Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Viktor trudged his way into Piltover University's engineering building, escaping the torrential rain outdoors. 

Accessible campus, my ass. 

He hadn't had the easiest time getting around when he was on a tour of Piltover University the year before, but he'd figured he'd be able to make it work, at the very least. And sure, Piltover had a shuttle system, but it was inefficient, unreliable, and often skipped the stop by his dorm anyway. So, he'd resigned to walking, which had worked for his first few days on campus. His move-in went... fine, since he was on the first floor of his building, and Sky stopped by to help. And it wasn't that far to the University Center for food, so he was okay.

That was, until it practically monsooned on the first day of classes and he was forced to juggle an umbrella, his cane, and an extremely full backpack as he made his way to his class in the engineering building.

Which was all the way across campus.

After wiping his feet on the large doormat, Viktor huffed and took a moment to catch his breath and collect himself. He dropped his umbrella just inside the doorway and shuffled a few steps away from it into the lobby. He tried his best to dry one of his hands on the leg of his pants and took out his phone to check the time. He still had about ten minutes left before class started.

He scanned the lobby for an elevator, and—thank God—he spotted one with its doors open on the opposite wall. He hurried across the room, cane clicking rhythmically against tile. But shit, the doors were closing.

"Wait, I got you, man!" Someone ran up from behind him, shoving an arm between the metal doors to keep them from sliding completely shut.

Viktor slowed his pace and looked up. He was met with the face of another student, someone with a cheerful smile and bright hazel eyes.

"The elevator takes forever to come back," the other student explained. "It stops at, like, every single floor. And I figured, uh..." He glanced down at Viktor's cane and hesitated for a second before continuing, "I figured it'd probably be a pain to use the stairs, sooo..."

"Thank you." Viktor nodded. "I, ah, I appreciate it." Though he could have taken the stairs if he needed, it would have been a pain in the ass.

"It's no problem!" The other boy said as he crossed the threshold of the elevator and settled in one of the corners. "I'm Jayce, what's your name?"

"It's Viktor," he replied, affording Jayce a small smile of gratitude.

Jayce reached out a hand, hovering over the panel of buttons on the wall. "What floor are you going to?"

"I have Technical Physics in Room 308, so, third floor?"

"Oh, yeah, with Heimerdinger?"

"Yes, that sounds about right."

"I guess we're in the same class!" Jayce looked back at him after he pressed the button for the third floor.

"We must be."

The elevator doors slid shut and Viktor gave Jayce a once-over now that he was able to get a good look at him. His faded Piltover Hawks t-shirt was noticeably tight around his biceps. He had a pin for one of the campus fraternities—it said ΗΣΧ, so that was Eta Sigma Chi, if Viktor was reading it right?—on one of his backpack straps. There was a chain or necklace of some kind peeking out from his collar. Viktor looked back up at his face. Jayce's hair was a bit shaggy, too, like he was almost in need of a haircut. He had what looked like an attempt at a mustache on his upper lip. Did he have a gap in his teeth?

How cute.

Wait.

He looked up at Jayce's eyes again. This, coupled with the uncomfortable silence that had fallen for a few seconds, seemed to prompt Jayce to ask something else.

"So, uhh, I don't think I've seen you around before! Are you new, or...?" Jayce left the end of the question dangling in the air.

"I am a junior. I, er, transferred over from Zaun College this year. I always knew that I'd apply to come here for grad school, but it was easier for me to finish my gen eds at Zaun and transfer this year than it would have been for me to get into to Piltover in the first place," He paused, then added, "...and less expensive."

"Right!" Jayce nodded. "Their application process is totally vicious, I get it. I'm a junior too! I've been here the whole time, though. Are you an engineering major, too?"

"Biomedical engineering and chemistry."

"Sounds like torture," Jayce said with a chuckle. "But I'm double majoring mechanical engineering and business, so I'm not too far off."

"Ah, yes," Viktor snickered. "I'm quite sure it's an incredibly close call between two real majors and one."

Jayce fought a laugh in response. "Ay! You know what, man?" He lost the battle and let out a huff. "I'll have you know that a business major is a perfectly respectable thing to have."

"Right," Viktor said, doing his best to sound everything but convinced.

"It is!" The elevator dinged as he said that. Jayce stepped out as the doors opened and turned to wait for Viktor. He pointed to the right, a smile still pulling at his lips. "Whatever. Enough slander. We're headed that way!"

Viktor walked out of the elevator and let Jayce guide him through the third floor. The two of them wound down several slender hallways, passing by some professors' offices along the way. Jayce stopped to wave at a few of them.

They rounded a final corner, and Jayce pointed to a classroom at the end of the last stretch. "We're headed down there! I had an 8 a.m. in 308 last semester too, so I know the way like the back of my hand. I made it there tired out of my mind, uhhh, more times than I'd like to admit."

"I see," Viktor nodded. "I know that feeling all too well." He noticed that Jayce was purposefully slowing to match his pace, and a small smile cracked his face.

When they reached Room 308, Jayce stood in the doorway with his hands on his hips. "Well, where should we sit?"

We.

Viktor shrugged. "I don't have a particular preference."

The classroom was still somewhat empty, so the two settled on a table in the middle and sat together. Viktor checked the time on his phone again.

"Oh, do you have a cat?" Jayce asked.

"What?"

"Your background. On your phone." He pointed. "Is that your cat?"

"Right! Yes, it is." Viktor turned his phone to show off his lock screen.

"Aww, wait, cute! What's its name?"

"Her name is Rio," Viktor said, now opening his phone and going to his camera roll.

"And she is adorable." Jayce's mouth formed an O as Viktor scrolled through pictures of the grey cat. "Did you bring her to Piltover?"

"I did! She's back in my room right now. Probably sleeping."

"Do you know what kind of cat she is?"

"I don't." Viktor shook his head. "I found a kitten on the side of the road when I was in high school, and I took her in, and... that was Rio."

"Well, I totally need to meet her sometime! It can be, uhhh, payback for me getting the elevator earlier!"

"Ah, so my disability is your leverage, is it, Jayce?"

"Now that cats are involved!" He laughed. "I'll say whatever I need to!"

"I see." Viktor laughed too. "Well, I'm sure that could be arranged. She's very friendly."

"I am too! Sounds like a perfect match."

"Indeed." Viktor turned to pull out his laptop, notebook, and pencils, mostly as an excuse to turn away and hide a growing smile. When everything was ready on his desk, he scribbled down a header for his notes and turned back to Jayce. "What other classes do you have today?"

"This is the only morning class I have, but I have a Business Admin class after lunch and then I gotta go to the orientation for Spanish tutors at 3."

"Spanish tutors?"

"Yeah, I grew up speaking it at home 'cause of my mamá! It's a pretty sweet gig, too. I kinda get paid to just sit there in the office and do my homework 'cause no one really ever shows up." Jayce shrugged. "Works for me!"

"I've heard very similar tales about working at the help desk in the library," Viktor said, nodding his head. "I start there tomorrow."

"Oh, yeah, you’ll get so much homework done.”

Dr. Heimerdinger suddenly flung open the classroom door, interrupting the few different conversations taking place inside. He was a short man with bright, poofy strawberry-blond hair and a large mustache that matched.

"Hello, class! It seems that at least a reasonable number of you are here, so I'd like to call us to order and start checking attendance!"

(Most of) The side chatter halted, and after Heimerdinger got himself and his things settled, attendance was called.

"Jayce Talis?" Of course that was the name that caught Viktor's attention.

Jayce raised his hand. "Here."

Two or three more names were called, until Viktor's name came up.

"Viktor..." Heimerdinger hesitated. "Er, S–"

"It's pronounced like stroy-check, sir," he interrupted. "Present."

"Right! Strojček it is, then." Dr. Heimerdinger scribbled something on his attendance sheet, and finished checking off the last few names on the list before returning to his podium.

The majority of the class was spent on introductions and reviewing the extensive syllabus, which Viktor had already read through online the day before, so he didn't have to pay extremely close attention.

He caught himself glancing over at Jayce a little too often, somehow managing to find new details every time. The notch in one of his eyebrows from a scar, the stubborn strands of hair that kept falling in his eyes whenever he leaned down to scribble notes (or to doodle in the margins), the way his knee started to bounce whenever he really got focused.

Yeah, this was going to be a long two hours.

Heimerdinger finished the class with a short tutorial for their online homework software and finally sent off the class a few minutes early with a far-too-chipper, "I'll see you all on Wednesday! That's when the fun truly begins!"

Jayce slung his backpack over his shoulder and stood, waiting for Viktor beside their table. "So, Viktor, do you have any other classes today?" he asked.

"Yes, I have another class from ten to eleven. Then another at two in the afternoon."

Jayce noticeably hesitated before asking, "Since you're new, do you want to grab lunch with me? Like, after your next class?"

"Since I'm new?" Viktor shot him a questioning look that was mostly a jest. "Jayce, are you suggesting that I don't have any friends?"

Jayce's eyes got wide and he laughed nervously, cheeks flushing pink. "No, no! I just meant, like, you might wanna.. meet more people?" He grimaced. "Ugh, no, that still sounds so shitty."

"I'm aware, Jayce." he laughed. "It's alright."

"Right! Right, uhh, but my bad."

"But I do appreciate the invitation. Sounds like a plan."

"Great! Then, umm, shit. One second." He fished his phone out of his pocket and fumbled to open it. "You can text yourself something! After your class I'll tell you where to meet me."

Viktor typed in his phone number and sent "Viktor Strojček" to himself before handing it back.

"Where's your next class?" Jayce asked as the two made their way for the door.

"I'm up here again. Room 314?"

"Oh! 314 is just to the right from here!" He stopped and pointed down the hall.

Viktor started in that direction. "Well, thank you very much, Jayce," he said over his shoulder with a hint of a smile. "I will see you later."

"Right! See you!" Jayce waved just a bit too enthusiastically as Viktor turned out the door.

Viktor made his way down the hall and, sure enough, Room 314 awaited him on the right. He picked a seat at random and pulled out his laptop and notebook again, then proceeded to zone right out for the majority of his next class's attendance. He'd made a friend. This friend was also incredibly kind and incredibly attractive. His mind wandered to the sight of Jayce's arms through his Hawks shirt. His not-quite-clean-shaven jawline.

Viktor shook his head as if he was trying to physically clear Jayce from his thoughts.

And just in time, too, because this professor was also struggling with his name.

"Viktor, ah... How would you prefer your name be pronounced, Viktor?"

"Strojček. Stroy-check."

"Right. Thank you, Mr. Strojček!"

The rest of the class blurred together in a whirl of syllabus pages, questions, and get-to-know-you games the professor had set up.

Before Viktor knew it, it was noon, his class had ended, and his phone was buzzing with text messages.

[Unknown]: Hey Viktor this is Jayce

[Unknown]: Sorry I didn't mention this earlier bc I forgot but I'm already eating with someone today

[Unknown]: But you can still definitely come, we're downstairs in the UC coffee shop I'm sure she won't mind you joining at all

She.

...Right.

[Viktor]: I'm heading over now.

In a stroke of luck, the rain had stopped sometime during class, so he didn't have to worry about his umbrella for now. He made his way to the University Center without incident.

As he stepped into the coffee shop, he heard Jayce before he saw him.

Jayce's head was thrown back in laughter, as was that of the girl sitting across the four-top from him.

The remarkably beautiful girl sitting across the four-top from him.

Viktor had prepared himself for the fact that Jayce was eating lunch with a girl, but he hadn't prepared for it to feel like this. He actually considered turning around and walking away.

Jayce's laughter slowed to a chuckle and he opened his eyes, catching Viktor almost immediately with a gaze that rooted him to the spot. "Hey, Viktor! Over here!" he called. "Got an extra chair for you and everything," he added as Viktor drew closer. "This is Viktor," Jayce explained to the girl as he gestured with an arm.

