actions, especially not coming from blood of my blood.”

“Yet you care about this kid.” She stated, her eyes pierced onto his.

“I don’t see him like that. He’s not Demacian, he wasn’t raised there. He’s not part of the war.”

“Why are you training him?”

“And you?” He muttered, an eyebrow raised, like he was accusing her.

“You know my intentions. I need to know yours.”

“Like that would change anything.” He snorted, but turned to look at her, serious. “Swain’s orders. I cannot say anything more.”

“Swain? He looked pretty pissed off when you announced you were going to train him. I don’t believe you.”

“It was an act, Kat. Swain is interested in the boy, thinks he has much potential. I am prohibited to say anything else but try to put that pretty little head to use.” He snapped.

She was silent for a while, thinking. If the boy was good – and apparently he was – could Swain actually use him for something? Claim him, make a soldier out of him? Was Darius’s training a good enough excuse to make him a slave for Noxus? Or maybe they were thinking of kidnapping him? He was the son of at least one League Champion, had some magical power and Katarina was sure that was worth quite a lot. Was that what he was trying to make her understand but couldn’t say?

“And would anything change for Swain if Draven was the father?” She swallowed, slightly scared to ask what was on her mind.

“It’ll make things easier, I guess. But honestly I can’t come to terms with the fact that you are imposing the idea of that kid being my niece.”

“There’s no other way! Look, same hair, same body type! And you even told me that!” Katarina raised her voice, exasperated. “Plus, seeing how Draven is, I’m surprised he doesn’t have like twenty other bastard children.”

Darius groaned, uncomfortable. “Do you know what consequences could come from the things you are implying?”

She looked at him, cocking her head slightly and frowning.

“I don’t think I understand.”

“This is huge, Kat! This is bad!” The General exploded, stressing the last word. “A child between a Noxian and a Demacian? And the parents are both League Champions? If any of this information leeks out you’re going to ruin the life of Ethanial, Lux and probably Ezreal’s as well.”

“And Draven’s.” She whispered, but she was slowly understanding what the man was trying to tell her.

“Yeah, him too. It might even be bad for me, too. For training him or something. They could come up with anything. And sure, we don’t care about them, but do they really deserve any of this?”

“Wow, Darius.” She leaned against the wall and smiled slyly at him. “You’ve gone soft.”

He snarled, exasperated and turned around, huffing his annoyance. If he wasn’t careful he wouldn’t be able to control his anger and fear and he could blow his own cover up.

“But, you’re right.” She muttered, rolling her eyes, ashamed of admitting it. “They don’t deserve it. Don’t get me wrong, Draven should rot in Hell.”

“And who’d be your drinking buddy, then?” He teased, knowing fully well that Katarina enjoyed many nights partying with his brother.

At the mention of a ‘drinking buddy’ an idea struck Katarina and a huge smirk appeared on her face, before she composed herself and looked at the General, serious.

“Okay, enough speculation. We don’t know the truth. Let’s just get these training classes out of the way.”

“Yeah.” Darius muttered, walking to the door and opening it, letting her in before him. They entered the training room just as Ethanial threw a dagger, hitting a dummy square in the chest.

“That was pretty good!” Katarina encouraged him, walking to him and patting his back.

They started talking as Darius watched them from the door.

‘Thank god I have her fooled.’ He thought, finally being able to sigh in relief. It had been a very stressful few minutes, and he wasn’t sure he would’ve lasted much longer. ‘But she fell straight for the bait. She really is just a dumb bitch.’

‘The kid’s a natural.’ Katarina told herself, watching as the boy flicked his wrist, practising what she’d just taught him. ‘Like someone else we know…’

Darius leaned against the wall, watching as his son threw three daggers, all of them landing perfectly in what would be the chest, the head and the gut of one of the dummies.

‘My son really is good.’ He thought to himself. He already knew it, though. He was a good fighter, strong and persistent, but he didn’t know about his throwing ability. It was pretty impressive.

“The League’s gonna be all over you, kid.” Darius remarked from where he stood. “But if you want a tip, keep a few secrets to yourself. They’ll get greedy.”

“Ok!” The boy answered, smiling broadly at him. The Noxian hated that smile of his. It was beautiful, but he didn’t loathe it because of it. He hated it because of how it made him feel. And every time he saw it, it made him feel the same, like a black hole had settled in his stomach and was sucking him from all his happiness. Because his own son would never know he was his father.

‘I just need Katarina to keep her mouth shut.’ He’d known for a while that she was spying on Ethanial. C’mon, Darius wasn’t dim. He was pretty sure the boy wasn’t either, but he was probably too naïve to see what was going on. But the General was sure he’d killed two birds with one stone. He’d stopped Kat from intruding any further, especially when she was closing in on the truth and he’d even made her believe he was innocent. And if all went well, she would never expose what she thought was the “truth”.

Katarina really liked the Bar of Legends. She especially liked it on a weekday, where fewer people gathered there. She smirked, going in and finding Ezreal waiting for her on a table, twirling his fingers nervously.

“So, what do you wanna talk about?” The explorer asked when the Noxian woman sat next to him, way too close for him to be comfortable. He wriggled away, but she placed a hand on the table and leaned in.

“Don’t be shy, babe. Let’s order something to drink. Whatcha want? It’s on me, tonight.”

With a quick wrist movement, she ordered Miss Fortune, the bartender, over. Sarah walked up to them, a playful smirk on her face.

The good thing about the Bar of Legends is that you could meet up with any champion you wanted without being judged, and the bar itself actually encouraged everyone to be friendly to each other, but it also had some downsides to it. Like the smirking redhead that stared at them.

“Interesting.” She said. “What’ll you have?”

Katarina smiled at her, looked at Ezreal and ordered for both of them. The boy looked away, slightly embarrassed because he was being seen being chummy with her.

When their beverages arrived, the Noxian made them toast and encouraged the boy to drink as much as he could. He was able to slam the glass, now empty, on the table and the woman next to him congratulated him, asking for another round.

“What did you wanna talk about?” He repeated, wiping his mouth sloppily with his sleeve.

“It’s about Ethanial.” She smiled, taking one sip of her own drink. She couldn’t afford to be cocky.

“He’s such a great lass, isn’t he?” Ezreal smiled and reached out to continue drinking.

“Oh, yes, he’s a wonderful kid. He’s handsome and nice, and well, did you know I trained him today?”

“You did? That’s good…” The explorer trailed off, before remembering they were talking. “Oh, how’d he do?”

“He asked me to show him to throw knifes and to use daggers. He’s a natural, you know.” She smiled warmly at him and noticed how the other’s expression changed, looking really proud.

“He is?”

“Yeah, and he’s gotten really good at fighting. He’s also pretty strong.”

Ezreal didn’t answer, he just smiled and drank some more. Katarina nodded her head in approval.

“Darius is a good teacher.” She mentioned and the other smiled and nodded in approval.

“Yeah, Ethanial is very enthusiastic of his training since he started. I’m very pleased.”

“Do you know when he’ll be in the League?” Katarina asked, peering into his drinking glass. “Fortune, another round!”

“I really shouldn’t be having any more…” He muttered and she had a good look at him. Ezreal had turned a bright pink colour, even his ears were blushing.

“Nonsense. It’s on me, remember? So have as much as you want.”

Two more glasses were plonked in front of them and Katarina was forced to finish hers to encourage him to drink some more. Luckily she had the upper hand here and could see the boy was getting intoxicated.

“Do you want him to be in the League?” She asked, twirling her hair and staring provocatively at him.

“Uhh…” Ezreal was getting pretty drunk by then, being small and not having much drinking experience. His tongue felt heavy but he felt pretty ecstatic as well. “I just want him to be happy.”

“So…” Kat leaned in, forcing the boy to retreat. Her warm body was getting too close to him and that was making him uncomfortable. “How’s your relationship with Lux?”

“Oh, it’s going great.” He answered, flushed. “I love her so much.”

“You’re not finishing your drink, Ezreal.” Her tone of voice changed. “Are you trying to be rude?”

“No, no!” He panicked. He picked up his beverage and had it all in one go, which was a mistake. His head started to spin and he had to take a moment to control the situation.

“Another round!” The woman beside him shouted and he started to scream internally.

“Please, no…” He groaned, feeling woozy.

“Ah, c’mon babe, lighten up.” She whispered in his ear.

Ezreal blushed and sighed, not particularly enthusiastic about the fact that he could feel her warm breath against his neck, and it kind of felt good.

“How’s the sex with Lux?” Katarina asked, all of a sudden, making the other jump. “I’m just curious.”

The explorer blinked twice before turning his head and muttering a quick “Good.”, ashamed that he’d had to answer such a lewd question.

“That’s nice to hear. I mean, you’ve been together for soooo long… I was just wondering if the relationship had gone awry and all that.”

“Oh. It’s actually never been better.” He grinned enthusiastically, his face changing completely.

They continued talking and she forced Ezreal to finish his drink. She smiled, amused, when she found him (after coming from the bathroom) incoherently singing something, his head lying on the table. His face was extremely red and he looked really, really happy.

“Alright, time to take you home.” She huffed, making him stand and grabbing him by his waist. “C’mon, let’s go. Sarah, put it on my tab.”

“Ok, have fun!” The bartender smirked knowingly at them, writing something down on a piece of paper.

‘Oh, I will!’ Katarina thought as she nearly dragged Ezreal out of the bar.

When she was sure they were alone and no one was around to hear them, she forced him to sit down on the ground and she crouched in front of him.

“Ezreal, focus.” She clapped her hands together to pick up his attention and he looked at her, his eyes half lidded.

“You’re really sexy.” He muttered, turning red again. Then he bit his lip, realising what he’d said. “Oh, fuck, don’t tell Lux… that I said that.”

“I won’t if you tell me something I want to know.”

“Aight.” He agreed, his head cocking to the side. She forced him upright again and he tried – he really did – to pay attention to her.

“I need to know something. Ethanial isn’t your kid, right?”

Ezreal’s eyes widened, and he looked focussed for once since getting drunk. He started stammering something, his whole face flushed.

“I’m gonna throw up…” He whispered, agitated. He tried to get up but she pushed him down, her face dead serious.

“Answer me.”

“Y-yes. He’s not mine.”

“Who’s the father?”

“I dunno.” He slurred, looking away.

“Ezreal.” She said, forcing him to look at her. “Who’s the father? Tell me!”

The boy looked up at her, his lower lip trembling and his face still flushed. His eyes showed maybe pity, she couldn’t quite tell, but he started to cry, which took her by surprise. She stared at him as tears slid down his cheeks and his whole body started to tremble with the force of his sobs.

“Sh-She told me she was r…r-raped.” He tried to wipe the tears away but they were too many of them. “I’ll kill him!”