"Nice to meet you," Viktor said, with a smile he only slightly had to force.

She smiled back at him kindly, and stuck out a hand to shake.

"Hey, Viktor, I'm Mel! It's so nice to meet you!"

Chapter Text

"Well, thank you very much, Jayce. I will see you later."

"Right! See you!" 

Jayce lingered for a moment, watching Viktor amble down the hall to his next class. His phone buzzed in his pocket a few seconds later, drawing his attention away. 

From: [email protected]

To: [email protected]

[Your Piltover Bookstore Order Is Ready For Pickup!]

Order Number: ##################

Hello Jayce!

Thank you for your textbook rental!

The title(s) and due date(s) for your rental item(s) are listed below. You'll receive email reminders when your rental due date approaches.

Thank you,

Piltover University Bookstore

...

Jayce put his phone back in his pocket and turned down the hall to get back downstairs. He ignored the elevator this time around, hurrying instead down the flights of stairs and out of the engineering building. He stopped to pick up his umbrella from inside the door on the way. The rain had ended while he was in class, but it left Piltover's campus looking distinctly damp and slippery. The sky overhead remained dreary, threatening another downpour before long that he hoped he'd be inside for.

He made his way toward the University Center, swerving between people walking slow and groups who had decided to reunite for the year in the middle of a sidewalk. Once he made it to the University Center bookstore, he found himself stuck in a long line of other students who had clearly received the same email as he had. He leaned against one of the shelves and scrolled through the rest of his inbox while he waited, eyes glazing over as he swiped to get rid of various newsletters and notifications.

[Campus Parking Alert!] 

Deleted.

[A Message from your SGA President!]

Deleted.

[Get Involved on Campus! Fall Club Expo this Friday!]

Deleted.

It was no wonder that his mind wandered as soon as it was given the opportunity. The first thing it drifted to was Viktor. He replayed their conversation in his head. When did Viktor's next class get out, again? He'd have to keep an eye on the time so he could text him. And there was something indescribable causing Viktor’s face to stick in his head, too. Viktor and his slightly-too-sleep-deprived amber eyes; his gaze that seemed to bore into Jayce's very soul; the too-sharp angles of a face with cheekbones that cut like glass; the rare smile he caught when a joke was hitting.

Okay. Stop. What?

The lone bookstore employee finally waved Jayce forward to the counter after what must have been twenty minutes, pulling him out of whatever little trance he'd found himself in. He gave her his order number, and waited again as she left to search the recesses of the bookstore's stock room. His phone buzzed again, a few minutes later.

[Mel]: Reminder about meeting up today!

[Mel]: I’m downstairs in the UC right now, so just let me know if/when you’re heading over!

He planted his forehead in his hand.

Fuck. Right. Lunch with Mel.

Jayce had to recruit for his fraternity the week before classes. And to the tune of Murphy's Law, everything that could have gone wrong, did, in fact, go wrong. Which meant that he spent the vast majority of his week cleaning up messes for other people, and he hadn't gotten a chance to see Mel yet after the summer, so they had plans to meet on the first day of classes and catch up. 

Which were plans that Jayce had conveniently forgotten as soon as he started talking to Viktor.

[Jayce]: Shit Mel I actually forgot somehow that’s my bad it’s good you caught me 

[Jayce]: Uh related question how would you feel if I accidentally invited someone to eat with us

[Mel]: Totally fine! Who is it?

[Jayce]: A transfer I met he's in my 8am

[Jayce]: I'll tell you more when I get there I'm literally in the bookstore so I'll walk over when I get my books

The employee rounded the corner with Jayce's books just as he hit send. "Here you are! Sorry that took so long, one of them was hiding from me!" she said with a noticeably forced laugh as she stacked them on the counter for him. "They're due back at the end of the semester, the date's in your email and on the book stickers, uhh.. that's it. Have a good one."

"Thanks, you too!" He took his books and migrated to a corner so he could shove them all into his backpack. Once that rather herculean task was completed, he left and walked across the way to the coffee shop, scanning the tables for a familiar face.

“Jayce!” Mel called over the dull roar of people and soft music inside. She stood up from her chair and waved at him.

"Oh, there you are! Hey, Mel!" He weaved through the other tables to get to Mel and wrapped her up in a hug. “It's been too long!"

"Says Mr. Fraternity Man–" she leaned back and poked him in the arm. "–who was absolutely slaving for recruitment and refused to hang out with me until it was over." 

"Booo." Jayce let her go and stepped back. "I was busy. And tired. And we had software that wasn't working right. It was a lot!" He lolled his head to the side and sighed. "I'm gonna have stress dreams about it for weeks."

"Oh, you'll live," Mel scoffed. "Have you seen Caitlyn yet?" She asked as she sat down. 

"Yeah. She asked me to help her unpack the other night, so I was at hers for a while," he said, dropping his backpack on the ground next to a chair and sitting down. He could probably just wait to order. The line was long, anyways.

"Oh, right, so you could pencil that in, but not––" 

"Her parents' scholarship is literally the reason I can even go here!" He interrupted. "I feel, like, contractually obligated to help her out!"

"I know, I know," She leaned back in her own chair and fiddled with the pendant of her necklace. "I'm kidding. It's fine."

"Plus, I got to hear about–– oh my God, Mel." Jayce's eyes lit up and he leaned in conspiratorially, voice lowering. "You had to have heard Cait going on and on about getting her girlfriend to transfer here, right?"

"Not really. What about it?"

"Guess what? She did." He paused for dramatic effect. "And they're roommates now."

"Seriously?"

He nodded. "I'm so serious."

"Well, I mean, good for them. I hope it works out better than last year. Caitlyn and Maddie's breakup was so bad, I thought we were never going to hear the end of it. Maddie literally transferred to Noxus."

"Oh, shit, you're right! I forgot about that." He laughed. "Yeah. But from what I've heard, Violet sounds way better than Maddie. And Cait seems a lot happier."

"That's sweet, then! I'm glad to hear it."

"Yeah."

"But anyway, how are you?" 

"Oh, yeah, I'm good! Didn't love getting up for my 8 a.m. this morning, but y'know," Jayce shrugged as he spoke. "You have any classes yet?"

"No, I only have afternoon classes on Mondays."

"Ughhh," he sighed and dropped his forehead in his hands. "Jealous. I need coffee if I wanna get through the rest of the day.”

“You know you can... go order whenever, right?” 

"Good point." Jayce looked up. "You coming?" 

Mel gestured to the iced coffee and half-eaten bagel on the table in front of her. "Jayce."

He let out an exaggerated sigh as he stood. "You can just say no instead of making me look dumb, you know?"

"But you make it so easy." 

"Leaving!" He flapped his hand in her direction as he walked from the table and toward the line. Thankfully, it wasn't as dreadfully long as the one in the bookstore, and he was able to return to the table with his coffee and a sandwich before too much time had passed.

Mel turned her phone back off as he walked back. "So, tell me, who was this mysterious transfer you invited to eat with us?" 

Jayce smiled. "Oh, Viktor! He's in one of my engineering classes! I met him on the elevator, we got to talking, uhhh.. Yeah. He told me he transferred from Zaun this year."

"We're... getting a lot of those," she noted.

"Huh?"

"Transfers from Zaun, I mean. There's Viktor, and isn't Caitlyn's girlfriend from there, too? And I know there's a lot more." 

"I mean, I guess? I hadn't thought about it that much." He noticed that Mel had a weird look on her face. "Don't be like that! I know Zaun can be.. weird sometimes, but he seemed nice!" He sipped his coffee. "But anyways, I told him he should come eat lunch with me since it's his first day 'cause I forgot about our plans while I was talking to him."

Mel tilted her head to the side, a hint of a smile coming back. "Jayce. Did you ask a Zaun transfer to come eat with you because you didn’t think he had friends?"

Jayce flung his hands in the air. "Dude! No!" He deflated. "Well, okay, maybe a little, but it's not like he got offended! He agreed to come!"

"Right."

He checked the time, and sat up a little straighter. “I think he said his next class was done soon, actually. I’ll have to text him where we are. If that’s still okay with you?” He looked up at Mel while he pulled out his phone.

“Ooh, and phone numbers. Moving fast, are we?” she teased. “And yes!"

“Hey! I don’t— we’re not— Mel. Can I not make a friend?” He frowned at her.

“I know, I’m teasing! Text him!” She waved her hand and had another sip of coffee.

[Jayce]: Hey Viktor this is Jayce

[Jayce]: Sorry I didn't mention this earlier bc I forgot but I'm already eating with someone today

[Jayce]: But you can still definitely come, we're downstairs in the UC coffee shop she won't mind you joining at all

A few seconds later, he already had a reply.

[Viktor]: I'm heading over now.

“So, tell me about him!”

Mel's words pulled Jayce's attention away from his screen. "Yeah, okay! Uh, He's kinda your height, but he has a cane, so he looks shorter. It looked like something's up with one of his legs. That's actually how we met! I got the elevator for him 'cause it was about to close, and the stairs in the engineering building are shitty . Uhh, his hair is short, pretty dark but it looked like it was blond at the bottom, maybe? He has an accent too. It sounds kinda German, I think. You'd know better than I would. But you probably wouldn't have seen him around earlier, he's been in class since eight."

Jayce could tell that Mel was attempting to stifle a look of amusement. He squinted at her. "What?" 

“Oh, nothing. What’s his name?” she asked as she opened up her phone.

“Viktor? With a k?”

“Like, the whole thing?”

“It's pronounced Strojček, but it's spelled like this.” He turned his screen around to show her, and a few seconds later she turned around her own.

“Instagram." A sly smile filled her face. 

“Mel—!”

“What?” She scrolled through the few tagged posts on his page first. Viktor only had one feed post, and she turned her phone to show Jayce a picture from it. “He'd do well in one of my mother's classes if he went to Noxus,” she said casually. 

Jayce nearly spat out his coffee. “Mel, oh my God!” He put his hand over his eyes and threw his head back in a laugh. "Don't just say things like that!"

Mel was able to keep a straight face until she looked up at Jayce, and soon she was a mess of laughter as well. "What? He would!"

"I never needed to think about that!" Jayce looked back at her, and then, there was Viktor!

Viktor was just visible over Mel's shoulder as he stepped inside the door of the coffee shop. "Hey, Viktor! Over here!" Jayce called. "Got an extra chair for you and everything," he added as Viktor drew closer. "This is Viktor," he explained, and Mel nodded subtly with a soft smile that said, Duh.

Viktor was smiling as he said, "Nice to meet you."

Mel smiled back, holding out her hand to shake his.

"Hey, Viktor, I'm Mel! It's so nice to meet you!"

Chapter Text

One lesson Viktor had learned in life was that when he met a hot guy, there was always a catch.

It looked like, for Jayce, Mel was that catch.

To be fair, she was a vision. Her eyes were striking, green striped with gold, and they sparkled in the light, amplified all the more by swipes of gold eyeliner. Her dark skin was dotted with freckles and flecks of more shiny makeup. Her hair was pulled back elegantly, and showed off each angle of her face with an effortless ease. Viktor didn't have to be attracted to women to admit that Mel was, to put it briefly, drop-dead gorgeous.

"The pleasure is all mine," Viktor said. He wished that was more true. He let go of Mel's hand and slung off his backpack next to his chair. "And, ah, as much as I would love to sit and start chatting with you both right away, I need to grab something to eat. I'll be right back."

As he walked away, he heard Mel start speaking in what was meant to (and failed to) be a hushed tone.

“German? Really, Jayce?” He caught a distinct note of incredulity in her voice.

German?

“I don't know, Mel! I'm bad with accents! It sounded close? He…” Jayce’s voice faded into the general cafe noise as Viktor got in line.

Viktor had to fight a chuckle. German. No one ever seemed to pin down his accent on the first try—people tended to cycle through a myriad of other European accents before they hit Czech—but German was new.

He looked up at the menu behind the register, but he heard Jayce laugh loudly again and it set him thinking before he could really read it.

Surely if Mel was Jayce's girlfriend, he'd have mentioned it in his text, right? Would they be getting lunch together like this if she wasn't? They could just be friends, of course. But it did seem like there was something else between the two of them. Then again, Jayce didn't owe him an explanation. Viktor had only known him for a few hours, and they had only talked for a fraction of that time. 

Jayce could date whoever he pleased, and Viktor could deal.

He tried to put the thought out of his head for the time being. He settled on buying a tea and a sandwich, and returned to the table a couple of minutes later when his order was ready. The remaining open chairs were either next to Jayce, or across from him. Viktor leaned his cane against the table and sat in the latter of the two.

"And he's back!" Jayce mimed cheering. "What did you get?" He asked, nodding toward Viktor's cup.

"Just tea and honey." Viktor shrugged and brought the drink to his lips.

"Ahh, not a coffee guy?" Jayce took a sip of his own. 

"Jayce, you're not a coffee guy!" Mel waved a finger at Jayce's drink. "I know the amount of sugar in that cup could classify it as a dessert."

"Okay, whatever! There's coffee in there too!" He returned his attention to Viktor. "But yeah, not to, like, judge your choice or anything. I was just wondering."

"I already had a coffee this morning. And tea is better for my voice," Viktor explained. "The coupling of asthma with an already, frankly, shitty immune system, meant that the cards were not in my favor, so to speak. The air quality in Zaun is also... less than exceptional, which didn't help."

"Oh, yeah, Jayce mentioned you went to Zaun. Does your family live there?" Mel eyed Viktor's Zaun Hounds sweatshirt as she asked. Her expression was sweet, but it was neutral enough to remain unreadable. Whatever she was feeling, she hid it well, but her scrutiny was making him squirm. He didn't like it much.

"They do, yes. My parents and I have an apartment in the city." And Viktor wanted to change the subject. "Where are both of you from?"

"Oh! My mamá and I moved to Piltover right before I started kindergarten," Jayce said. "I think it was 'cause she got a really good job offer here."

"His mom is, like, the sweetest, by the way!" Mel interjected. "Count yourself lucky if you get to meet her someday. Or eat her food. She can cook."

"She misses you, Mel! She's always asking me when you'll come see her again! I bet if you asked her to make us dinner sometime, she'd have it cooked before we could even get there."

"I'll have to ask, then, don't let me forget!" She laughed and turned back to Viktor. "Anyway, my family's originally from Noxus, across the bridge, but we moved cities because my mom liked Piltover schools better. She still works at Noxus University though, she just makes the commute." 

Viktor felt like he recognized that name. "Noxus—they're our rivals here at Piltover, right?" 

"They are." Jayce nodded. "It's vicious."

"Yeah... We play them for Homecoming this year, too. That'll be... interesting." Mel cringed.

The conversation lulled for a moment, but Jayce swooped in with another question. "So, okay, Viktor, now we know you like tea, and you're from Zaun. Tell us more about you! Or, tell Mel, I guess. Some of it'll just be a refresher for me."

"Alright, well, I'm a junior. I have a double major in biomedical engineering and chemistry, and I just transferred here from Zaun this year."

"What do you want to do with biomed and chem?" Mel rested her chin in her hand as she listened.

"My intent is to work in the development of assistive devices, but I'm rather flexible on the specifics for now. I'm sure that I will discover my niche the longer I study. I want to make things that will help people."

"Wait, that's sweet!" Mel smiled. "I love that."

He motioned to his cane, and then to his right leg, which was encased by a rather sturdy brace. He also tugged up the bottom of his sweatshirt to show a glimpse of his back brace for a brief moment. "I, eh... I know what it feels like to need help. I want to be the one doing the helping, for a change." 

"That's awesome, man," Jayce sipped his coffee again. "Not, like... the disability part. But the helping people part. That's great. I hope that all works out for you."

"Thank you." He smiled. "But, ah, enough about me. Mel, what is your major?"

"I'm actually a double major, too. Polisci and business, though. Nothing too exciting." She shrugged.

"Ah, yes, business. Jayce mentioned that earlier. Is that how you met each other?" Viktor looked between the two.

"Um, no, actually! We've known each other for ages. We went to high school together." He laughed quietly. "East Piltover High School. What a time."

"Us both ending up at Piltover University was kind of a happy accident, honestly," Mel added.

"Oh! And speaking of ending up at Piltover..." Jayce looked over to Viktor. "Why'd you make the switch? I know you kinda said earlier, but you didn't really get into it."

"Eh, it's not much more than what I said. I had always planned to, it was simply a matter of when. Piltover is incredible, and its engineering programs are simply the best—they're just so selective. It was better to do my gen eds at Zaun, where I was closer to home, and transfer here when I was able to," Viktor said. "And this just happened to be that year."

"Wait, now that we're on Zaun again—you wouldn't happen to know Vi, would you? She just transferred here too! She's dating my friend Caitlyn, they've been together for a couple months now. She has pink hair?" Jayce started to reach for his phone, but stopped. "I don't think Cait sent me any pictures of her, or I'd show you."

"I think we might have met before? Zaun College isn't the biggest, so I'm not surprised. Though I can't say I know her very well. I wasn't aware that she transferred here, though."

"Do you know anyone else here?" Jayce asked. 

"I have an acquaintance or two here. A closer friend, Sky, someone I knew from high school, transferred in at the same time as I did. But I can't think of too many others by name."

"Okay, so you at least went to high school in Zaun, right? But where are you from? Or your family, I guess?" Jayce tried to backtrack. "I mean, where's your accent from? Did you move to Zaun from anywhere?"

Viktor chuckled to himself. He'd been waiting for this one. "Well, first, I'm not German, so you can cross that off the list."

He watched with an amused expression as Jayce blushed up to his ears. "So you heard that."

"I did. No, my family moved to Zaun from Czechia when I was fourteen years old. I started American high school that year—that is where I met Sky—and now here I am."

"Moving to a new country at fourteen?" Mel tilted her head and her mouth pulled into a small frown. "Aww, wow, that must've been hard."

"Not particularly. People were... never all that kind to me. I was not reluctant to get away from that."

Jayce frowned. "Was it better when you moved?"

"Children have the same capability for cruelty no matter where they're from," he sighed. "American high schoolers did not take kindly to the new kid with an accent and a cane." Who was also gay, he didn't add. "Sky was one of the few who were kind to me."

"Ugh, man, Viktor. That sucks." Jayce picked at the edge of the lid on his coffee cup. "I've been there."

"You were bullied?" Viktor tried his best not to sound incredulous. "I don't mean to offend, Jayce, but you don't seem like the type."

"Well, I wasn't always like..." Jayce gesticulated. "This. What I was, was a chubby Latino kid who was kind of a huge nerd. I started to grow out of it by high school, and people got better, but... it sticks with you."

"It does," Viktor agreed, his voice a bit more solemn.

"But here's to college and getting away from all that shit! And new beginnings. I hope everything works out great for you here at Piltover, man." 

"Thank you, Jayce." A small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. 

It already is.

Both Mel's and Jayce's phones pinged a few seconds later, pulling their attention away. Mel was the first to reach hers, and she sighed when she turned it on. "Ugh. Jayce."

"What?" 

"Professor Hoskel sent us an email for Principles of Marketing. We apparently have a reading before tomorrow." Mel rolled her eyes. "Like, fifty pages, too."

"Shit." Jayce groaned and picked up his phone, too. "Really?"

Mel replied, but Viktor started checking out of the conversation. He sat back while the two managed their crisis, and unwrapped his sandwich. He was content just to listen for a while rather than actively participate in the chatter.

As he listened, though, he couldn't help but notice just how well Mel and Jayce fit together. They finished each other's sentences. They could communicate with mere looks at each other. It was like they each had dictionaries of the other's mannerisms. 

If he had any reasonable doubts about it before, he didn't now. Mel and Jayce had to be together.

But that was fine! Right? After all, Viktor had still made a friend. He would just... have to stop thinking about how attractive that friend was. Sure, he was disappointed. But, again. He could deal.

A little while later, when he'd finished his food, Viktor checked the time and shifted in his chair. “Unfortunately, it does appear that I must be going,” he said. He hoped that Jayce wouldn't remember exactly what he'd said his schedule was before, and he could retreat to claim a remote corner of the library and wallow in his embarrassment more privately.

"Aw, that time already?" Jayce frowned.

No.

"Yes. Thank you for the invitation to sit with you today." Viktor smiled. "And to you, Mel, for not minding my intrusion."

"Oh, of course! It was nice to meet you!" 

"Yeah, it was no problem! You're welcome anytime. It was good to get to know you, Viktor!" 

Anytime.

"And the same to you." Viktor stood, pulling on his backpack and taking his cane in hand to steady himself. He grabbed his trash and glanced around for the nearest waste bin.

"Well, I guess I'll see you again on Wednesday." Jayce gasped and sat up a bit more in his chair. "Unless... oooh, wait!" 

Viktor raised his eyebrows in confusion. "What?"

"What classes do you have tomorrow? Maybe there's a chance we have another one together!"

"I have a biomed elective in the morning, so I doubt that we would have that in common..." Viktor's brow scrunched as he thought. "But then I think I have a... mechanics class tomorrow afternoon? That should be right."

Jayce's face lit up in recognition. "Wait, dude! When? I have a mechanics class tomorrow at one!"

"I believe mine is at one, as well? I'll check my schedule later and get back to you. I would right now, but, ah.. my hands are quite full, as you can see." He held up his trash and his cane. 

"Just let me know! Text me or something. I'll see you around either way!"

"See you, Jayce." Viktor threw out his trash and turned to wave before he walked out the door.

Viktor's short stint in the library and the rest of his Monday classes went off without a hitch. By the late afternoon, he was lounging on the couch in his apartment with Rio and his laptop so he could plug dates from various syllabi into his calendar.

While scrolling through, he landed on a Tuesday, and saw that his mechanics class was at one. Jayce wanted to know that! Viktor took a screenshot and texted it to him.

[Viktor]: Attachment: 1 Image

[Viktor]: It turns out that my mechanics class is, in fact, at 1 tomorrow.

His phone was buzzing with a response mere seconds later.

[Jayce]: Awesome ok that's great

[Jayce]: We can be seat buddies again

[Jayce]: Plus it's on the first floor we don't have to worry about any elevators. Lol

This got a laugh out of him. 

[Viktor]: Right.

[Viktor]: Good to know.

[Jayce]: Haha yeah

[Jayce]: See you then I guess!

[Viktor]: See you then.

He smiled again, running a hand down Rio's back. "See you then."

Chapter Text

"See you, Jayce." Viktor threw out his trash and turned to wave before he walked out the door.

"So, that's, uh, that's Viktor!" Jayce watched Viktor as he walked out, then checked the time for himself. Suddenly, his mind was faraway. 

Didn't Viktor say his next class was at two? Why was he leaving before one?

He tried to shake the thought. Viktor probably just had other things to do before his next class. Maybe he still had to get his books? (Though, Jayce thought Viktor seemed like the kind of person who wouldn't wait until the last minute to order them. He probably had his books already. He tried to shake that thought, too.)

"Yeah, he was nice," Mel hummed, starting to put her own things away in her bag. "He seems really smart, you should probably grab him as a lab partner if you need one."

Jayce forced himself to snap out of his thoughts and answered. "I'll have to see, yeah.."

"But my first class starts soon, too, so.. I might have to get out of here," Mel said reluctantly.