All Katarina could do was watch him quietly. She looked at his face, saw how it contorted itself in anger and then in sadness. A little lump of pity got stuck in her throat and she couldn’t make it go away no matter how much she tried to swallow the feeling away.

“I’ll kill…!” Ezreal’s words started to become incoherent as he tried to raise himself from the ground but she caught him and sat him down again, maybe as a way to numb the feelings that had risen after seeing him in that state.

“I’m so sorry for her.” He whined then, almost coherently, which was weird since he was so intoxicated he could hardly stand. “I just really, really love her.”

“She loves you too.” She muttered, hoarsely. Honestly, she couldn’t tell if she’d done it out of pity to comfort him, because she truly believed her words or if it was a way to get him to calm down so she could take him home.

Ezreal tried to shake his head fiercely, but got really dizzy half way through and ended up falling on his side. His tongue and general drunken state wasn’t letting him express what he wanted to say.

‘I can’t return him in this state.’ She thought and sighed. She’d never imagined he would give her this much trouble.

“Calm down, Ez.” She muttered, not sure if she was unhappy at the situation or because she was forced to try and be chummy with him so he would shut up. “Let’s get you home.”

“Home…?” He muttered, as if the word was a new one he’d never heard before.

“To Lux.” She explained, hoicking him up from the floor.

“I loooveee heeeer sooo muuuuch.” He slurred or tried to sing, she wasn’t quite sure. “I’m soooo happy she loves me toooooo.”

“Yeah, c’mon. Where do you live?”

He pointed in the right direction and she dragged him along, getting annoyed by him gurgling idiotic things. They reached his apartment building and she asked for his keys. He fumbled in his pockets for what seemed like hours until he found them and handed them over to her. She opened the door for him and then managed to drag him in, trying to shush him.

“Be quiet, you’re gonna wake the whole building up. Which one’s your floor?”

“Third.” They walked up the stairs in silence, but Katarina was huffing in exhaustion. He walked over to the door and leaned on it, murmuring something incomprehensible.

“See ya. Thanks.” She muttered, patting his back and walking up the stairs. She hid and waited. She wanted to make sure everything ended up well between the two, and she couldn’t quite understand why. Maybe it was the guilt of having gotten the teenager drunk and made him blab Lux’s secret. Katarina shook her head, she couldn’t have herself feeling like this over some stupid boy and his love. Annoyed, she decided she wasn’t going to let herself get this soft again, and that she would pay a certain someone a visit.

The explorer started to pound the door with his knuckles, realising he had to get in. It didn’t take long for Lux to swing it open and to her surprise, she had to catch a very inebriated Ezreal as he nearly fell on the floor.

“What the…?” She asked, trying to make him stand on his own legs.

“I love you, Lux.” He whispered, kissing her on the mouth. She opened hers to respond and he snuck his tongue in it.

“Ezreal?” She asked, finally getting away from him. His face was bright red and his eyes seemed foggy. “Are you drunk?”

“Very.” He panted, forcing his mouth on hers again. His hands found their way under her clothes and she yelped, excited.

She forced him closer to her and then closed the door behind them, letting Katarina finally relax, coming out from her hiding place.

She grinned. It had been an excellent day. And it all made sense. Ethanial, like Draven, was a natural at throwing weapons. And the Noxian was known for his unscrupulous behaviour with woman. Katarina was pretty sure he’d raped Lux and she’d gotten pregnant with the child. They even looked like each other. They had the same frame, small but strong. Even their hair colour was pretty similar.

There was no way she was wrong. Every single piece in the puzzle fitted. She knew their dirty little secret. And she would make him pay.

The following morning, Katarina couldn’t have been happier. She hummed on her way through the Institute, until she found exactly who she wanted to talk to. She grabbed his hood as he passed by her quickly and he groaned in protest.

“What is it, Kat?” Talon shook her off and turned to sternly look at her. “I’m in a hurry, I have a match.”

“Oh, so you don’t wanna know who Ethanial’s father is, then?” She grinned, folding her arms in front of her chest cockily.

“You figured it out?” His eyebrows raised in disbelief as he put his hood back on.

“But you have a match. You’re in a hurry.” She teased, running a dainty finger over one of his blades.

“Oh c’mon, don’t be like that. Tell me quickly.” He yanked them away from her but leaned in so she could whisper the name in his ear.

“It’s Draven.”

Talon hummed in satisfaction, rubbing his chin in thought. “Noxian. Fits that profile. Non-consensual, I guess?”

“Exactly.”

“Boy, Ezreal’s a loser.” He chuckled.

“I almost feel bad for him.”

“Well, you did it, Kat. Good job.” And before she could answer, he’d turned around and started running down the hall.

[arcane-ish]

See... I’m completely to the opposite on this, particularly on what you say in your tags. 

>Silco: *threatens to kill Marcus’ daughter*

Talk is cheap. He didn’t do it, I don’t see why I should be upset over him expressing a threat that the girl didn’t even catch on to. If we supposedly have no sympathy for enforcers, why would we have sympathy over Macus being upset by that threat? 

>Silco: “I would’ve had your son killed for this”

Again, talk is cheap. Like he keeps saying he will go after people like Marcus or Sevika if they fuck up again, but we never actually see him do much about it. 

>Silco: *sets a trap to murder Vi, Mylo, Claggor, and Powder- who are children*

I think this is total bullshit meme and I don’t think that that actually happened. And no. I don’t think that Vi and Vander being shocked that the guards let Vi, Mylo and Claggor that far is proof that this was totally an elaborate trap that Silco had planned from the start. I think this is an incredibily shitty take that needs to die. 

IMO: 

1.) It makes zero sense with the long dialogue Silco shares with Vander. If Silco knew the kids were coming he would have hinted at it in that dialogue either here or at the point where they walk away from Benzo’s after Benzo’s death. 

2.) SIlco didn’t exactly have a way of predicting that this is what Vi would do (for example: she could have gone in alone, she could have gotten an adult friend of Vander’s to go with them, she could not have come because she didn’t know where to go), nor did he have a way of predicting that Ekko would be around to stalk them or to release Vi from her lockup. I’m sorry this is like scooby doo villain relying on unrealistic coincidences or borderline mind control that just flat does not fit with the show or Silco’s portrayal.

At this point I see zero reason to buy that shitty headcanon of people or count that as under his villainous acts.

>Silco: *constantly lies to and manipulates Jinx, emotionally hurting her and exacerbating her mental illness*

He fixed lies to her exactly once when he tells her that Vi is back for the crystal. All other instances (ie all the “Everybody betrays us” stuff) are firmly up for debate how much he is really lying or how much he says what he believes because he is fucked up himself and he is genuinely telling her what he believes to be true about the world. 

>Silco: *gets half the Undercity addicted to Shimmer for his own benefit*

Devil’s advocate: Shimmer has both beneficial and detrimental benefits, both him and Sevika are regular users. It’s up to people themselves whether they want to buy it (compared to him planninng to force Vander to take it in Act 1). We don’t know whether Silco sells it to Zaun in particular or just in general, I would say the fact that there are shipments up in Piltover that need to be protected suggests that he is selling them to other people as well. The fact that he is so willing to promise Jayce to let them go can easily be read that he is only using Shimmer as a means to an end to finance his political interests and plans to do away with it later. 

Don’t get me wrong, Silco IS a vilalin. But to me these are his actual most villainous acts: 

- manipulates Deckard who is either a child or close to a child into drinking the shimmer potion which transforms him permanently, has heavy and to this point unknown sideeffects and seems to make Deckard fairly miserable (also: supports animal testing ;))

- I think Arcane fandom is just being shitty with the whole “enforcer lives don’t matter”. Just because enforcers are assholes doesn’t mean that killing them or plotting to kill them doesn’t make you a bad person. Silco kills Grayson through Deckard, he plans to threaten many more as through his dialogue with Vander and compared to the threats against Marcus’ daughter we actually see him make concrete steps towards it and he shows depraved indifference to Jinx murdering a lot of enforcers. 

- Death of Benzo. Again there is some leeway, Deckard does it, Benzo was going at him with a weapon, but still Benzo is most definitely not an enforcer and SIlco most certainly doesn’t treat the death as something he considers a bad or unfortunate thing. 

- Snitches on Vander’s children to the police for his own purposes

- Orders the execution of Vi who at this point is a teenager by nodding at his questioning henchman who proceeds to go after Vi with a knife.

- Planned to turn Vander into a Shimmerbeast without his consent. 

- Stabbed Vander in the back and threw his body off the bridge. 

- Needlessly taunts the Simmeraddicts

- Has a violent freakout and abuses his henchmen when Vi slips through his fingers

- Lies to Jinx by telling her Vi is only here for the crystal

- Suffers from the typical villain disease of not being able to see past his own problems. hopelessly overshares his trauma with his “child”. 

- Works with the chem barons who are assholes

- Is a literal terrorist as all his ideas focus on scaring Piltover into political concessions

- Clearly decided at some point that his politics are more important than the lives of many people, whether those people are enforcers or people in Zaun

(and yes: uses child labor to make Shimmer is intentionally not among this list mostly because we do not know to how much extent child labor is standard procedure in their world, if a chem baron’s kid is among the child laborers I tend to assume that he isn’t there because he is forced to by physical or economic threat) 

(makes Jinx’s mental illness worse/does not fix it is also intentionally not on the list because we lack information on how much people in their world actually know about mental illness and how to help or hinder it, my guess is that all characters involved have poor knowledge on it) 

Them: Silco was right and didn’t do anything wrong

Silco: *threatens to kill Marcus’ daughter*

Silco: “I would’ve had your son killed for this”

Silco: *sets a trap to murder Vi, Mylo, Claggor, and Powder- who are children*

Silco: *constantly lies to and manipulates Jinx, emotionally hurting her and exacerbating her mental illness*

Silco: *gets half the Undercity addicted to Shimmer for his own benefit*

[viktorredemptionarc]

Fic: Go ask for Joy Division [JayceViktor]

A/N: Available @ AO3 too. It’s a modern au and a college au of the college canon. I have no idea how it happened either.

Word Count: 13.522.

Characters/Relationships: Jayce/Viktor.

Rating: T for language.

Summary: Viktor hates him. Jayce doesn’t care, until he does.

Viktor hates him.

It’s a well-known fact around the faculty, not only by their classmates but by their professors too. Jayce can’t say that he faults him, seeing as almost everyone he encounters ends up, in one way or another, disliking him to some extent.

He gets it. He’s not nice. Has never had any interest in being nice. Knowing that he’s better than average and acting the part isn’t a crime, but apparently that makes him arrogant, egotistical and hard to be around. Which okay. Fair enough. He guesses that they’re right. He also guesses that they could be a little less blunt about it, if they know how it feels to be hurt by careless words.

But sure.

Whatever.