"Yeah, I figured," he sighed. "Sorry our catching-up plans kinda got jacked up. My bad for forgetting and inviting someone else."

"You and your big heart. Don't worry about it. Text me, we'll figure something else out! We always do." 

He thought Mel was probably a bit more disappointed than she was letting on. "We will, I swear! Scout's Honor." He held up three fingers. "And you know I'm good for it..."

"'Because you were a Boy Scout,' right," Mel rolled her eyes and smiled. 

"Right!"

So Mel walked out of the coffee shop for her classes, with Jayce spewing several more apologies until she finally turned her back. He did feel bad, really. He'd invite her over sometime later that week. They could watch a movie, or something. Chat longer. He'd make it up to her.

He lingered in the coffee shop for another hour, scrolling social media for a little while, checking his fraternity group chats, and finishing off his coffee. A little while before the clock hit two, he left and trudged to the building up the hill that housed the School of Business.

His business class was nothing exciting, just a bunch of basic introductory stuff that Jayce didn't have much of a mind to pay attention to. RateMyProfessor had promised an easy class, and it seemed to him that that would be exactly the case. And either way, compared to his engineering classes, it would be a breeze. He ended up playing Tetris on his laptop for most of the class, thankful that he'd had the foresight to secure a seat at the back of the room.

Jayce zoned out for a lot of his Spanish tutor orientation, too. He had already tutored the past two years, and it was the same spiel each time, but he still technically had to attend. He got assigned his first set of office hours, but aside from that, there was nothing more for him to pay attention to. He couldn't have been more thankful for the meeting's end, when he could go back to his room.

On his way back, Jayce realized he still had to call his mom. She'd been texting him, making sure that he was doing well, but he'd forgotten to call after her church service yesterday. He'd need to make sure to get her on the phone when he got back to his room. 

So, he flung open his door, tossed his backpack to the side, and laid on his small futon couch, dialing his mother's number. He smiled when he saw the line connect. 

"¡Mamá! Hi!"

"My Jayce! Finally, you call me! I've been waiting since yesterday to hear from you!"

"I know, I'm sorry! I had a lot to do!" He set his phone down on his chest as he talked. 

"How were your classes today, mijo?" 

"They were good, yeah. Got up, made a new friend in physics this morning, which was good, got lunch with Mel, finished up my classes, went to the Spanish tutor meeting, again. Now I'm just in my room."

"Busy day!"

"Ehh, it's business as usual." He shrugged. "Nothing I can't handle."

"And Mel! It's good that you're seeing her––"

"¡Mamá! " Jayce sat up and groaned. "For the last time, I promise you, we're not seeing each other! She's just my friend!"

"I know, I know! I am just glad that you have her. She is good for you! She complements you well." 

Jayce let out a small breath of relief. He knew his mom had harbored at least a little bit of hope, ever since he met Mel, that the two of them would start dating. He was glad that she finally seemed to be catching the hint. 

She got his attention again, with the words, "Have you been settling in alright? Eating well? Getting good sleep? I know last week was rough on you."

"Yes, mamá," he practically sighed into the receiver, though he couldn't help but smile. He'd lamented the struggles of fraternity recruitment over FaceTime to her several times the week before, and he knew she was just making sure he was alright. "I've been a lot better."

"Good! Now, tell me about this new friend of yours!"

"He's nice! His name is Viktor, I met him right before class. He has a cane and couldn't make it to the elevator, so I held the door open for him."

"So kind, my son!"

"Yeah, I guess! I just wanted to help. But, uhh, we sat next to each other during class and then he came and got lunch with me and Mel. He's a new transfer from Zaun, so that's interesting." Jayce picked at his fingernails. 

"It sounds like you made him feel very welcome, Jayce."

"Well, man, I hope so, yeah?" He laughed nervously. "Got a class with him tomorrow, too, so I guess we'll find out."

"I'm sure you did." Jayce was sure he could feel his mother smile through the phone. 

"But what have you been up to?" He asked. "All alone without me?"

"The house is cleaner than it has been in months, since you came home for the summer," she said with a laugh. He knew she was telling the truth, though. 

"Booo, low blow!" He laughed back. 

"But it is lonely! I'm already counting down the days until your fall break, when you come see me again!"

"Me, too. I appreciate your cooking even more when I have to eat college food all the time."

"You are welcome back home any weekend you want to come, mijo! You and Mel, and your new friend, anyone you would like."

"Good to know. I'll have to ask." The thought crossed his mind that it'd be odd to invite Viktor to his house already, and he resolved to put a pin in that.

"I... will have to let you go, though, Jayce. I have been waiting all day, and you call me only when I'm about to go run my errands!"

"Ahh," He frowned. "I had class, I'm sorry!"

"But call me tomorrow! I have nothing to do in the afternoon, okay?"

"'Kay, I will!"

"And keep well, mijo. I love you."

"¡Adios, adios! Te quiero, mamá." The line went dead a second or two later as he hung up the phone.

Jayce got up to retrieve his laptop from his backpack, and started up a movie, cherishing the lack of homework that came with syllabus week. But he was soon distracted by a buzz from his phone.

A text. From Viktor. Was he expecting a text from Viktor? He pressed pause.

[Viktor]: Attachment: 1 Image

[Viktor]: It turns out that my mechanics class is, in fact, at 1 tomorrow.

Mechanics class!

Jayce didn't miss a beat, texting back as soon as he could unlock his phone.

[Jayce]: Awesome ok that's great

[Jayce]: We can be seat buddies again

[Jayce]: Plus it's on the first floor we don't have to worry about any elevators. Lol

He hoped Viktor thought that was funny. 

[Viktor]: Right.

[Viktor]: Good to know.

Oh, well. Better luck next time.

[Jayce]: Haha yeah

[Jayce]: See you then I guess!

[Viktor]: See you then.

Jayce didn't realize how big his smile was until he saw his reflection in his laptop screen, which had dimmed when he paused the movie to answer. The grin faltered when he actually saw it. 

Why was it so exciting just to get a text from Viktor?

He turned his movie back on.

When the next day's afternoon came, Jayce walked into mechanics class a little before 1, still carrying his drink from lunch. He spotted Viktor sitting close to the front at a two-person table. As Jayce approached, he saw that the seat next to Viktor had a backpack in it. This gave him pause. He faltered.

Was someone else... sitting next to him?

Jayce sidled up to Viktor's side of the table. "Ahh, I see I've been replaced," he joked, waving his hand at the bag in the chair. 

Viktor looked up at him, over at the chair, and back. "By my backpack?" He chuckled and leaned over to get his bag and put it on the ground. At the confused look Jayce gave him, he added, "Ahem. I was saving your seat, Jayce."

"Oh. Right." Jayce stepped around Viktor's chair and took the seat next to him. "Well, thanks."

"After all, how could I abandon my... seat buddy, was it?" There was a smile in Viktor's voice that didn't entirely make it to his face, but Jayce knew it was there. Somewhere.

"Riiight!" He laughed, as he got settled and pulled out his laptop. "Uhhhh, how was the rest of your first day yesterday?"

"Eh, it was... run-of-the-mill," Viktor shrugged. "I just finished with my classes and went back to my apartment. Had dinner with a friend of mine. Yours?"

"It was pretty chill, yeah. Just finished up my classes and stuff. Like you, nothing too exciting." Jayce looked up. "Are you getting settled in okay at Piltover? You live on campus, or...?"

"Yes! I'm in the little cluster of student apartment buildings. I actually have a first-floor apartment all to myself. Perks of disability accommodations."

Jayce's jaw dropped. "A whole apartment?"

"Well, it is only one bedroom. But, yes. Bedroom, bathroom, small kitchen, living room.." Viktor counted on his fingers as he spoke.

"That's crazy! I've got a pretty solid single room as it is, but a whole apartment to yourself has got to be amazing."

"It is... not too shabby at all." Viktor smiled another one of his small smiles. "And Rio certainly enjoys it. She has a wonderful time perching and looking out the various windows."

"I still totally gotta meet her."

"This is the second time she's come up in conversation––"

"I'm aware!" Jayce interrupted. "Y'know, just want to make sure you remembered."

"From yesterday?" Viktor fought a laugh.

Jayce did laugh. "I––"

Their conversation was, again, cut short by their professor calling the class to attention. Jayce made a 'Sorry!' face, and shrugged helplessly. 

Mechanics class was, admittedly, boring. But it was made better by the fact that Jayce had Viktor to exchange glances with whenever the professor said something particularly dull. By the end of the class, they'd gone over the syllabus and had already managed to start on the first chapter of the textbook.

At the end of the class, Viktor stayed back to ask the professor a few questions. Jayce had time, and he had still been packing up when Viktor went to the front, so he waited behind for a minute. Was that fine? Was it normal to wait for someone after class when you'd just met them yesterday? That was fine.

Right?

When Viktor turned around, he looked surprised to see Jayce still standing there. "You are... still here?" He asked, making his way back over to their table.

"Yeah, why not?"

"Class is over, and I was taking a while. I would have expected you had left by now." Viktor was taking his time packing up his things. Jayce could tell. "You had to wait for me."

"Well, I didn't say bye! I can't––what was it?––abandon my seat buddy," he laughed. "I've got time."

"I suppose so." Viktor put his backpack on with a small smile.

Jayce let him lead the way out of the classroom, walking behind Viktor so he could be sure not to outpace him. "So, where are you headed next?"

If Viktor was annoyed at him for waiting, at least he wasn't letting it show. Or maybe he was. Who was to say that Viktor hadn't been annoyed by him the entire time? Maybe he was just tolerating him. Maybe that was the reason for Viktor's generally shuttered demeanor. Was Jayce being a nuisance?

He wasn't, though, right? If he was, Viktor wouldn't have agreed to lunch. Or texted when his mechanics class was. Or saved him a seat. So maybe he was fine. Or Viktor was just being really, very nice. Jayce hoped it was the first. 

"––and I believe that is all, for today. What about you?" Viktor's voice broke back into Jayce's consciousness, and...

Shit.

Jayce hadn't heard a word. He hadn't paid attention. To Viktor's answer to a question that he asked.

After a long enough pause as Jayce bluescreened, Viktor turned around with an inquisitive look. "Jayce?"

"I––uh––Sorry, man. My bad. I zoned out." Jayce cringed a little.

"Ah, um, I just have another class in an hour and then I start at the library this evening, that is all."

"Right, the library! Yeah, fun!"

Viktor squinted. "Is sitting at a help desk... your idea of fun?"

"Oh, no, man, not at all. I was just bein' nice." Jayce shook his head. "But you seem like the type." 

"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?"

"Like, you're... contemplative. Quiet. You'd be good for a library, I dunno." He mocked up the shape of a frame with his fingers. "I can picture it right now, you shushing someone as clear as day."

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?" Viktor let out a short, incredulous laugh.

Jayce dropped his hands and shrugged. "It can be!"

"I suppose I'll have to take it as one."

"I guess so!" As they approached a junction in the sidewalk, Jayce turned. "Well, I'm all set for the day, so I was probably gonna go back to my room for a while. That way." He inclined his shoulders to the left. 

"I'll probably get something to eat before my next class, so I should part ways, as well."

"Dude, it's three, you haven't eaten yet?"

"I have, ah, I think someone called it a 'starvation block'? Built into my schedule on Tuesdays and Thursdays?" Viktor frowned. "It was the only way my schedule would work, but.. It does leave me with a bit of a dilemma. But it's alright."

"Well, go get your lunch!" Jayce waved Viktor on. "I'll see ya tomorrow. Bright and early!"

"Bright and early," he heard Viktor repeat in a softer tone. And they both went on their ways.

 Jayce tried to convince himself that he only glanced back a normal amount of times.

Chapter Text

Viktor arrived to their 8 a.m. classroom earlier than Jayce on Wednesday. He'd learned on Monday how much time exactly he needed to get to the engineering building, and had left his dorm with a bit of extra time to allow for any issues with the slow elevator, thanks to Jayce's advice when they met.

He sat at the same table that he and Jayce had occupied before, and scrolled on his phone while he waited. Minutes ticked by, and Viktor began to wonder if Jayce was even showing up. But finally, at about 7:58, Jayce burst into the classroom and practically crashed into the seat next to him. 

Viktor looked up from his phone, hint of a teasing smile on his lips. "Cutting it a bit closer for the third day of class, are we?" 

Jayce sucked in a breath and smoothed his wrinkled t-shirt. "I accidentally snoozed my alarm. Muscle memory from the summer, probably." He took a deeper steadying breath and settled into his chair. "Lucky day to live basically next door. I only actually woke up, like, fifteen minutes ago. But I made it!"

"You did! Just in time to be bored back to sleep for two hours by whatever we're about to learn." 

Jayce smacked a hand over his own mouth to stifle a laugh. He looked pointedly over Viktor's shoulder, at his face, and back.

Viktor quirked an eyebrow and slowly spun his chair around. He was greeted with the sight of Heimerdinger, standing directly behind him, talking with another student. He whipped back around and clapped a hand over his own mouth.

He and Jayce spent a few moments doubled over in silent laughter. 

Jayce clapped him on the shoulder. "Dude."

"Warn me next time, perhaps?" Viktor managed to say between laughs.

"And miss out on the look on your face?" Jayce mimicked the horrified expression Viktor had made and cracked up again. "How could I possibly?"

"At least I don't think he heard me! It's the first week, I don't need professors holding grudges already." Viktor straightened up in his chair when he noticed Heimerdinger was up at his podium now. 

And with that, class began. It was, as predicted, boring, but it was alright. Heimerdinger was a good professor, after all, despite his tendency to ramble. 

And Jayce, to his credit, stayed completely awake for the entire class period.

As they left the classroom following the lecture, Jayce turned. "Well, I'll probably be in the coffee shop again around lunch time. Swing by again if you feel like it," he offered.

And risk interrupting time with Mel again. Ha.

"I think Sky and I might try the café in the library today, actually—" A completely unfounded statement, for the record, as Viktor hadn't discussed this with her whatsoever. "—but thank you. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Seeya!" Jayce left down the winding hallways to the staircase.

Viktor made a new mental note:

Text Sky about the library café before 10:00 a.m. class ends.

Viktor's next few weeks passed in a comfortable cadence as he continued to settle into life on a new campus. His classes were alright. The food in the cafeteria was kind of shitty most days, but he'd make a trip for real groceries soon and make himself soup to keep in the freezer, or something like that. He figured out the little things, too: what times he could actually rely on the shuttles to stop by his dorm building, the fastest routes to his classes, where to sit in the library if he actually wanted it to be quiet when he was studying, which help desk was his favorite to be scheduled on.

He and Jayce landed in a routine of their own, too. Viktor would see him in class, they would small-talk, they would exchange glances and bouts of whispers and laughter, and then they would go on their ways and see each other again the next day and do it all over. They texted about homework, sometimes, but that was about it. 

Jayce would mention he was going to events sometimes, random things the university or his fraternity was hosting for students. But Viktor was something of a homebody, and he was often tired and sore enough that he just wanted to go home and get his work done at the end of the day—no matter how much he liked the idea of going with Jayce.

He had gotten Viktor to go to one of the student involvement events—a welcome back fair put on by some of the local businesses trying to attract student traffic with free food, t-shirts, and vouchers—but the live music had been.. unfortunate enough that they, and Mel, skipped out before it stretched on much longer.

And Viktor resolved to check flyers for any mentions of student bands before he accepted any more invitations.

Their first tests began to roll in around mid-September. Heimerdinger had looked at the class and joked that, "if you haven’t found yourself a study buddy already, I would recommend you do so!" 

At those words, Jayce looked up from doodling on his notes and waved a pencil between himself and Viktor with a questioning look. And was Viktor supposed to say no ? 

So he nodded, and wrote in his margins, Yes. We'll talk about it after class, and slid his notebook over for Jayce to see. 

And Jayce reached over and wrote, OK :)

Heimerdinger wrapped up class with a reminder of their test the next Monday, and walked a thick stack of study guides around the tables. Jayce turned as soon as the class was dismissed. "So, study buddies?"

"Study buddies, indeed," Viktor agreed as he pulled himself up to stand. 

"If you wanna come to my dorm, we could study there! I have a futon and stuff in there too, so there's definitely enough seating for the both of us." Jayce shut his laptop and started putting all of his things into his bag. 

Viktor thought for a moment. "Where do you live, again? Have you said?"

"Uhh, in Topside, the dorms right up the hill from here." He gestured out with his hand.

Viktor hesitated. Hills he could do, maybe, but he hadn't been in Topside before. "What floor?"

"Third, why?" Jayce's eyes widened as he seemed to realize. "Ohhh, shit, yeah. We don't have elevators up there."

"That's what I was wondering, yes. We both know I would, ehh... love to avoid too many stairs if I can," Viktor chuckled, rapping his knuckles on the metal of his leg brace. 

"Right. Do you wanna, um..?" He could tell that Jayce was stumbling through trying not to invite himself over. "Um, the.. library could work, or.."

"You could just come over to mine," Viktor offered. 

Jayce nodded. "If that's fine with you, I'm good with that, yeah!"

"Well, seeing as I was the one who suggested it..." He laughed. "But yes! That way you could also meet Rio. A, eh, two-for-one, if you will?"

Jayce's face lit up. "Oh my God! Yeah! Rio!"

"So, my place it is, then?" He knew the answer.

"Yeah, your place!" Jayce agreed. 

They compared schedules out in the hallway, and settled on Saturday for their study day. 

"I don't have any plans, so you're welcome to show up whenever you like. And we can just.. study for as long as we need to?" Viktor shrugged. "Whatever you think."

"Okay, yeah, that sounds good! How's, like, noon until whenever? That lets us both at least be awake for a little while before we bury ourselves in engineering for the whole day."

"That works for me."

"Great! Saturday at noon, it is, then!" Jayce clapped him lightly on the shoulder and stepped backward in the direction of the stairs. "Well, I'll let you get to your next class. See you in mechanics tomorrow!"

"See you then, Jayce."

Viktor rubbed his eyes and slowly sat up in bed. He squinted at the suspiciously-bright sunlight that filtered through his blinds and filled the room, and then darted a glance at his alarm clock.

Shit. 

11:03. Viktor sat straight up, wincing at the protesting stab of pain his back made at the sudden motion.

It was Saturday morning, and Jayce was coming over at noon, and Viktor's apartment wasn't clean. He'd been planning on at least vacuuming and straightening up, and judging by the time and the fact he still had to eat something and take meds, he'd be half-assing all four of those things in the next hour.

He dragged himself out of bed and through the motions of getting ready—putting his braces back on after the night, stretching, getting up, brushing his teeth, smoothing down his hair a little bit when he caught a glimpse in the mirror. Maybe he needed a haircut.

Viktor started running through a catalogue in his head. If he could straighten up and vacuum quickly enough, he'd have time to eat something and change out of his pajamas before noon.

He managed to clear at least the living room and kitchen surfaces of their usual almost-messy-but-not-quite-dirty clutter, leaving him with a stack of books and papers that he squirreled away into his room. He made a feeble attempt at vacuuming that only really served to spook Rio under his bed before the vacuum's battery died halfway through the living room. He cursed himself for not plugging it in to recharge after move-in.

Oh, well. The apartment didn't look half-bad by now, anyways. And he was sure Jayce had seen far worse. 

The library's clocktower chimed in the distance to signal the arrival of 11:45. Viktor hurried to the kitchen and searched his cabinets for something he could scarf down. He ended up fixing a bowl of Cheerios with milk and an extra spoonful or two of sugar and took it to the couch.

He texted Jayce before digging in.

[Viktor]: The door is unlocked whenever you get here. Feel free to just knock and come in.

Jayce liked the message a few seconds later. 

[Jayce]: Ok perfect see you soon!

Viktor still had yet to finish his cereal when he heard two knocks at his door about a minute later. And then the door was open, and Jayce was standing in his doorway. And Viktor became incredibly aware that he was hunched over on the couch, mid-bite, still practically harassing a bowl of cereal. And he was in his sleep shirt and sweatpants.

Jayce raised an arm to wave. "Uh. Hey, Viktor."

"...Hello, Jayce." He lowered his spoon back into his bowl.

"You, uh, you texted and said the door was open whenever, I thought—I figured that was a go-ahead—if you want—I can come back in a couple minutes, if—"

"It's fine, Jayce."

He still lingered in the doorway uncertainly.

"Are you a vampire? Need I invite you in?" Viktor snickered at his own joke. "Jayce. Come inside."

Jayce nodded. "No, yeah, I– Yeah." He slowly stepped over the threshold, his eyes widening as he took in Viktor's (sparsely decorated, but homey) apartment. "Daaamn," he breathed. "They set you up good, huh?"

"They did." He waved Jayce further inside. "Here, sit down. Make yourself comfortable."

"Fan of, uhhh," Jayce eyed Viktor's bowl. "Cheerios?" He closed the door behind him and perched awkwardly in one of the plasticky university-provided armchairs, sitting his backpack at his feet. 

Viktor laughed around another spoonful. "Honey Nut." 

"I'm more of a Cinnamon Toast Crunch guy myself, but I respect it." 

The conversation stalled while Viktor finished his last few bites and sipped the sugary milk from the bottom of his bowl. Viktor watched Jayce's eyes flick around the interior of the room, until they caught on something. Rio had peeked around the hallway corner, now that the vacuum had been off for long enough. 

"Oh, Rio!" Viktor clicked his tongue a few times. "Čiči!" It didn't take much for Rio to dart across the room and settle in his lap on the couch. He scratched the top of her head and pet down her back. "I'm so sorry I scared you with the vacuum!" Viktor cooed. "It is all over now! I'm sure that our guest here will not be so loud." He shot Jayce a look that was clearly suppressing a smile.

Jayce laughed. "Nah, I won't! I promise." 

"Come, sit!" Viktor motioned for Jayce to join him on the couch with Rio. "She's friendly, but you must come to her."

Jayce sat next to him, and Viktor could almost feel tension radiating off of him as Jayce moved slowly to keep from spooking Rio. 

"Show your hand like this," Viktor prompted, showing Jayce a loose fist and waiting for him to mirror it. Jayce recreated the position clumsily, and hesitated again. "She doesn't bite, look!" Viktor moved without thinking. He reached out, fingers wrapping around Jayce's wrist to guide his hand closer to Rio's face. 

Jayce's arm shuddered when Viktor touched him. Viktor drew back like a man electrified. 

Viktor tried to play off the jerky movement by bringing a hand up to tuck a piece of hair behind his ear. He doubted it was very convincing. He looked back down to watch Rio investigate Jayce's pointer finger—and definitely not to hide the rising blush he was sporting. "I'm. Sorry. I've been told my hands can be like icicles."

"It's fine," Jayce replied, a little too quickly, the sentence overlapping with the end of Viktor's.

Viktor's eyes flicked back up, and he opened his mouth to say something else (he wasn't sure what, but something), but Jayce elicited a quiet squeak that drew his line of sight back down. Rio was nuzzling into Jayce's hand. The cat climbed up onto Viktor's leg and stretched, pressing her back into Jayce's hand and mewing (and painfully digging her front paws into the meat of Viktor's thigh, but he just winced and let it happen). 

"Oh, she likes you!" Viktor was more than happy for the diversion from whatever that moment was. "Čiči, are you making a new friend?" The question was soon answered as Rio hopped from Viktor's lap to Jayce's and settled there. "Rio has always been very nice to new people, but it looks like you're her favorite," he half-whispered in a singsong.