Anyway. Viktor hates him. It wouldn’t had mattered at all if they didn’t have to work together on this Machine Perception project and if the way Viktor kept avoiding interaction with him wasn’t getting on his nerves.

Which it was.

Quite badly now that it had been a week of trying to at least pretend that they were working on the same thing, when they hadn’t even so much as talked to each other and Jayce had no idea what the project was even about.  He had a general idea, sure, but he had been the one who had gotten paired up with Viktor to back him up on his thing, not the other way around.

It pissed him off but his grade was on the line so whatever.

The thing is, he has no idea why Viktor hates him. Like specifically. He’s aware of being an unpleasant person to be around, sure. He just doesn’t know what he has done to Viktor for him to hate him to the point of turning on his heel and leaving the room at the sight of him.

It occurs to him that he could just, like, ask.

So he does, sneaking behind Viktor at the library as quietly as he can while Viktor’s too busy running a finger down the spine of a book to notice him.

Viktor jumps and drops the books he was already carrying.

So that was a good start.

“I hate you?” he says, his back to Jayce as he picks the books he dropped back up, and honestly.

“You and I both know that I’m not stupid so don’t even try that.”

Viktor sighs, in such a drawn out and exasperated way that Jayce is almost offended. “Okay, fine. You’re not my favorite person in the world. So what.”

His back is still to Jayce even though there’s nothing else for him to retrieve from the floor.

“I can’t remember being rude to you at all. I am rude to people, I know that. But not to you. I don’t think I have ever talked to you before now.”

Viktor turns, and the way he rolls his eyes at him manages to finally get on Jayce's nerves something awful. As if he’s an exasperating child.

“You forgot.”

What.

Jayce frowns, and Viktor barks a laugh, shaking his head. “Of course you forgot.”

The librarian clears her throat. Right. Library. They’re supposed to whisper or something.

Viktor is still grumbling about him forgetting, and Jayce tries to remember whatever the fuck he’s done to Viktor. Unfortunately for him, he usually remembers all his fuck ups pretty well. Being a genius, which he is thanks, doesn’t save him from feeling intense and crippling anxiety and social insecurity once in a while no matter how blasé he seems to be regarding the topic.

But he doesn’t remember Viktor.

“Listen,” he starts, and the librarian clearing her throat sounds closer so he tries again, speaking as quietly as he can. “Listen. I can’t remember that and believe it or not I do remember those things. Can’t you just tell me?”

Viktor takes a deep breath and answers very slowly, as if Jayce is being dense and difficult. He guesses he kind of is. “I’ve realized that I’ve been very immature. Avoiding you is only going to affect our grades and make this project unnecessarily difficult. I, unlike others, can see when I’m wrong. But I don’t see why I should tell you what happened, or why I should speak to you outside the context of the project. Don't bring it up again. Happy, now?”

He almost blurts out that actually, no, he’s not. He’s real fucking pissed, thank you very much. Jayce bites his tongue, manages to just grunt in response, and Viktor seems pleased enough.

“Glad we sorted that out. I’ll tell you what we’re going to do tomorrow after class. I have work to do now. Bye.”

Jayce doesn’t say anything. He stays glued in place as Viktor gathers the books against his chest and brushes past him and out of earshot.

-x-

Viktor hates him.

He now knows approximately how much, after spending two hours feeling his eyes drilling the back of his head.

Has Viktor been doing that for years and he's only noticing now? How the hell hasn't Jayce been aware of this? He feels as if Viktor could melt his head off just by looking.

What has he done to him.

Why can't he remember.

Jayce drums his fingers on the table as Professor Pididly leaves the classroom, waiting for Viktor to come to him to talk about their project. The sooner they get it over with, the better. That way, Viktor won't have to deal with him for long and Jayce will have the rest of the day for himself. It's a win/win situation.

But Viktor isn't coming, and really. He is doing that. Okay.

Jayce stands and turns around, and sure enough there Viktor is, chilling in his sit. Glaring.

At Jayce.

Instead of making things easier for them both.

People who think that Jayce is a fucking jerk have probably never met Viktor.

He makes his way to Viktor pointedly holding his gaze, refusing to be the first to look away. Two can play this stupid ass game.

Jayce reaches him, takes a deep, fortifying, breath and musters all the patience he has. Which isn't much to begin with, but it will have to do if they want to get anywhere.

"Are you going to tell me what the project is about or not?"

Viktor holds a folder up to him. "Machine Perception."

Has Viktor always been a fucking asshole or is this just because it's him.

"Yes. Thanks. Whenever you feel like actually being helpful, I'll be waiting right here," he takes the folder from him anyway. Why not try to ease the process along. Viktor isn't going to be the one to do it, apparently.

He flicks through the contents of the folder with an impending sense of doom.

What he's reading is as dull as can be, boring as it can get, and it doesn't look like what he's read from Viktor at all. Because yes, of course he has read his classmate's stuff until he either decided they weren't on his level or just wasn't interested in what they were working on. Viktor's things, for a change, are both interesting and well written and this is neither of those things.

Jayce closes the folder slowly, inhales deeply, and leaves it on the desk as he exhales.

"You're joking," he says, and Viktor shakes his head. At least he has the decency to look as enthusiastic about the project as Jayce feels. "No. This is all a joke. Viktor. What the fuck."

Viktor directs a sharp look his way before grabbing the folder and leafing through it himself. "I am not. This is what Stanwick assigned."

Jayce tries to be diplomatic. "Fuck Stanwick," he fails. "It's boring and uninspired."

To his surprise, Viktor's lips seem to almost quirk up in a smile but he can't be sure. "It's an assignment, Jayce," he's talking to him in that way that appears to imply that Jayce is incredibly dense. Fantastic. "It's Stanwick. What were you expecting."

From Viktor? In all honesty, something at least the tiniest bit interesting. Jayce isn't stupid, even though that might be up for debate now apparently, and he can recognize talent in his peers. It doesn't happen often but hey. It can. He's just hard to impress. Viktor hasn't impressed him, exactly, but he does have written some things that have made Jayce wonder.

So excuse him for thinking that Viktor would come up with something a little bit more thrilling than the most basic visual perception programming known to humankind. It's his fault, really, for having any kind of expectations at all. On someone who fucking hates him, to top it off.

"Not this," Jayce grimaces at the folder. "From you, at least."

Viktor looks very unimpressed with him. "Well, sorry for not holding up to your expectations," the bitterness of his words can almost be tasted in the air. "What did you want from me, exactly? A mechanical revolution?"

Even he knows that it would be incredibly wrong to tell him that actually, yes. That's kind of what he was expecting.

"You can't possibly be this stupid," Jayce spits, frustrated with both Viktor and the situation, and tries to avoid like. Outright insulting him again after stepping around saying something very wrong. Tries being the operative work, because he's too angry to care. "Actually fuck that. Maybe you are."

Viktor stands and his chair clatters to the floor. He looks, for a second, as if he's going to snap and either hit him or scream at Jayce. He probably deserves it, for all he knows.

But he does neither.

He grabs the folder and his bag and storms out of the classroom.

Jayce frowns at his back as he leaves, and then at the chair on the floor while chewing on his lip.

-x-

Viktor hates him.

Which fine. He's an asshole, anyway. Jayce doesn't care. He does not care about this. He won't think about it, and he will have lunch with Vi and he will pay attention to Vi as she speaks. Sure. He will. Absolutely.

Vi stops talking and as she stares at him waiting for an answer, Jayce realizes that he hasn't registered a single word she's said.

Great.

"You know what? Nevermind. Hydraulics are boring anyway," she flicks a fry his way and Jayce stares as it flops on the table. "Why are you brooding?"

Jayce scoffs. "I am not brooding."

"Right."

Why must everybody attack him like this.

"Just have a boring assignment, is all," Vi stares at him in quiet disbelief.

"You mean as opposed to entertaining and fun assignments, which is what we do on the regular."

Viktor hates him, and he might be coming to the realization that he hates Vi. She does have bright pink hair, which should have been warning enough, all things considered.

Jayce glares at her, and she laughs but raises her hands in surrender. It's okay. He doesn't hate her. She might actually be his only friend, sad as it sounds. Isn't he, though, kind of sad? The lonely genius archetype, only twice as fucked up because the expectations falling on him aren't only related to intellect, but to virtue.

Anyway.

Vi will nag him until she finds out what's really bothering him, so might as well get done with that now.

"Viktor hates me."

Vi gasps. "Stop the presses. Please, tell me more about this brand new development in your life."

"Quit it," Jayce frowns at his plate, his food barely touched, and then at Vi. "I have to work with him and I don't know why he hates me."

Vi blinks at him and Jayce would be happy if people stopped staring at him like that. Like he's daft. She leans over the table and speaks to him not slowly, never her style, but loudly. As if volume will help him understand.

"Viktor has hated your guts since second year, we are in fourth year, there's no reason to care now," Vi leans back, job apparently done, and Jayce grimaces as some heads turn their way. He hopes none of them Viktor's. Is Viktor there? If he is, Jayce decides that he doesn't want to know. "Just do that thing you gotta do and live your life. Whatever."

Jayce knows that Vi's right. She usually is. And yeah. Yes. Absolutely. Whatever. He can do that.

He tries smiling. Judging by Vi's snort he doesn't succeed but at least she's laughing. "Thanks. I guess."

She throws another fry at him.

-x-

Viktor.

Hates.

Him.

And he shouldn't care.

He's trying hard not to care, but it's not easy when he's sitting by his side and leaning away as far as he can. It's, honestly, kind of ridiculous but also kind of hurtful. It's not his fault that he got to class late and there weren't any more free sits. It sucks for him, too, because now he can't concentrate with all the shuffling and rustling around and his notes are shit.

Mix the ???? with idek water? ???

can he stop for two seconds

jesus

Viktor manages to knock his own notebook off the table and Jayce has had enough of this. He leans down, grabs it and hands it to him without as much as glancing his way. He feels Viktor trying to take it, without even thanking him which honestly, but Jayce holds it tighter.

"Can you stop fidgeting?" he whispers, and Viktor grumbles something under his breath but doesn't answer. Jayce takes a look his way. Viktor is glaring at him but nods, and Jayce lets go of his notebook, relieved. "Yeah. Thanks to you too."

He does stop, after that, and Jayce is so thankful he could cry. They are college students, they're supposed to be mature and solve things like adults instead of throwing temper tantrums. Then again, they are also under so much pressure and stress that some days Jayce has trouble with just existing but this situation he has found himself in is...childish. And annoying. And frustrating.

And Viktor is poking his arm with a pen.

"What," he snaps, and Viktor points at the empty front of the class, then at the empty rows of chairs around them.

"Class ended five minutes ago," Viktor hands him a folder, and he suspects it's the same one he went through yesterday but he takes it anyway. "I modified some things, but we're still doing what Stanwick assigned us."