"Really? Awww!" Jayce's eyes were practically glimmering as he watched the cat curled in his lap. "I love her."

Viktor just watched on from the side with a smile. 

"Thanks for letting me come meet her, man! I don't have any pets, but I love animals, so this is really nice."

"Come see her again, then!" Viktor offered. "Between you and me, I think she's getting a little bit tired of just seeing myself and Sky. I'm sure she would appreciate a new face around here sometimes."

And so would I, he didn't say.

"If you'll have me! We haven't even started yet! I could be the worst study buddy in the world, for all you know, and you're already inviting me back!"

"Ehhh." Viktor shrugged with a chuckle. "I suppose you should not disappoint me, then."

Jayce half-saluted and laughed. "I'll try my best, man!"

They sat on the couch and chatted a bit longer before Rio climbed out of Jayce's lap, hopped off the couch, and left for Viktor's room.

"I suppose that is our, ah, cue to get focused?" 

"Can't get clearer than that, yeah," Jayce laughed softly.

"If you'll, ah, excuse me for a moment, I've got to take some medicine and get my backpack from my room." Viktor leaned on his cane to stand and crossed the living room. "But go ahead and get set up at the coffee table, I will be right back."

As Viktor passed through the doorway to his bedroom, he let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. Rio watched him from where she had curled up on his bed. "I know, I know," he mumbled, as if he were under any real scrutiny.

He slid his pill organizer across his desk and opened the Saturday compartment, letting the pills tumble out into his hand. He scanned the room for something to take them with, eyes catching on a still-half-full mug of tea that had been on his nightstand for God-knows-how-long. It would have to do.

Viktor scrubbed a hand down his face and tried to swallow down his feelings with the pills.

The rest of their day was a flurry of notes, textbooks, lecture videos, and a lot of math. Professor Heimerdinger had handed out a study guide that, though tedious, detailed exactly what they could expect. The two of them reviewed it, searched through their resources for relevant information, and then. Drilled. It. For. Hours. 

At some point in the afternoon, Viktor looked up, and… Jayce had put glasses on? Viktor drew in a short gasp before he could stop it, and Jayce looked up. 

And Jayce looked really, really good. He had some wire-framed, squarish browliners that suited his face in all the right ways, and Viktor had to fight to keep from staring.

Viktor swallowed. His brain practically stalled in his head. "Those are new." 

"Oh, my glasses? No, yeah, I've had 'em, I just don't wear them a lot." Jayce reached up to  them, with a slight note of concern. "Why, do they look weird or something?"

"No, they look good! It was just.." The longer Viktor took to settle on the right word, the more concerned Jayce seemed. "I was just surprised, is all." 

The tension dropped from Jayce's shoulders right away. "Okay, good, I’m. Kids… uh, teased the ever-loving shit out of me in middle school for 'em, on top of everything else, so.” 

"You think I would tease you?"

"I—well, no, but, like—" Jayce sputtered. “I dunno.”

”For wearing glasses? Do you think I’m twelve years old? Jayce. Your glasses look fine,” Viktor reassured him. “If I was going to tease you, it would be about your little porn mustache.” He snickered.

Jayce groaned and hid his face in his hands. “Viktorrrr! Not you too!”

“Not me too?” 

“Dude, Mel will not shut up about wanting me to shave it! I think it looks good!” Jayce pouted. “Is it really that bad?” 

Mel. Right.

Viktor gave him a skeptical look. “Do you want me to tell you the truth?”

Jayce sighed and let his forehead fall to the table. He groaned again. “No, I don’t.”

“I thought that may be the case.”

The time passed much more quickly than Viktor expected it to. Cups of sugary tea were made, drained, refilled, and drained again. The floor gradually grew more and more littered with pages and books until it was a veritable maze.

It was only when Jayce's stomach growled particularly loudly, and they both looked up and realized the sun was setting outside, that either of them thought to look at the time. 

"Jeez, it's seven-thirty already?" Jayce turned his phone around to show Viktor the time. "No wonder."

"And yet we're not even done," Viktor sighed and rubbed his temples. 

"Should we order something? That way we could, like, keep studying, but still get to eat."

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea," he agreed. "The question is only what we should order."

Jayce thought for a second. "Wait. Oh my God. I could fuck up some Chinese food right now, if you're down."

"Jayce, I am a college student in America. Of course I am down for Chinese food."

"Yes!" He pumped his fist and started typing on his phone. "I know a really good place a couple minutes away if you want me to order from there? D'you know what you want?"

"If they have wonton soup, I'll be happy."

"I think I remember seeing that on the menu, yeah," Jayce said, scrolling through the menu online to check. "Yeah! Here it is." It took him a minute or two to get the order set up and all the details typed in, and he turned his phone around to show the confirmation. "'Kay, we're all set!"

"What do I owe you?" Viktor started to reach for his wallet in his backpack.

"Oh, don't worry about it!" Jayce shrugged. "I'm leaving today with at least a letter grade higher than I would get on that test without you, plus I got to meet your cat. Food is, like, the least I can do."

Viktor tilted his head. "Really? Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it's fine! If you're worried about it you can just cover next time, or something." He shrugged.

Next time.

Thankfully, the delivery driver understood the special instructions to get to Viktor's apartment on campus, and the food was at the doorstep before too long. Jayce tiptoed around the maze of papers on the ground to reach the front door and bring it inside.

He set the bounty on the table and started pulling food out of the bag, then rolled his eyes and sighed. "Ugh, they didn't pack any cutlery." He stood. "I can get some from the kitchen, if you tell me where it is?"

"The drawer next to the stove." Viktor pointed. "The one with the towel on the handle."

"Okay, man, this kitchen is nuts. A whole stove?" Jayce dug in the drawer for some forks. "I think this might even be bigger than the communal kitchen in Topside! How do I get set up with digs like this?" He straightened up with a fork and a spoon in hand, and a big smile.

Viktor laughed dryly. "Try, ehh, being born with hip dysplasia and severe femoral anteversion, then acquiring the debilitating and likely lifelong effects that remaining unable to get surgery until my mid-teens had on my back, knees, and ankles, on top of asthma, and the, quote, 'worst immune system' my doctor had ever seen, and, eh, then you might have a shot." He looked at Jayce, almost expecting him to laugh, too, but the expression that greeted him in return was a perfect blend of shock and incredulity.

Jayce stared back at him from the kitchen, silverware now lowered. "Goddamn, dude." 

Viktor sucked a breath through his teeth at the look on Jayce's face. "Too much?"

"No, just, like.. Fuck. What? That's..."

"A lot, I'm aware." He laughed again, softer now. After a short pause, he added, "Jayce, don't lie to me and say that you weren't at least a little bit curious."

"I mean, like, I was, but I—wh—" Jayce spluttered. 

“The other way to get in one of these kitchens is just to make friends with someone who lives here. And I believe you have made two." Viktor gestured between himself and Rio.

Jayce blinked. "Right. 'Kay." He scratched his chin and navigated back to his place on the floor by the coffee table, all in a still-stunned silence.

Viktor tried to remedy the silence with another joke. He hoped this one would land better. "So, I can assume you will be sticking with the latter?"

"The ladder?" Jayce's face scrunched up in confusion. 

"La-tt-er." Viktor enunciated the tt this time. 

"Oh." He snorted out a laugh. "Yeah, man. The second one for sure." He leaned over to pass Viktor his spoon, and blurted, "Thanks for telling me, though," as it changed hands. Their fingers brushed. 

Viktor's hand twitched and he tried to half-shrug. "I figured you should know at some point. Though I'm sure you were expecting to find out less casually than that." 

Jayce chuckled. "Sort of the understatement of the century, man. But, like..." He trailed off as he opened his food. "I dunno. I can see why you're really passionate about your major. And it's.. Like, it's inspiring. That you're dealing with all that and wanna turn around and help other people who are, too." He dug his fork around in his to-go box. "But anyway, sorry to get all candid like that outta nowhere. I'll shut up and eat now."

"No, that was... kind." Viktor stared down into his soup and watched a scallion drift around the surface. "Thank you, Jayce." When he spared a glance up, Jayce was staring at his own food. 

"Anytime."

A comfortable quiet fell over the room as they tucked in. Viktor opted to peruse a nearby textbook page in lieu of more conversation.

Jayce started talking around a mouthful a few minutes later. "Oh, hey, Viktor?"

Viktor looked up. "Hmm?"

Jayce swallowed with a wince and pointed his fork at the stack of napkins across the coffee table. "Pass me a napkin, please?"

"Mhm." Viktor slid the stack across the table. 

By the time they both finished eating, their combined willpower to continue studying had begun to dwindle. They managed to power through another hour or two before they both were yawning frequently enough to warrant comment.

"Shall we run this chapter one more time and then call it a night?" Viktor asked on the heels of Jayce's loudest yawn yet. "It is sounding more and more like it's about time to wrap up if I don't want you asleep on my living room floor." He laughed.

Jayce nodded and blinked his eyes blearily. "No, yeah, that sounds good to me, I think."

After another thirty minutes or so, they finished with the chapter and went about quietly collecting their materials from where they were strewn around the living room and stowing notebooks, papers and textbooks away again. 

"Well, thanks for letting me come over and study, like, all day, man." Jayce turned to talk as he zipped up his backpack and went for his shoes. "I actually feel great about the test now, so, we totally work really well together!"

"Yes, I suppose we do," Viktor agreed. He had turned off one of the lamps while they cleaned up, and he was glad for the dimmer light now—because he felt his face heating up. "And you are welcome back anytime, for cat or for kitchen purposes." 

"And Viktor, trust me, I will be holding you to that." Jayce reached forward to grab the doorknob. "Well, goodnight Vik, I'll seeya Monday! Bye!" 

"See you!" Viktor waved at Jayce from the couch until the door was shut. Then he blinked. 

Vik. That's new.

Viktor did his best to stifle a giddy smile, and heard a quiet meow to his left. He turned, and Rio was staring at him again from one of the armchairs. He groaned.

"I know." 

Chapter Text

Summer days were dwindling now as the campus of Piltover University careened into mid-September, and on this particular Monday, Jayce found himself wishing he'd had the foresight to check the weather and bring a hoodie along to his classes. He pushed open the doors to the engineering building and distantly hoped that after a few hours in class, the sun would rise high enough to drive out the slightly-too-cool fall air enveloping campus all morning.

He realized, climbing up the stairs, that his usual nerves toward test-taking were strangely pacified. He always studied, and he'd always done well enough, so he'd never had any real reason to be apprehensive about tests, but he tended to be nervous all the same. 

The only difference about this time was that he'd studied with Viktor, instead of by himself.

So maybe it was that.

Odd thought to have. Jayce rounded the corner into the classroom and, as if materialized by his thoughts, there was Viktor, already at their usual table.

"So, ready for the test?" Jayce asked as he approached.

"I'd hope a ten-hour study marathon would have done something to prepare us," Viktor said, a hint of a smile gracing his lips to indicate his teasing. Jayce had been getting better at noticing things like that. "Waste of a Saturday if not."

Jayce also noticed Viktor's suppressed wince when he shifted in his chair to look at him. But it was gone as soon as it had appeared, and Viktor had already gently scolded him the week before for asking one too many times if he was really alright—"I appreciate your concern, but I don't need to be coddled, Jayce, really"— so he bit his tongue and took his seat.

"Suppose so," he agreed. "How was the rest of your weekend? Or, I mean. Just yesterday, I guess."

"Ehh, it was rather uneventful," Viktor shrugged. "Slept in, had leftover Chinese for breakfast, got groceries and prescription refills. Reviewed a little more for the test in the afternoon."