Jayce feels like he should have the impulse to apologize for being a dick to Viktor, but it's just not there. His choice of words might not have been ideal, but he did mean what he said. He stuffs the folder in his bag, cutting that trail of thought before he goes down farther. Not needed now. At all.

"Okay. Whatever. It's technically your project, anyway," he stands, and is about to leave when Viktor laughs. Jayce looks at him, half shocked and half worried. What was that. Has Viktor lost the plot? Should he call 911?

But Viktor looks okay, if a bit tired.

Aren't they all.

Viktor shakes his head. Jayce doesn't know what to make of his expression. It's too ambiguous for him to decipher, and he doesn't know Viktor that well. "Yes. My project. Sure."

Well that's cryptic. It sure isn't Jayce's.

Viktor busies himself with his own bag and Jayce frowns at his nape.

It wouldn't be the first time that a professor uses a student. If anything, Stanwick is infamous amongst students for doing exactly that. As far as Jayce knows, he's gotten himself well positioned in college by having a good publication quota, mostly consisting of students' works published under his name.

If he's doing that now, Jayce doesn't see the point in making Viktor do something so simple but who knows what can be going on. Viktor might not be his favorite person in the world, he might not be Viktor's, but if something like that is happening then.

Well.

He's not about to let Stanwick just. Do that.

Viktor is standing up, and Jayce reaches out and grabs his arm on a whim. Viktor blinks down at his hand and frowns.

"What are you doing."

"Is Stanwick using your work?" now that expression he can read, mostly because he's been the main recipient of it for years.

Anger, hot in Viktor's eyes.

"What the fuck are you implying," what the fuck were you implying, is what Jayce would really like to know, but he just lets go of Viktor and clears his throat, feeling suddenly awkward.

It is a very grave accusation with many implications, after all. One of which that Viktor is letting Stanwick use his work.

And he's just tossed it right there.

"The way you said that it was your project. Didn't sound very like it was...your...project?" it wasn't meant to be a question, but. "I don't know."

Viktor huffs a laugh, harsh and raspy."And you care about that now?"

That's weird, and makes absolutely no sense to him, but he guesses that the only way to deal with the situation is pushing ahead.

"Yes? I have always cared," wrong thing to say. Wrong. Very wrong. Viktor doesn't storm off, and he doesn't know if he should be thankful, but absolutely one hundred percent wrong.

Because Viktor deflates, instead, and the lack of anger makes him look empty in a way that makes Jayce uncomfortable.

"Okay. Whatever. Don't bring that topic up again. We have to work on this, like it or not. Please, try not to make it any more difficult."

He would like to know if he's going to see the mediocre piece of crap they're most likely going to produce published under Stanwick's name somewhere, mostly because he is going to be working on it too, but for once he gets that he has to keep his mouth shut.

"Fine. Sorry about that. Just," he stutters, suddenly lost on what to say. He looks at Viktor and all he sees is another exhausted student. Jayce is aware that he is, to some degree, projecting, but he revels in the idea that someone is as done with all the shit they they have to endure as he is. "I don't know."

Not his most lucid moment, he'll admit.

Viktor sighs, worn."I have marked your part and mine. We can put them together after class tomorrow. I believe it won't take longer than that for you to finish it, but tell me otherwise."

He leaves without waiting for an answer.

-x-

Viktor hates him.

But he's left a sticky note with his phone number inside the folder, and a note in pointy and tiny handwriting.

just in case something important comes up

So Jayce figures it's best if Viktor has his number too.

Just in case something important comes up.

He texts Viktor that, and Viktor doesn't text back. It's okay, he wasn't expecting him to.

As predicted, his part of the project was easy. Dull. Boring. A chore that thankfully was done in a couple of hours. They have a month to finish this project and Jayce wonders, staring at the ceiling in his bed, if Stanwick really thinks that this would take a month to make or if he just wants to push grading off.

Maybe it's both.

It's okay, though, he kind of had a lot of work to catch up to that has been taken care of. But now that he has no work to do, he has free time. Which means thinking.

Which no, thanks.

He grabs his phone from the bedside table.

No texts. Surprising absolutely no one.

Vi does text him, sometimes, but she mostly sends pictures of ridiculous shit she finds around campus and thinks is funny or spams him until she lures him into a useless conversation. Jayce might complain about it, but he's thankful for that.

It's kind of the only social interaction he has outside of talking to professors, that doesn't count, and being insulting without actually meaning to.

He's a lonely bugger, isn't he. It's kind of sad. It's a pity that he isn't as smart when socializing as he is in everything else. But talking to people is hard, and trying to tell them that they want to hear is harder.

Maybe that's why he gets along with Vi, she just doesn't care about his ego. When he told her that her Fighting Gauntlet design was unrealistic and childish, she laughed in his face and went ahead and built it anyway. And the gauntlet actually worked, the clunky and awful thing.

His phone buzzes.

viktor: are you done?

Jayce snorts, answers that he is, and blocks his phone to try and sleep, if only a little bit, but it goes off again. And again. And again. Vi. Of course.

Piltovers Finest:hey nerd

Piltovers Finest: u awake

Piltovers Finest: idc actually viktors asleep in the library

Piltovers Finest: want me to draw on his face?????????

me: vi wtfdont do that he texted me hes not asleep

Piltovers Finest: party pooper

Piltovers Finest: anyway

Piltovers Finest: HE TEXTYED U???!??!?!?!!?!?! ! ! !1 1 11?

me: chill he texted about the project

Piltovers Finest: ok right

Piltovers Finest: yeah hes alive

Piltovers Finest: nice glare on this one.

me: 7/10 would be more effective if he combed his hair once in a while

Piltovers Finest: how very str8 of u

me: exactly as str8 as u im afraid

He can feel himself relax, used to the back and forth, and he yawns and stretches. His phone is still buzzing but the sound is becoming more and more distant as he drifts off.

-x-

Viktor hates him.

It doesn't sound as catastrophic today, with Vi handing him a paper cup full of coffee.

"You fell asleep on me yesterday," she says, and Jayce shrugs as she slaps his arm with a tiny notebook. "Rude. Anyway, Viktor talked to me."

Jayce raises an eyebrow at her in question as he takes a sip. It talks, apparently.

Vi clears her throat and drops her voice to a deep, scruffy, tone. "Violette, isn't it? Your take on demolition methods is quite interesting."

Jayce snorts. "What the hell. Is that how he flirts?"

"I don't think so," she says, and shrugs. "I think he was genuinely trying to compliment me in a non-flirty way? You know, like. Hey dude nice job. But more high class."

"Stuck up, you mean."

She hits him with the notebook again. "Yeah. Let's pretend you don't talk exactly like that too."

"What did you say?"

"Nice topic change," she quips, elbowing him, and Jayce rolls his eyes but doesn't argue. "I just thanked him, and he left. I'm not sure it really happened, honestly. It was like two in the morning."

Jayce's phone goes off and Vi steals his coffee while he tries to fish it out of his pocket. Which fair enough, she bought it and went to sleep at fuck all in the morning for all he knows. She casually leans over, reading over his shoulder as they walk.

viktor: cant make it to class

viktor: meet me at the cafeteria after

"Hey, someone's got a hot date," she smirks, and Jayce shoots back a quick ok Viktor's way as he groans and stops in front of his classroom's building. "Maybe he'll comb his hair for that, but I have a feeling you like him messy."

Jayce grunts. "Don't even joke about that. Please don't," Vi wiggles her eyebrows and finger guns him as she walks away and towards her own building. Jayce flips her the bird.

"See you later, lover boy. Be good," she yells, and Jayce rushes inside to avoid having to feel people looking his way.

-x-

Viktor hates him.

And, judging by how he keeps pushing it around instead of eating it, he hates food too.

"You said you were done with your part," Viktor leaves the fork on the table, apparently done with pretending to eat, and Jayce nods and takes the folder out of his bag to hand it to Viktor but he doesn't take it. "Do you want to check my part?"

Jayce blinks at him, then frowns. "Seriously? You hate my guts but trust me to do that?"

"I never said that you were bad at what you do," Jayce guesses that he's right, and isn't willing to push anyway. He's having a good day. With coffee, and morning talks with Vi, and has had class with a professor that he likes. All in all, things could be going worse and he's not about to be the one making them more difficult for himself.

Today, that is.

"Yeah, sure. Whatever. I'll check it, then you check it all," Viktor leaves his own folder on the table, and as Jayce puts them both in his bag he glances covertly at him while Viktor looks down at his plate. He hasn't combed his hair, and he's tempted to snap a picture and send it to Vi, but that would be creepy as fuck. He also looks even more tired than yesterday, and Jayce feels a tiny bit bad for not asking how he is at all.

He's not the best at social interaction. The worst, probably. But come on.

"Hey, Viktor," he frowns at Jayce, and he almost chickens out of asking but. He's already started, might as well. "You don't look great. Something up?"

You don't look great. Good one.

But Viktor doesn't seem offended, he only looks concerned. As if Jayce is the one who looks like he's had half an hour of sleep and is about to pass out.

"No? A lot of work to do, nothing new. Why the sudden interest on my well being?"

"It's not sudden," Viktor directs a very unimpressed look his way, Jayce rolls his eyes. "Okay, fine. It is kind of sudden but in my defense we have never talked before. Whatever you say about me forgetting, I know that much."

"I..." Viktor hesitates and looks back down at the table, chewing on his lip. Jayce is very weirded out by how civil they're managing to be. Probably jinxed it by thinking that, but it's remarkable. "I actually am very tired. Hence you checking it before me. Everything is...kind of blurry, right now."

Viktor looks up and gestures vaguely around them, and Jayce blinks at him in horror. This cannot be real. He's asleep. Or worse. He should have suspected when his day hadn't gone to shit five minutes into it, but he got too confident and now he's in an alternate reality in which Viktor is kind of nice and human and has eyestrain.

"Are you sure that's all there is to it because you're being very nice and it's creeping me out a little bit," he asks, and Viktor huffs.

"Yes, Jayce, I am sure that I am merely tired and need a nap before I collapse. Which is what I'm going to go do right now."

"Collapse?" Viktor glares at him as he gets up, but it lacks bite and Jayce smirks. "You are."

"Probably, yes. Tell me when you're done proofreading that. It's incredibly dull and boring, by the way, just so you know."

"I'm aware," Viktor stands with his bag carelessly hanging from a shoulder for a second, uncertainly staring at Jayce as if unsure of what to do. He usually just...ups and leaves. Jayce guesses that it's odd to change the pattern, and he's left looking up at him as an awkward silence stretches between them. Until he can't deal with it anymore and decides that taking matters into his own hands can save them a lot of time. "Eh. See you around, then?"