"Doesn't sound too shabby." Jayce fiddled with the mechanical pencil he'd taken out of his bag.

"Not shabby at all, no. How was yours?"

"Called my mom after she left church, went grocery shopping.." he thought for a moment, then tilted his head. "Wait, when were you at the grocery store?”

The question clearly caught Viktor a little off guard. "—ah, probably a little bit after noon? I tend to sleep in and go sometime midday."

"At the one down the street?" Viktor nodded at his question and Jayce continued. "Dude, I must've been there right after you! Should've gone earlier, I could’ve said hi."

Viktor hesitated, then smiled and shrugged. "Well, next time, I suppose."

"Yeah, next time!" 

As Heimerdinger entered the classroom with a far-too-enthusiastic greeting for eight in the morning on a test day, Jayce could practically feel the mental note filing itself away in his mind:

Go for groceries earlier next Sunday.

Somewhere around nine, Viktor finished with his test, turned it in, and left. Just like that.

Oh, Viktor's done. 

Jayce supposed he could wait until the next day to talk about the test with Viktor, but he’d already seen part of a problem that he wanted to tell him about after they finished, and didn’t want to forget it. Plus, he’d found himself really enjoying their post-class chats together, so it was kind of a bummer to skip it this morning.

He had gotten rather used to their routine: show up to class, talk until it started, talk after it ended. Rinse and repeat, day after day. And, now that he was thinking about it, they were becoming more like friends than just classmates. He'd been at Viktor's house all afternoon on Saturday, for crying out loud. And Viktor had made it very clear that he was invited back! Sometime. He'd have to figure out when that sometime was , but that invitation was extended all the same.

Jayce blinked and his eyes refocused on his test paper. Right. He still had half a problem left.

He should finish that.

Jayce wrapped up and turned his test paper in about twenty minutes later, feeling—again—unusually optimistic. He’d have to get Viktor to study with him again, for sure.

He knew that Caitlyn and Violet tended to try to get breakfast together in the mornings, and since it wasn't too far past nine, he hoped they might still be in the lower dining hall.

And he was greeted with exactly that as he walked into the coffee shop—Caitlyn and Violet were settled in one of the booths, right where he thought he might find them. Caitlyn was on her phone, and Violet was sat with one arm draped across her shoulders and the other hand occupied with a book she was reading. He caught some of their conversation as he approached.

"Cait, honestly, you should read this one, it is really good," Vi was insisting.

"How 'bout I borrow it when you're done?" She suggested quietly. "What's it about?"

Violet sat up a little straighter and started explaining. "It's these two girls who are on a soccer team together, and—"

"Mind if I join you guys?” Jayce sidled up and waved. 

Caitlyn's jaw dropped and she turned her phone off right away. "Well, if it isn't Jayce Talis, the hardest guy to reach in all of Piltover! This feels like an honor!" She joked. She stood to give Jayce a hug that he gladly accepted.

"Should we roll out the red carpet? Palm fronds, paparazzi? The works?" Violet stuck her bookmark back in and slid out of the booth to pull Jayce into a half-handshake-half-hug.

"Okay, okay, jeez!" Jayce laughed and shook his head. "I've been busy, I'm sorry!"

"Not too busy to hang out with Viktor on Saturday." Caitlyn's eyes fixed on him as she said it. Calculating.

"Okay, that was—we were—We were studying for our test today! That's different!" Jayce was half-exasperated now. 

"I know! I'm teasing." The look didn't leave her eyes, though.

"Well, glad you could work us into your schedule." Violet nudged him and climbed back into the booth, holding out her arm so Caitlyn could settle under it again. 

Jayce sat back in the booth opposite the two of them. He really was glad to see them again. And to see them together, more. Caitlyn had always been so... proper, with her old girlfriend, Maddie. Violet wasn't improper, but Cait always seemed to loosen up more around her, and he was glad to see it. He liked this side of her—even if it meant she was poking fun at him for spending completely normal time with his friend.

The three of them settled into a conversation about weekend plans. He got to hear all about the date they were going on Saturday morning—getting up early to hike a trail Violet heard about. 

Jayce was visiting home for the weekend, and Mel was going to tag along—plans that Violet whistled at, before Cait jabbed her with an elbow and shook her head while Jayce had to clarify their strictly-friendship for yet another person.

The three stayed and chatted until Caitlyn and Vi had to excuse themselves for their later-morning classes—leaving with a hug from them both, and a threat from Caitlyn if Jayce didn't start regularly answering her texts again, which he laughed sheepishly at and relented to. He just lingered in the booth and puttered around online doing some research for a while after they left. 

The thought crossed his mind to text Viktor, but he thought better of it. If Viktor wasn't already at the University Center, Jayce didn't want to do him the disservice of dragging him across campus. He'd already noticed Viktor's movements becoming stiffer with the influx of cooler fall days, not to mention the wince from earlier.

So Jayce decided he'd just sit alone for lunch.

Wednesday afternoon, after he'd wrapped up his language tutoring office hours, Jayce met Mel at the library. They had a laughably small amount of homework for their business class, so coming to the library to work on it was more of an excuse to hang out for awhile and pretend to work hard.

Jayce tugged open the heavy library doors and held one of them for Mel as she passed through. "Maybe Viktor's working today," he wondered. He didn't see Viktor around the different chairs at the front desk. "He's not here, but he might be upstairs or something."

"Viktor, this, Viktor, that," Mel joked as the two of them walked between shelves. "I gotta watch out or he's gonna steal my best friend!" 

"Aw, come on, Mel! You know you're never getting rid of me," he laughed and they rounded a corner, walking past another help desk—this one looked empty. They settled at a nearby table. "Just face it. You're stuck with me forever!"

"I know, I know." She laughed and rolled her eyes, tugging her laptop out of her tote. "Oh, yeah, before I forget—how was your test on Monday?"

"It actually went great! Or, uh. At least I think it did. Never really know 'till you get it back, but I think Viktor and I studying Saturday really helped."

"Yeah, you were over there all day, right?" 

Jayce snorted. "Yeah, basically." He sat up straighter and pointed at her. "Oh, and another thing! You'll like this, you must've gotten him on the train somehow—he got onto me about my freakin' mustache! Called it a—" Here he paused to work up a bad impression of Viktor's accent. "—little porn mustache!"

Mel slowly lifted her head from what she was looking at on her laptop. "And what have I been telling you this entire time?" A smug smile cracked her face.

Jayce scowled.

She quirked an eyebrow.

His scowl shifted into a pout. “C’mon, Mel! It looks good!”

“Jayce. As your best friend of going on six years now, I assure you, it does not. It didn’t the summer before college, and it doesn’t now.” 

“Mellllll.”

"But you know I still love you. Shitty mustache or not." 

"Yeah, yeah, I know." He sighed and rubbed his upper lip with his thumb, looking down at his laptop. 

Mel reached across the table to pat his arm. “And, Jayce, I regret to inform you it's looking like the former.”

Jayce shook her arm off with a sarcastic laugh. “I thought I was coming to the library today to do homework, not to get bullied!”

“What can I say?” She cracked another smile and shrugged. “I contain multitudes.”

“Can you contain multitudes of homework answers, too?”

Jayce knew his mother was looking forward to his visit this weekend. 

She'd talked about it every time they'd spoken on the phone in the past week. Already picked up ingredients for his favorite meals from the grocery store. Gotten her friends excited to see him at church on Sunday.

And as much as Jayce knew his mother would love the chance to dote on another one of his friends, he figured that it would be coming on a bit too strong to invite Viktor to his house for an entire weekend. It was only September. He should probably get to know the guy a little better before that. So this time it was just Mel tagging along, as usual.

Next time, then.

He and Viktor had been setting themselves up for a lot of next times, hadn't they?

He brushed the thought from his mind as he pulled in front of Mel's apartment to pick her up. 

The ride home was enjoyable. Uneventful. Mostly easy, too. Most of the time was filled with too-loud singing along to a shared playlist of guilty pleasure 2000's pop music. Some was spent yelling at one too many assholes who cut them off in traffic, then bursting into laughter at the hilarity of it all.

They'd left after classes, too, which meant they got to his house at the perfect time—dinner was almost ready. Jayce unlocked the front door and flung it open to the heavenly scent of his mother’s cooking.

“¡Mamá! I’m home!” He shouted, dropping his duffel bag inside the door.

A loud squeal came from the kitchen, and Ximena rounded the corner with arms wide open. “Jayce! Mel! You’re here!” 

Jayce stepped into his mother’s arms with a sheepish smile, and scrunched up his face under the kisses she pressed to it. “Hiiii, mamá.” When she finished with the onslaught of kisses, he hugged her back tightly. “I missed you!” 

“I missed you!" She turned to Mel. "You know, he doesn’t call me enough."

“Good afternoon, Mrs. Talis,” Mel said with a smile, going in for a hug of her own.  

“Hello, Mel! Has Jayce been behaving?”

“¡Mamá!” Jayce protested. He could feel the tips of his ears pinking. “And what do you mean, I don’t call you enough? I’m here, like, every other weekend!” 

“I’m your mother, it’s never enough for me!” Ximena perked up upon hearing a disconcerting sizzle from the kitchen, and welcomed them further inside. “Food’s almost ready! Come in!”

Jayce winked at Mel and mouthed “Perfect timing” behind her back. “Oh! How lucky of us.” 

“And I made your favorite, Jayce!” She chimed as she led them into the warm kitchen.

“Oh, sick!” Another wink and a big smile. “¿Albondigas?”

“Yes, yes!” 

He pumped his fist. “Yesss. Mel, then you’ve had this before! That mamá makes—with the stew, too—and it’s so good.” He followed Ximena to the stove and peeked over her shoulder to inhale deeply. “I missed this.”

“Jayce, cariño. There are frozen leftovers in your minifridge at school,” she reminded him with a fond smile as she stirred.

“Well, I mean, like, fresh!” 

“You know how to cook, Jayce! You have all my recipes!” 

“But I don’t have a stove, and the one downstairs in the lobby sucks —“ He cut off, a thought striking him suddenly. He looked at Mel. “Oh my God. Mel. Viktor.”

Mel looked at him quizzically—and also as if she hadn’t been expecting to hear that name at all. “What… about him?”

“He has a kitchen I could use!” 

Maybe next time there’s a test—

“Oh, Viktor!” Ximena cut in. “How is he?” 

“Mamá, I told you on the phone that we studied last weekend for our test together, remember? He’s been good since then, though, we’ve just been waiting for test grades back.”

“And he’s transferring alright? How is he liking Piltover?” Ximena asked, ever the motherly worrier.

“He’s good! He likes it a lot, I think.” Jayce stared into the soup. “Seems like he’s settled in really nice.”

“You know, Jayce, he’s one of your friends!” She turned and rubbed his shoulder. “You can bring him over whenever you’d like, I would love to meet him!”  

“Yeah, maybe someday. Just thought it might be a little soon since it’s still September. Think he’s kind of an introvert, so I was gonna be chill about it.”

“Well, if he’s your friend, it is never too soon for me! You can ask him next time, then.” Ximena smoothed a wrinkle on Jayce’s shirt and patted his arm. 

“Yeah. Next time.” He smiled.

Deja vu.

Dinner was served not long after that, and subsequently devoured—it had dining hall food beaten by miles, after all—and after settling in a little longer, they decided to put on a movie. It was some older rom-com that Mel had been meaning to watch for a little while now, and the pair figured they might as well turn it on. 

He and Mel settled on the couch under a mound of blankets, and his mother took the armchair.  But Ximena retired to bed not long after, saying goodnight with a big kiss to the top of Jayce's head and an affectionate pat of Mel's shoulder and leaving them to their movie.