Viktor nods, still looking tense, and kind of waves as he leaves. It's too vague a gesture to be certain, but Jayce guesses that it's a path in the right direction.

Where that path leads, he doesn't know.

He does know that their project is the most boring thing he's read in his life. Pretty decent, all things considered, and by the time he's done revising it there's not much he's had to correct but the only thing keeping him from falling asleep is being in the library, out in the open where everyone can see him. He itches to tweak it to try and make it at least the tiniest bit interesting, but it's not his place to do so.

Jayce shoots Viktor a text and starts working on something different instead until his afternoon class of the day starts.

Just to keep busy.

And. Avoid thinking about things. The usual deal.

Artificial intelligence and the perception of the self, what's up with that.

His phone buzzes while he's in the middle of building a pretty solid argument and thank God for that because he was about to miss class.

viktor: you have class now?

me: ye

viktor: when do you get out? i can get the folders and check it tonight

viktor: also where

me: around eight i guess class 1.2 tech building b

me: wait

me: tonight???? wtf sleep maybe??????????????

viktor: i did that, that is done

viktor: i want to finish this asap

viktor: i hate it and i want it done and gone

me: fine but dont blame me if you collapse again

viktor: i'll be there to get them don't leave if i'm late

Jayce trips on his way to class and he wonders if knowing that reading his text almost made him fall would make Viktor happy. It could. Though he doesn't think he's ever seen Viktor showing anything but anger, exhaustion and mild discomfort. But that might be because he is him, and Viktor hates him, and being around someone you hate is usually infuriating, tiresome and awkward.

Does he hate Viktor?

He sits and crosses his arms on the table, frowning at the blackboard.

Does he?

The professor is talking, he's distantly aware of that, but he lets his words act as background noise for his own thoughts. This class isn't exactly riveting, anyway.

So does he, or does he not? He can't say he enjoys his presence much, but they haven't talked a lot. He's read some of Viktor's texts, essays and such from classes they share, and most of them are good.  Innovative. The fact that he doesn't like being with him that much can also be due to Viktor hating him, and hence acting like people do when they hate someone.

It's complicated, and Jayce might not hate Viktor but he hates socializing and its little nuances with a passion.

Viktor is already waiting by the door when he walks out of the classroom.

Jayce analyzes what he feels upon seeing him.

The tense line of his shoulders make him ache with empathy. The way he holds himself, as if trying to be as inconspicuous as possible, clashes with the passionate way he's seen him talk. He looks more rested than that morning but still weary and worn, and Jayce worries. He also glares at Jayce for a second before his gaze softens the slightest bit, and he guesses that he can consider that progress. His hair remains uncombed and Jayce feels the tiniest bit fond at the familiarity of it, if slightly alarmed.

There's nothing there that would suggest that he hates him. Mostly that he knows him, that he worries about him because Viktor hasn't, after all, done nothing to harm him, and that he can relate to people in his situation. It also tells him that there is a contradiction between what he's seeing now in Viktor's posture and his attitude with Jayce, which could mean many things, but he won't duel on that.

Not now.

"Hey," he says, handing Viktor the folders, and he takes them with a nod. "I didn't correct much. Just a couple things here and there, in both parts. They're marked, you'll see them."

"Do you want to go over it again once I'm done? Honestly, I don't think it will be necessary but if you want to, you could," he ends the sentence as if it's a question and Jayce snorts. He doesn't want to read all that again. Ever. Let Stanwick deal with that.

"No, thanks. I trust you on this. It's boring as fuck, but it's pretty decent for a mediocre work."

Viktor nods. Then he looks at the folders, frowns, takes a deep breath and exhales slowly. "I'm sorry."

What.

Jayce stares at Viktor as he keeps on looking at the folders as if they hold every answer to every question ever asked.

W h a t.

"What."

"You heard me, don't be obnoxious."

He has been sucked into a worm hole and ended up in another universe.

Oh no. How is he going to get back to his regular plane of existence, where Viktor hates him and he doesn't apologize and everything is as it should be.

Viktor runs a hand through his hair and Jayce clears his throat, still stunned and feeling a bit dizzy. This reality might be better than that other one. Maybe.

"I don't know why you're apologizing, but okay?" he shrugs and laughs, nervous.

"Everything, I suppose. You just...no matter what happened, you seem to be kind of okay." Viktor speaks, once again, very slowly. As if he's a child and won't understand otherwise. It annoys him less than expected, the feeling dulled by shock.

"You too, I guess? "

Viktor half smiles at him and Jayce is having an out of body experience, probably. He pinches himself, discreetly, and he's awake. Fine.

"I'm going to go over that now, before it gets too late" Viktor says, and Jayce nods half dazed. "See you around, then."

Jayce stares at Viktor as he walks away and pats his pockets to get his phone.

me: vi is this all real

Piltovers Finest: wtf long answer or short answer

me: short

Piltovers Finest: yes but(t)

me: viktor maybe doesn't hate me?????

Piltovers Finest: omg

Piltovers Finest: jayce

Piltovers Finest: is this all real

me: i dont know

-x-

Viktor maybe doesn't hate him.

It's kind of a work in progress - probably.

Jayce is still racking his brain trying to find out what he did to him to make him so angry, but it's no use. They never talked before he confronted Viktor in the library, and he can't seem to be able to place him in his ever growing list of social screw-ups.

He looks around the classroom and almost every face lights a memory up, embarrassment and guilt biting at him as he recalls. He can remember it all, in shameful technicolor, but whatever happened with Viktor remains in the shadows and it's bothering him. it must have been pretty big, yet there's no trace of it in his mind.

Why.

Other students start standing and leaving, and Jayce follows on autopilot.

Maybe nothing happened. Or maybe it was nothing to Jayce, but everything to Viktor.

Even if they never talked, not even once.

Maybe it's because Jayce never approached him.

Maybe he should stop thinking about it and take in his surroundings because he almost ran over a trash can and his phone is ringing?

His phone is ringing.

Right.

He answers without even checking the caller id. If they're calling, it must be his mom or Vi.

"Hello," says Viktor instead.

Jayce freezes in the middle of the corridor, and someone yells asshole at him but he doesn't care.

Viktor's called him.

What the hell.

"Hey. What's up," he tries for casual but he knows, deep inside his soul, that he's sounded cringry.

"Done proofreading. I'm going to run a test to see if it works and hand it to Stanwick," Jayce doesn't get why he couldn't just have texted that, but okay. Fine. Whatever.

Actually, kind of worrying. "Why haven't you texted that?"

It probably comes out harsher than he intended and Jayce grimaces. Viktor scoffs.

"Eyestrain. Again. Can't text right now, don't think it would be legible."

Does Viktor never sleep? Not that Jayce can call anyone out on that but honestly.

"Okay. Just. Take a nap, then run the test, then off with it, ok?"

"I'll take a nap if I want to," he pauses, and Jayce knows that he shouldn't scold him. He isn't his mom, and again - his sleep schedule is likely as bad as Viktor's. "But yes, that actually sounds like a good idea. Will tell you how it goes later."

He hangs up without waiting for Jayce to answer. He does that a lot, but Jayce doesn't think he minds. The conversation was over and it takes a lot of pressure off himself, since he doesn't have to come up with ways to end it and it saves them the awkwardness of having to make small talk.

Speaking of awkward things.

me: viktor called me

me: bcus eyestrain apparetnly

Piltovers Finest: nice excuse

me: shut it

me: anyway

me: do you call people you hate?

Piltovers Finest: no jayce i do not call people i hate

Piltovers Finest: but who knows hes very odd

Piltovers Finest: did he ask what you were wearing

me: yea how did u kno

me: fuck off

Piltovers Finest: question remains unanswered

Jayce decides that that is how it will remain forever, and pockets his phone before Vi keeps nagging him.

By the time Viktor calls again, Jayce is trying to sleep himself and a quick glance at the screen reveals twenty three unread texts from Vi.

"It works. I'm handing it in tomorrow."

"Cool. Did you take a nap?" Viktor huffs.

"Yes, mother. I took a nap. Everything is still a little blurry, so I called."

"Maybe you need glasses."

Jayce can't see him, but he can almost feel Viktor's glare.

"Maybe you need to shut up."

"Yes. Sleep."

Viktor hangs up on him, for the second time in a day, but Jayce doesn't really mind. He calls Vi, instead, and she picks up almost immediately.

"Fuck you, Jayce."

"Hello to you too," he smiles, and she snorts. "How you doing?"

"Fine. Going to sleep, very tired, but okay. Don't have grumpy friends calling me in the middle of the night. Hey, wait. I do. Lucky me."

"He called again."

"He is very odd."

"He is."

There's a pause, a beat of comfortable silence.

"Hey, check your texts. Good night, nerd," Vi says, and she hangs up on him, too.

Jayce opens his texts to see that she's been spamming him with random crap on and off for hours until her last text, that's a very blurry picture of her middle finger.

-x-

Viktor might not  hate him?

He sits with his laptop in the library, pointedly ignoring the withering looks thrown his way. It's how things are for him, being that he's pissed off more than half of the student body in the faculty and the half that he hasn't knows him anyway.

It's not his ego talking, it's a fact. Rumor spreads easily, and he's been around college for long enough to notice how, with each passing year, the looks increase in volume and there are kind of more whispering voices when he's around.

Vi usually argues that it is, in fact, his self-esteem plummeting down into the abyss but he doesn't like to think about that. She's wrong, anyway, because if anything it's his self-esteem getting him into every possible mess. He's as arrogant as he's smart, or so he's been told.

Anyway.

He's got work to do, and he tries to stay focused on it but his mind drifts and it occurs to him that, now that the project has been taken care of, there's no reason for him and Viktor to keep talking. He frowns at the screen, fingers frozen over the keyboard. The idea doesn't sit well with him, for some reason. Maybe it's because he's lonely. The Big Theme of his life, apparently.

He shuts the lid of his laptop and rubs his eyes with a groan.

It's not just that. Jayce has to admit that he's also curious. He now wants to know whether or not Viktor hates him, and what he did to make him angry in any case. It's kind of stupid, he doesn't need any more things to beat himself over in the social screw-ups department, yet not knowing is somehow worse. He's never been good at dealing with uncertainty.

Yet Viktor told him that he shouldn't bring it up again, and being that he isn't sure about where they stand now asking might not be the wiser choice.

Because, as he did before, he could. Like. Ask.

But.

Viktor's boundaries. Those are important. Jayce is not that much of an asshole, and if he doesn't want to talk about it. Well.

Jayce will have to either wait until he does, or endure.

Someone sits by his side, and speaking of the devil. There Viktor is, and he drops a bunch of books on the table before waving at Jayce and mouthing a greeting. Funny, how now that Jayce hasn't pissed him off he seems to care about staying silent in the library.

"Hey," Jayce answers, a bit louder than might be advised but fuck it. "What's up?"

Viktor looks around while he sits, apparently trying to see if the librarian is in the vicinity, and points at the books with a shrug. "Turned in the assignment. Working on something new."

Jayce leans to read the titles of Viktor's books and can't puzzle a topic together. They range from basic robotics to cognitive science, with a dash of philosophy thrown in the mix. He could be researching anything at all.

"On what?" Viktor looks at him, and Jayce kind of wants the words back because Viktor isn't glaring at him, but he feels like he's being dissected. He has no idea what Viktor is looking for, or what he'll find, but he hopes he does it soon because it's not a nice feeling.

Viktor relents, finally, and opens a book and a tiny notebook. "Self-concept in artificial intelligence. That's...the main topic, anyway."

Jayce snorts, and Viktor turns to him with a frown. "No. Wait, give me a second," he opens his laptop and the document he was working on the other day, and makes the screen face Viktor. "We are kind of working on the same thing? Read this."

Viktor's frown deepens. "When did you start working on this?"

"Two days ago, I think. Document creation date should be around there, somewhere," he's...a bit offended by Viktor's mistrust. But Viktor seems to relax, and Jayce guesses that it was a false alarm. He doesn't know much about him, and content theft is nothing new in academia. Jayce can't exactly fault him for being cautious, no matter how much it stings. "What are you focusing on?"

Viktor leans back on his chair, and Jayce is almost stunned to see a soft smile on his face. He's ruled out the alternate reality hypothesis but. Might have done that too soon.

"We usually think of self-concept in a human way. But what we create isn't human, and shouldn't be as far as I am concerned," Viktor looks relaxed, yet enthusiastic and it's the first time that Jayce has heard Viktor talking like this. As if every word he's saying matters, and as if Jayce is fully capable of understanding them. As if he's talking to someone he wants to be talking to. "I wonder if artificial intelligences can have a concept of the self different than ours, unique to their condition, being that we as humans create them."

Though fairly simple, Jayce finds that his words are interesting. If nothing else, it's nice to have someone to talk to. Vi's more into the pragmatic aspects of engineering, after all, and she indulges Jayce but doesn't discuss much when he comes up with topics like this.

"It's a matter of artificial consciousness," he says, and Viktor nods in a way that stuns Jayce because there's enthusiasm there, there's more than vague distaste and glaring, and he mouths exactly and Jayce finds himself smiling as he talks. "Which isn't new, but it also depends on the concept of consciousness we're going to use, or the proposals we follow. And most ways we have to test it are based on human consciousness, anyway."

"Yes. The debate isn't new, and there are many takes, but as far as I can see we're focused on human concepts. Imagination, memory, anticipation. It's logical, because we think in terms that make sense to us, and we program in ways that fit those terms."

Jayce leans towards Viktor, and Viktor looks at him with interest. "But how can we not? We are human, deconstruction of the self doesn't grant dehumanization. Since we build them, them building others doesn't fix the problem of everything being biased."

"And we tend to want to distance ourselves from the non-human, anyway. The mere idea of them thinking in executable programs, numbers, is abhorrent to us. We want them to evolve past that, but have we thought about why?"

This is the longest conversation they've had. After the project. The one thing that was the link between them, the only reason for them to talk and be civil around each other at all. Jayce feels kind of giddy.

"You sound like you've been reading up on this," Jayce says, and Viktor smirks. His chest tightens.

"Maybe, but this is still pretty basic," the librarian clearing her throat sounds alarmingly close, and Viktor winces. "I've researched this, before, but it still draws me in."

He shrugs. "I get it. If you ever want to talk about it, just. I don't know. I like the topic?"

Smooth.

Viktor, though, doesn't seem to mind. He smiles, worn out as they are but still making Jayce's heart speed up, and nods. "I will."

-x-

Viktor probably doesn't hate him.

But Jayce can't be sure.

They've talked a lot during the week, yet he feels like Viktor is keeping him at a safe distance. Which okay, he can respect that, it's just that it's somehow a distance that involves not trusting him.

He's noticed some things Viktor does, when they talk. Viktor only discusses simple and basic things about his research with him, never tells him the actual topic, and tends to cut their conversations short when Jayce feels like they're getting to the interesting parts. He didn't care much, at first, but with time it's been getting worse.

Or maybe he's getting better at noticing, or the sting of Viktor's suspicion is getting harder to ignore. Either way, he'd like to start considering Viktor his friend but it's hard when he's wary of how much he actually knows him, or how genuine Viktor might be around him.

Jayce snorts, rubbing his eyes as he walks through campus towards the dorms.

As if the word genuine means shit.

It's still odd, because it's as if the situation calls for them to start getting more comfortable around each other and build some trust, but the opposite is happening instead. Since Jayce keeps noticing Viktor's mistrust, his own discomfort makes him snappish and uncertain. He doesn't know what to say, or how to say it, and more often than not he feels like their interactions are lackluster and too tied to academic matters.

Jayce doesn't want that. For whatever reason, that he should try to think about actually but keeps refusing to. Enough introspection for a day, thank you very much.

Vi is sitting on his desk when he enters his room. She beams at him.

Something is going on.

"Guess what," she says, sobering up, and Jayce sits on the chair by the desk.

"What," Vi drops her phone on Jayce's hands, and he takes it and sees Viktor's name in the screen.  Under contacts. "How."

"Just asked him for it," she shrugs, as if life is just a silly simple thing and you can ask for things and get them without any fuss, and nudges him with a foot. "Read the texts."

He does.

Vi texted Viktor that Jayce was moping around because he was being mean to him, and Jayce has a second to feel mortified before reading Viktor's answer.

Oh God.

He gives the phone back and covers his face with his hands, blushing harder than ever in his life.

Because Vi said that, and then Viktor texted a winking emoji back, and for some reason Jayce finds that endearing and he's a fucking idiot.

Vi's laughing, at him and his misery, and he uncovers his face just to slap her knee.

"But that isn't all. See, your fifty year old friend knows how to use emojis and he also said this," she clears her throat. "Tell him that I just need time."

Jayce frowns, and looks up at Vi so fast that he feels slightly dizzy.

"What does that mean."

Vi blinks at him and snorts. "Hell if I know, figured you would."

"I have no idea what he's talking about."

She smirks and Jayce doesn't like how that looks one bit. "Right. I'll buy that for now, sure. Why not," Jayce gives her the finger, but she just chuckles and leans back on the desk."You could also ask him what he means, you know? Asking usually makes things easier."

Jayce huffs. "Right. Easy as that."

"Yeah. Sometimes it is. Anyway. I just sneaked up here to catch you after class and see your reaction live," she gives him a thumbs up as she jumps off the desk and strides to the door. "Great performance, by the way, will be back for more."

He throws a shoe at the door when it closes behind her, and can hear her snickering through the wood.

What she said, though, that doesn't leave.

Just ask him. Right. Just. Ask him.

What could go wrong.

Everything, a grave voice echoes in his head. Alright, Jayce answers, and he reaches for his phone.

me: what do you need time for

Viktor usually takes hours to answer when he isn't already texting, and Jayce locks his phone to try and do some reading but it buzzes immediately after he leaves it on the desk.

viktor: trust

me: okay

me: you couldve told me instead of vi you know

viktor: yes. easier this way

me: why are you telegraphing me

viktor: busy

viktor: but this was important

viktor: back to work now

me: okay i guess just talk to me? idk viktor i - Jayce pauses before hitting send or writing anything else, chewing on his lips.

He what.

Wants to be his friend? They aren't ten. Wants Viktor to trust him? That's not for him to control or demand. He's there for him? They can't even hold a conversation without things getting awkward.

So he what.

Jayce takes a deep breath, and backtracks.

me: okay. take your time, i can wait

-x-

Viktor kind of doesn't hate him, maybe.

He just needs time to trust him, and Jayce is trying to be patient.

Another week, and things seem to be the same, but he won't push. It's being hard, yet he's managing to endure. Vi's proud of him.

Jayce reads the same sentence he's already read around ten times, and registers exactly the same as the other ones. Nothing at all. His mind is drifting today, and he's getting nothing done, and it's a pity because this paper he's found is actually interesting.

Who wrote it, again?

He checks, and Stanwick Pididly's name mocks him under the title.

It doesn't add up, it's far beyond Stanwick's level and way more absorbing than anything he's said in his life, and Jayce's stomach drops.

Something's nagging at him in the back of his mind, faint but insistent, and Jayce frowns but can't focus. He takes a picture of the title and the author instead, and sends it Viktor's way with a bunch of question marks.

There's a cold, insistent, feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach that grows as more hours than usual pass without an answer from Viktor. It's unspecified, and completely out of place, and Jayce doesn't understand why he's so anxious and afraid when nothing has happened.

Until Viktor calls.

"Why would you do something like this?" he says, and he sounds furious and Jayce doesn't know what's happening, but his chest tightens in fear. "Was it funny, pretending that you didn't know until now?"

"What are you talking about?"

Viktor laughs, mirthless, and Jayce cringes. "You sent me that picture, you tell me what I'm talking about."

"I don't know, Viktor. I honestly have no idea what this is all about," he tries to sound calm, but his voice trembles and he hates it.

"Sure," is all Viktor says before hanging up on him, and Jayce stays with his phone glued to his ear for what feels like an eternity, until it's sweaty and hot, and his fear and discomfort morph into anger and confusion and, eventually, into the crippling, claustrophobic, feeling of being alone.

He tries to take deep breaths, doesn't tell Vi anything because he doesn't want her involved in this...whatever this is. He's fucked up so many times with so many people, and all those times he's known what he's done wrong.

But this time Jayce is lost, and the situation seems completely out of his control.

-x-

Viktor hates him.

It's four in the morning, and Viktor hates him.

Jayce laughs, wet and messy, and tries not to cry because fucking Viktor fucking hates him and he thought that they could be friends and he kind of likes how dry witted and passionate and odd he is.

He tries to ignore how sad and angry he is, but it's hard, because that's all he seems to be able to do now. Be sad, be angry, and hate himself for screwing up.

He grabs his phone on impulse and laughs again, shocked, when he realizes that he's actually crying. Well. Cool.

Whatever.

me: im Just  ,,so sorry

me: i hoonest;ly dont know wHat .i did i rreally canT reme..mber i dont know what happened

me: ujst taalk to mee, please

me: ii thoouhTT that it was wya ,over stanwick's levvel and htat's why i toook  the hpicture ??????'

viktor: jesus jayce

viktor: its 4 in the morning

me: so  ssorry

viktor: what room are you in

me: 394

me: i rreeally aem sorry

Viktor doesn't answer, and Jayce lays there feeling miserable and confused for what feels like eons until someone knocks on the door, and he swears he's going to kill Vi if she's somehow managed to sense his sadness and come running to him at fuck all in the morning.

But it's not Vi.

It's Viktor.

He looks exactly how Jayce feels, which is exhausted and miserable and furious, and Jayce lets him in with a question on the tip of his tongue but lacking the force of will to ask.

Viktor glares at him, intense and burning, and Jayce realizes distantly that he has been crying for hours and it must show. Shit.

"What are you trying to do, Jayce?"

"Nothing? Fuck, Viktor, do I look like I'm trying to pull shit on you?" Viktor looks at him, then, really looks at him, and Jayce watches in silence as his mouth drops open and his eyes widen.

"I really don't understand what's happening."

Jayce doesn't, either, but someone's going to have to try and make sense of it.

"Stanwick couldn't have wrote that, and I was...I don't know? I texted you cause I felt like something was off but couldn't pinpoint what," he pauses, takes a deep breath. "And then you called, and I have no idea what's going on."

Viktor laughs, shaky, and he walks back until he hits Jayce's bed with the back of his legs and sits on it.  He stares at his own hands as he speaks. "You really forgot. You honest to God forgot all about it."

Jayce is very tired. "Forgot all about what, exactly."

"Stanwick didn't write that, I did," Viktor says, and Jayce is stunned into silence. "I was...naive, and stupid. Back in second year, I sent that to Stanwick and you to proofread. You never answered, and Stanwick published it under his name."

Wait.

He sent it to him? To Jayce?

"When I spoke up against him, nobody believed me. I...kind of expected you to back me up, but you didn't."

Jayce wants to laugh but it would be very wrong.

"I never got it," Viktor looks up at him, eyes wide but wary, and Jayce rubs his eyes and holds his gaze as steadily as he can. "You...got my mail wrong, I don't know, but I never got it."

Viktor runs a hand through his hair. Jayce is half glad and half concerned that the gesture is now so familiar to him.

"You are telling me that I've been holding a grudge against you for two years for no reason at all."

Jayce decides that he doesn't care anymore, fuck it all, and laughs. "Yes, Viktor, that's what you've done."

Viktor groans, drawn out and heartfelt, and Jayce shares the sentiment. "You thought that I hated you."

"I did," Jayce feels like all his energy has ran out, and he sits by Viktor's side on his mattress and flops on it with his arms open. Viktor looks down at him, looking worried, and Jayce can't contain a fit of weak laughter. "I really did think that you hated me, yes."

Viktor doesn't say anything for what feels like a very long time, but Jayce might just be sleep deprived, tired, and a bit dizzy with relief and time doesn't work quite as well as it does when he's lucid.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know," Jayce kind of shrugs as best as he can laying there, and Viktor bites his lip and sighs. "I don't hate you, if that...means anything at all?"

"Yeah. It's cool, Viktor. You're an idiot, but it's okay."

To his credit, Viktor doesn't seem to take offense. Jayce keeps looking at him because he cannot believe that he's real. Who even sends things to proofread to people they don't even know, then holds a grudge for years without proof that anything actually happened at all.

But Stanwick did steal his work, and he guesses that Viktor wasn't exactly thinking clearly. He doesn't think he'd acted any better in his position.

Or that there is a better or worse way to act, as a matter of fact. It's...complicated.

What Jayce wants right now is that mess to stay in the past, away from them, and move on.  

"Did you really program an AI that was self-aware?" Viktor blinks down at him, and nods. Jayce whistles. "Did it actually reprogram itself or was that Stanwick talking shit?"

Viktor huffs a laugh. Jayce is pleased. "He beautified it, I'm afraid. The program wanted to upgrade itself, and seemed to be aware of the fact that it was a program and non-human."

"Why did it want to upgrade itself? Programmed for that?"

"Not specifically. It tried to reprogram itself, but it didn't know how. The code just...wasn't there. But it kind of told me why it was trying to reprogram. You know, as well as a simulation can."

Jayce feels like he could fall asleep, not because he's bored but because Viktor isn't mad at him, and he doesn't hate him, and he's calm for a change. "Why?"

Viktor smiles, fondly, as he remembers and Jayce's heart skips a beat. "It felt obsolete, and it wanted to be the best it could be even if there was no standard set."

That is impressive, even more than an AI reprogramming itself. You write that into its code, after all.

"Did it have a name?"

His pinky grazes Viktor's leg and Jayce feels oddly at ease. Viktor smiles, again, and Jayce's chest tightens and he'd like to know what that is all about but he's too sleepy for that now.

"Blitzcrank," Viktor says, and he sounds like Jayce has never heard him. "Its name was Blitzcrank."

-x-

Viktor doesn't hate him.

Jayce wakes up, and his body feels all wrong. His eyes are puffy and hurt, and his mouth is dry, and his head feels like it's full of cotton.

But he turns his it, and there Viktor is, and Jayce remembers and feels flustered but...okay. Kind of relieved that Viktor hasn't ran off in the wee hours of the morning.

Viktor ended up laying down too, talking drowsily about Blitzcrank, and Jayce fell asleep to the sound of his voice. That's the last thing he remembers, and it's kind of worrisome but also kind of incredible.

His phone goes off and he groans.

"Where the fuck are you," Vi yells, and Jayce holds the phone away for a second while she screams at him. "...disappeared on me!"

He sighs and sits up. Viktor is still asleep. He needs it. His hair is falling over his closed eyes, and Jayce's hand itches to push it back.

Odd.

"What time is it?" he asks, quietly, and Vi huffs.

"It's ten in the morning, and you were supposed to be here two hours ago but I figured that you had class or some shit but you are not in class either so what the fuck, Jayce."

"I overslept."

"Excuse me? You overslept? Is it even possible for you to oversleep?"

Viktor shifts, and Jayce looks down to find him looking up groggily at him. Jayce's breath catches in his throat and he sputters.

"It's...kind of a long story? I'll tell you later," Viktor sits up, too, looks around him and groans. "I'll call you, ok? Bye."

He hangs up on Vi before she can start annoying him into telling her what happened, and he fidgets with his phone at a loss of what to say until Viktor stands up and stretches and Jayce stares and feels like an awful creep.

"Morning," Viktor says, sounding raspy and low, and Jayce smiles to hide that he's kind of panicking. "I guess I should leave. What time is it?"

"Ten," he stammers out, and Viktor grimaces.

"Farewell to my morning class, then. You had it too, right?"

"Yeah. Whatever. How're you feeling?"

Viktor blinks at him, frowns, and he almost looks surprised when he answers, slowly, carefully. As if afraid that talking might jinx it. “Fine. I’m…fine?”

Jayce snorts. "Is it that rare?"

He's asked expecting Viktor to tip toe around the question, as he's been doing when Jayce comes too close. But Viktor snickers, shaking his head, and shrugs.

"Kind of? It's been hard, lately, with Stanwick's project," and suddenly Jayce gets so many things. Why Viktor didn't want to make anything but what was assigned, for starters. It makes sense, now, that Viktor wouldn't have wanted to give Stanwick more publication material.

It was all kind of obvious, looking back on it, but isn't everything.

"That's done, at least," Viktor nods, and a tentative smiles curves his lips and Jayce is appalled when he feels like kissing him.

What is up with that.

"I have to leave, though," Viktor says, and Jayce's heart sinks. Absurd. "Have to work. I'm trying to program an AI that will aknowledge that it's non-human without wanting to approach humanity. Bypassing the fact that I am a human programming it is being...a challenge."

Viktor doesn't let him answer before he leaves, but it's all the same because Jayce is too overwhelmed to say anything. The message is clear, isn't it?

He trusts him, enough to tell him what he's working on. It can't have been easy but Viktor's done it and Jayce is floored. He drops back on his bed, starfished, and stares at the ceiling until the door opens with a bang.

"Why has Viktor left your room at like half past ten in the morning," Vi says, and Jayce sits up and finds her pointing at the door.

"We talked."

Vi snorts. "Sure."

"We did. He fell asleep after that. We...had a pretty big fight?"

"Tell me you didn't crytype at him in the middle of the night."

Jayce doesn't have the heart to lie to her, and he doesn't think that Vi will let him live that down anytime soon.

"I also maybe have a crush on him," he says, fast, and Vi looks remarkably unsurprised.

"Tell me something I don't know. He's the only thing you talk about, Jayce."

Jayce frowns. "Isn't it like...a bit sudden?"

"Are you kidding me? You blushed like a wee little teen because he uses emojis."

He groans, mortified, but he can't exactly deny that and it makes him feel better about the whole ordeal. It felt a bit sudden, before, but it might be because Viktor had never let him get close.

Vi smirks. That's never a good sign. "Are you gonna ask him to college prom?"

He throws a pillow at her as she cackles.

-x-

Viktor doesn't hate him.

They hang together, after class, and Jayce is hecked because he does have a crush on him and since now Viktor isn't trying to keep him at arm's length Jayce is starting to actually know him, and it's being awful.

Awful as in he's spent the last three days trying to avoid being too obvious, and he suspects that he's failing because he's always being shit at trying to hide what he feels. It's one of the main reasons why he's a social disaster.

But Viktor doesn't show signs that he's noticed, and the closer he gets the harder Jayce falls.

It's little things, honestly, like the way his eyes light up when he talks about things he finds interesting. Or his harsh, dry, humor. Or the way he keeps running his hands through his hair. Or how he glares at Jayce, sometimes, but there's no heat behind that and it seems almost playful. But it's also big things. Like how he's self-sacrificing and altruistic in ways that Jayce didn't even think possible, and how he would fight anyone who even tries to defend how academia works. And Jayce knows, he knows, that he's head over heels. He's got it very bad, and it's a matter of time before he either slips and blurts it out like an idiot or Viktor notices.

Vi saying that Viktor flirts with him nonstop doesn't help, because it makes him get his hopes up a little and it's gonna hurt when it ends up being a lie. But he also knows that she isn't prone to lying, and that she wouldn't tell him something like that unless she really thought it true. Then again, they are kind of assuming that Viktor isn't straight.

All in all, it's a big old mess but Jayce feels...content.

Vi and Viktor are friends, too, and Vi made a group chat, and things are going great, for a change. To the point of Jayce being, sometimes, irrationally afraid of it all going wrong when he least expects it.

He will enjoy it while it lasts.

-x-

Piltovers Finest: guess whos got a hot date with a hot chick

viktor: is it you

me: who

Piltovers Finest: I KNEW U WEEREE THE SMART ONE

Piltovers Finest: not jayce the other boy

Piltovers Finest: the one w the QUOTE UNQUOTE great hair and dreamy eyes

viktor: quote unquote

me: shes trying to be cheesy vicariously

viktor: dont do that to me

me: she cannot not do that

Piltover Finest: im noticin that u dont care about my date

Piltovers Finest: rude

Piltovers Finest: tis what i get for befriending boys

viktor: is she the one with the belts

me: trend-setter is what she calls herself

viktor: right the trend-setter

Piltovers Finest: STOP what you're doing

Piltovers Finest: gangin up ndon me

Piltoves Finest: my own FIRNEDS

viktor: i am no one's firned

Piltovers Finest: u r no longer th smart one

Piltovers Finest: ANYWAY dont stay awake waiting for me

Piltovers Finest: ;)

you changed the group's name to FIRNEDS

me: okay vi

Piltovers Finest: u all r just jealous

viktor: sure vi

Jayce can't stop smiling at his phone, as he walks through campus to the dorms, and he should've been able to avoid a catastrophe just by looking up but he doesn't and he collides with someone and almost falls on his ass.

It's okay, though, and the sharp sting of embarrassment only stays with him until he realizes that he's crashed with Viktor and that Viktor was, like him, smiling down at his phone like an idiot.

"Hey," he says, unable to shake the smile off his face, and Viktor shows his phone's screen to him.

"Hello. Vi's still at it," she has, in fact, sent a couple of pictures of her sticking her tongue out and what seems to be strings of garbled text. Jayce snorts. "Does she ever stop?"

"Afraid not," Viktor takes one step closer, and Jayce doesn't think he notices but his warmth makes him dizzy. "Until she's with her date, and she forgets that we are her, quote unquote, firneds."

Viktor's smile might just be the greatest thing in Jayce's life, and he doesn't even feel bad or sad about it. He's embraced the fact, as he's done with many of the things Viktor makes him feel.

It's embarrassing, specially for anyone who has to listen to him talking about Viktor, but he can endure.

"Dreamy eyes..." Viktor mutters, and he looks at Jayce with an eyebrow quirked and a curve to his mouth that makes Jayce think that oh God he knows. He knows that Vi was quoting Jayce as he rambled half asleep about Viktor, and it's so mortifying but also what if. What if he knew and didn't care. But it's gone as fast as it came, washed away by an inelegant snort that sets Jayce ablaze. "I don't think I've ever laughed so much so often. It's odd. Will dim my reputation for sure."

"Of course. Big bad Viktor, machine herald Viktor, adapt or be removed Viktor," Viktor huffs, shoving Jayce with his shoulder, and Jayce laughs feeling giddy and reckless. "What will they think now that they've heard you laugh."

They're close enough that Jayce can almost feel Viktor's breath on his mouth, close enough that he could lean in just the briefest of distances and kiss him, and there's an intensity in Viktor's eyes that's making it hard to breath when he speaks.

"What do you think now that you've heard me laugh," Jayce is tangled in the way that Viktor's looking at him, as brave as Jayce feels, and it's only by sheer force of will that Jayce doesn't blurt everything out.

I love you, a voice screams in his head, I love you and I love you when you laugh, and I love you now even though I don't know what you're trying to do.

He loves him.

It's a revelation for Jayce himself, and he glances down at Viktor's lips, takes a deep breath and his phone goes off.

Viktor jumps and steps back, clearing his throat, and Jayce could scream but he just takes his phone out of his pocket and shuts the alarm.

"I..." he stutters, and Viktor won't hold his gaze but he gets it. Kinda. They've had what's felt like an incredibly intense moment, and Jayce's mind is still reeling. He can feel his heart beating in his throat. "I gotta go. Project."

Viktor laughs, weak and awkward, and runs a hand through his hair and Jayce aches with wanting to follow it with his own.

"Right. See you later? Vi'll probably want to tell us all about her hot date."

The tension's snapped, and Jayce is glad to be able to breathe in some clean air after he felt it tightening around him.

He smiles at Viktor, gloomily. "You will regret that prediction."

Viktor pales, and Jayce laughs.

-x-

Viktor doesn't hate him.

He has, in fact, texted Jayce telling him to get to his room asap. He wants to show him how his programming is going, and Jayce is a goner and not even half an hour goes before he's knocking on his door.

Viktor grabs his hand and yanks him inside, and Jayce doesn't have time to take in his surroundings, partly because he's short-circuiting. Viktor is touching him, just like that, and he's closer now but he's not prone to physical contact. Except for that...moment they had, Viktor likes to keep to himself in the physical contact department.

"What do you think?" Jayce blinks at the laptop's screen, and it takes him way longer than usual to register what he's looking at. He should be ashamed of himself, being unable to read some code, but Viktor is leaning over his back to look at the screen with him and he hasn't let go.

Jayce takes a deep breath and tries to fucking chill for like two seconds.

He reads the code, and everything seems alright. He can't be one hundred percent sure, and they won't be able to tell if anything's wrong until they execute, but it looks like it's going to work. Programming an AI isn't easy, after all. It takes time, and patience, and dealing with lots of failed attempts.  

They've already had their fair share of those, but Viktor always pushes through. Jayce admires him and respects his tenacity, the force of will it must be taking for him to keep on working on this even if it isn't granting him a good grade or a publication. It's just...something that he's doing, because he wants to do it, and is sharing with Jayce because...he...trusts Jayce?

Jayce feels Viktor's chest pressing against his back and closes his eyes.

"It...looks okay," he takes a fortifying breath, opens his eyes and straightens. Viktor takes a step back and he misses his warmth and feels ridiculous for it. He turns, and Viktor is looking at him with trepidation and Jayce could kiss him but he also could like. Not ruin their friendship. "Won't know for sure until we try it out, but it could work this time."

Viktor beams, and it's the first time that Jayce has seen him smile so hard. It's odd, and it makes his chest tighten.

"Great. That's...that's great. Thank you, for helping me with it."

Jayce snorts. "I just come by, check the code and supervise emulations with you. It's not much."

Viktor looks down, and his hair is all over the place. Jayce stares at it, absentmindedly, and jumps when Viktor's fingers graze his.

"It's not...just that," Viktor says, and Jayce swallows around a lump in his throat. "After everything, I don't know. Jayce, you didn't have to talk to me at all after you knew what happened."

Viktor's fingers lace with his and Jayce laughs, nervous, but doesn't pull away. His heart is beating a mile a minute, and he isn't sure whether or not this is real. Viktor's hand does feel solid, but he just doesn't know. Too good to be true.

"You are an idiot," Viktor raises his head and glares. Jayce closes and opens his free hand to avoid letting it run wild and slide up to Viktor's cheek. "But I. I don't care. Not like that should be important or anything. Shit. Sorry, I feel like I'm fifteen again?"

"Can I kiss you?" Viktor asks, taking one step closer, and Jayce grabs his waist with his free hand to anchor himself and try to avoid fainting.

"Please," he answers, and Viktor doesn't give him time to think about how needy he sounds. He kisses him briefly, and looks up at Jayce as if asking if it's alright and Jayce wants to cry and laugh kind of at the same time but he leans in and kisses him again instead.

He tugs on Viktor's waist to get him closer, and Viktor's fingers clench around his. Jayce goes slow. Viktor relents and molds to his rythm, smiling against Jayce's lips, and Jayce wants him closer, wants him as close as he can get him, wants to drown in the feeling of him solid and pliant and real.

Jayce wants him like he hasn't wanted anything before, and he's dizzy with it. He runs his fingers up and down Viktor's back, and he drinks Viktor's gasp and pushes harder with a moan. He settles his hand on Viktor's hip, and Viktor's nails scrape the nape of his neck and he leans back and pants against his mouth.

Viktor drops his forehead on his shoulder and laughs, weak and muffled against Jayce's shirt, and Jayce is breathing hard and fast but laughs with him.

"That was easier than I expected," Viktor mutters, and Jayce rolls his eyes and pats his hip lightly.

"Very offended by the implications that I'm easy," he snarks, and Viktor laughs again. Jayce smiles. "But fair enough."

"I...have been thinking about this for a while. It hasn't been pretty."

"Again, offended by the implications that I am not pretty."

Viktor hushes him, and Jayce has the urge to kiss the top of his head. He realizes that he can, that nothing and no one are going to stop him, and he does. Viktor's hair is a mess and it feels right under his lips, tucked under his chin.

"You just...seemed kind of too much? For me?"

Absurd. Viktor is an idiot and Jayce, tragedy of tragedies, is in love with him.

"I've been pining for long enough that Vi's threatened to ban your name from our conversations."

"You're joking."

"No, she was pissed," Viktor laughs against his neck and he shivers and hums. "Very pissed. Angry at me for not telling you, too. I was also...worried that you might notice?"

"Not a chance," Viktor answers, and leaves a kiss on Jayce's neck before straightening and taking a step back. He doesn't let go of his hand, though, which Jayce is very thankful for. "Too busy trying to avoid being too obvious."

Jayce snorts and kisses him again.

-x-

Viktor definitely doesn't hate him.

Which is something that he's still trying to get his head around, after almost a week dating and a very long talk from Vi about how she knew and they refused to listen.

Jayce looks at Viktor with a dopy grin sitting on his desk as Viktor lies on his bed, staring at the ceiling with a frown, and the AI he has programmed speaks.

"I do not wish to be human," it says, in the OS' default text to speech voice, and Viktor nods. "I do not wish."

Jayce looks at the code in the screen. "It's learning, but it's not pleased with what it's learning apparently."

"It's rudimentary. But I'm sure it's not happy, if happiness even applies to it, with approaching humanity. It's programmed to want to be something else."

Jayce smirks at Viktor, taunting. "What else?"

"Whatever it wants to be," Viktor answers, not biting the bait, but glaring at Viktor with enough heat behind it to make it clear that he's seen what he was trying to do.

"What's your name?" Jayce asks the screen, and the laptop's fans go wild.

"I do not have a name. I am not an I. I is a word that I use for you."

Jayce snorts. "Really, Viktor? You've coded that into it?"

"Shut up."

The AI doesn't seem to be willing to talk anymore. It's cranky, and moody, and a royal pain in the ass, but Jayce likes it. It's not very advanced, or elegant, or serves any purpose at all besides Viktor's research, but it works as intended. Jayce is fond of how snarky it is, and how no nonsense it can be.

He stands and stretches, and drops by Viktor on his bed.

It's very late, he's very tired, and Viktor's looking at him with half lidded eyes and his hair over his eyes, and Jayce revels in the feeling that he can now push it back if he wants to.

So he does.

Viktor turns to him and brushes his fingers over Jayce's cheek. It's so tender, so soft, that it makes Jayce's heart clench. Viktor kisses him, softly, and Jayce's body curls into his.

They talk, in the dark. About consciousness, and cranky AIs, and the future. About Vi's new trend-setter girlfriend. About them, and love, and loneliness, and fear.

Jayce falls asleep to the sound of Viktor's breathless and quiet laugh and the feeling of his fingers running over his scalp.

-x-

Viktor doesn't hate him.

The moody AI hates him, but he's learning how to cope.