Only a few minutes afterward, Jayce heard a bzzt from where his phone sat on the coffee table and he leaned over to pick it up. There were several other notifications that he hadn't heard go off earlier, but the new one stuck out; it was from Viktor.

[Viktor]: Test grades are out.

[Jayce]: Wait really????

[Jayce]: I need to go check mine

[Jayce]: I'm watching a movie with Mel right now

A typing bubble popped up, and then Viktor replied back right away. 

[Viktor]: Right, you're at home.

[Viktor]: I hope you two are enjoying your weekend together.

Weird wording. But Jayce was probably reading too much into it, right? It was late. 

[Jayce]: Yeah it's been good so far! Thanks Vik

He sat on that for a second, then figured it would probably be rude not to at least return the question, so he shot off another text.

[Jayce]: How's yours?

[Viktor]: Been wonderful so far, thank you for asking.

[Viktor]: Attachment: 1 Image

[Viktor]: Rio says hello, by the way!

The photo Viktor had sent was comprised of about half of his face, dimly lit by his screen, with Rio peeking over his shoulder and attempting to nose at the phone while he laughed.

[Jayce]: Awww cute

Fuck. He meant— The cat. Rio was cute. That's what he was—

He fired off another text in the hopes that his first wouldn't be too quickly misinterpreted. 

[Jayce]: Rio is so adorable

[Viktor]: I think she misses you. She keeps pawing at your name on the screen.

[Jayce]: Or maybe she's trying to say something

[Jayce]: Let her speak!!

[Viktor]: j;9&tx

[Jayce]: The prophecy....

His focus was dragged up from his phone to the other end of the couch as Mel cleared her throat, a teasing smile spreading across her face. "What's got you giggling over there?" 

Jayce turned off his phone and let it fall between his leg and the couch cushion. "Uh. Viktor was texting me. We got test grades back in mechanics."

"It's taking you fifteen minutes to check your test grade?" There was a twinkle in her eye that he didn’t love.

He was glad the living room was dark, save for the television. It obscured the pink blooming across his cheeks just enough to deny it if she said something. "Okay, yeah. That's my bad." 

"You're fine," She waved him off, smile lingering as she turned back to the screen.

Jayce's phone buzzed. His hand twitched, but he didn't pick it up.

It buzzed again. 

"You can text him back, Jayce. I was teasing you," Mel said with a little laugh. 

"Oh." He let it sit for a little while longer, just so he didn't seem like he was desperate to answer. Then he slowly picked up his phone to check what Viktor had said.

[Viktor]: What mysteries could she possibly be communicating to us?

[Viktor]: If it weren’t for the language barrier, we could be learning the secrets of the universe.

[Jayce]: I don't know.... Put her on the phone again maybe I can figure it out

[Viktor]: iyco hyd3wh. 4

[Jayce]: Oh oh I know that one!

[Viktor]: ???

[Jayce]: She's saying "come over and see me again"

[Jayce]: There's not really a translation for the 4 though

[Viktor]: Oh, really?

[Viktor]: You got all of that from… that?

[Jayce]: Cat translation is a delicate science Viktor 

[Jayce]: You're just gonna have to trust me

His fingers hovered over the keyboard, trying to figure out another witty response, but he came up empty. After another minute or two of hesitating, he just turned his phone off again. The movie wouldn’t be too much longer, anyway, and he did feel bad for being on his phone when he and Mel were supposed to be watching something together. 

So he waited until the credits started rolling to pick it up again. There were three new messages waiting for him now.

[Viktor]: Well, her wish might be granted soon enough, regardless.

[Viktor]: I don’t know if you’ve seen it, but the midterm project in the syllabus is coming up. It requires us to partner up.

[Viktor]: If you would want to work together on that, we absolutely should.

[Viktor]: I think picking groups is the day after fall break, but it never hurts to be prepared. 

He didn’t even have to think about the answer.

[Jayce]: Totally

[Jayce]: If you think I’d wanna do a project with anyone but you you’d be dead wrong

Okay, that sounded weird.

[Jayce]: You’re my only friend in the class too who else would I even pick???

[Jayce]: So yeah let’s do it!

Saved it.

Judging by the “Viktor has notifications silenced” message that appeared in their text thread, Viktor had probably gone to sleep by now. It was getting late.

Jayce scrolled up to look at the photo Viktor had sent again. Then the thought struck him: he hadn't actually given Viktor a contact picture in his phone yet. 

Well, now was as good a time as ever. He saved the picture and assigned it to Viktor's contact, adjusting it a few times until the circle didn't crop out too much of his face. Finally satisfied with the result, he turned his phone off, only to look up and see Mel eyeing him suspiciously now.

“What!” 

“Texting Viktor again?” Her suspicious look turned up into a smile when he confirmed with a roll of his eyes and a nod. "Pfft. Screenager."

"I'm twenty!"

She laughed harder and stood to get to the spare room. "Goodnight, Jayce."

"'Night, Mel." 

Viktor didn't text him back. Not during the time it took Jayce to go upstairs, or put on pajamas, or brush his teeth, or comb his hair. So he was right—Viktor was probably just asleep, then. 

But as Jayce curled up to sleep under his duvet later that night, he remembered something.

Shit. He still hadn’t checked his test grade.

Chapter Text

Wednesday afternoon, Viktor beelined from his last class to the library, cursing himself silently for not thinking ahead to give his schedule a bit more leeway. His professor had talked over time (again), and that meant instead of the fifteen minutes he usually had to get to his shift and get settled, he had about... six.

He was a few minutes late, then, getting to his desk and clocking in—not that it really mattered. The amount of times he was actually approached for help with something, especially at the back corner desk, was negligible. But it meant he couldn't stop to pick up a coffee before his shift, and that was enough to irk him.

Most of his shift that afternoon became an opportunity for Viktor to get homework done. He was only asked for help twice. The first time was a student coming up to use the stapler who then sheepishly asked about a couple of books for a paper she was working on. The second disturbance came about thirty minutes before the end of his shift—someone needed help working the TV in one of the study rooms, so he trudged off with them only to find out that it had just been unplugged, and that was why it wouldn't turn on. 

He walked back, half-annoyed and half-amused, and he was just stepping back behind the desk when he heard a familiar voice from somewhere around the corner of a bookshelf. He strained his ear as he got a little closer and just managed to make out Jayce whining Mel's name.

And then Mel responded to him with, "But you know I still love you. Shitty mustache or not." He could practically hear the heart eyes she was giving him. 

"Yeah, yeah, I know," he heard Jayce respond.

Then there was a pause. Probably one in which they kissed, or something.  

Fuck.  

Viktor bit back a sigh and finished getting back to his chair. It was one thing for the universe to send him the most wonderful man he'd ever met, only for him to be taken. It was entirely another for that to be rubbed in his face at work. 

The pair were still talking, but he did his best to tune whatever they were saying out until he could put his headphones back on at his desk. 

Viktor checked his watch. Only about twenty minutes left. Then he could slip out the other side of the help desk, and go around to the backside of the library to leave that way. Undetected. Because it was one thing if Mel and Jayce knew he was here when they sat down—entirely another if Viktor was caught out, in earshot, after they'd been sitting together all lovey-dovey for God-knows-how-long. He didn't want to think about how that might play out. 

(It likely would be inconspicuous enough. His job was to sit at the help desk, after all, not to fraternize. But knowing his friends were around the corner, and failing to even so much as attempt to greet them at any point? That could raise an eyebrow or two. Or four.)

It wasn't long before Viktor heard the sounds of their conversation begin to die down, and he figured they probably started working on whatever they were here to do. Business homework, probably.

So, he did what he could to keep a low profile for the rest of his shift. Turned away from the direction their voices were coming from. Kept his head down. Those last twenty minutes felt like they stretched on for a lifetime, but blessedly, the timer on his phone dinged into his headphones and signaled the end of his shift. 

He made it outside without incident, silently thanking whoever was smiling down on him from above for that small mercy.

The weekend crept up on Viktor fast. It felt like he blinked and Friday night was already upon him. 

Which meant Jayce and Mel were on their planned weekend trip to Jayce's house.

Which meant Viktor was laying on his shitty university-housing-provided couch, doing homework on his own, and trying not to think about about Jayce and Mel on their weekend trip to Jayce's house.

She's his girlfriend. You’ve known him for a month and a half. Get over yourself.

He halfheartedly clicked his way through an online assignment. He had half a mind to call Sky and ask if she wanted to hang out, before he remembered she was at home this weekend, too. Rio was curled, by some feat, atop the spot where his shoulder pressed against the couch's armrest, purring contentedly into his ear as he idly scratched her head with his free hand.  

He opened a new tab after encountering a problem he’d need a calculator for—his leg was out of its brace, and Rio was (probably) asleep on his shoulder, and he didn’t feel like disturbing her or crossing his apartment to dig through his backpack right now. So he just checked his email and scrolled lazily through campus newsletters and administration emails—until a certain one caught his eye.

[MET304: Mechanics - Assignment Graded: Block 1 Test]

Well. Surely this was as good an excuse to text Jayce as any. Plus, it’s not like he would be purposefully interrupting their evening so much as… sending a friendly text about grades. And plus, Jayce could just ignore the text if it was really going to spoil plans of his. So really, if Jayce let this text disturb whatever was going on with Mel, it was his fault, not Viktor’s.

Right? 

Right.

He opened the messaging application on his laptop, and shot off a quick text to Jayce before he could second-guess that decision even more.

[Viktor]: Test grades are out.

He exited out of the window. Better yet, he quit out of the application entirely. His heart shouldn’t have been racing as much as it was.

To his delight surprise, a notification with Jayce’s response popped up in the corner of his screen before so much as a minute had passed.

[Jayce]: Wait really????

[Jayce]: I need to go check mine

[Jayce]: I'm watching a movie with Mel right now

Viktor tried to think of a good way to respond to that. I figured, and I texted you anyways despite my better judgement, and despite knowing we both got the same automated grade email, because I hoped against hope that you’d ignore your girlfriend to text me back?

Yeah, no.

[Viktor]: Right, you're at home.

Well, he should at least be nice about it. He tacked on another text a couple of seconds later.

[Viktor]: I hope you two are enjoying your weekend together.

[Jayce]: Yeah it's been good so far! Thanks Vik

[Jayce]: How's yours?

Vik. There it was again. 

[Viktor]: Been wonderful so far, thank you for asking.

(He was lying.)

Rio leaned over Viktor's shoulder toward the computer screen, and a laugh bubbled up from his chest. "Oh, čiči, you want to talk to Jayce, too?" 

He closed the laptop and pulled his phone out now, and opened his camera. He positioned the frame so about half of his face took up part of the photo, the rest taken up by Rio, who, upon seeing her reflection on the screen, leaned closer. The shutter caught him laughing. He decided to send it.

[Viktor]: Attachment: 1 Image

[Viktor]: Rio says hello, by the way!

[Jayce]: Awww cute

Viktor swore he felt his heart do a somersault in his chest. His thumbs twitched over his keyboard, but it seemed like a great deal of coherent thought had conveniently evacuated his head.

Another typing... bubble popped up from Jayce's end. Viktor had to keep moving his phone around—letting Rio catch sight of her own image had been a mistake, because she kept pawing insistently at his screen now, claws clicking on the glass where Jayce's name and contact picture were displayed on the screen, over and over. 

His phone buzzed in his hand as he held it outstretched and away from the cat.

[Jayce]: Rio is so adorable

Right.

Viktor brought his phone closer to read it again. He deflated. Tried to think of something else to say. Rio swatted at the screen again. That was something.

[Viktor]: I think she misses you. She keeps pawing at your name on the screen.

[Jayce]: Or maybe she's trying to say something

[Jayce]: Let her speak!!

Viktor chuckled and held his phone up, now, one-handed, to Rio. "Rio! Čiči!" He pointed at the screen, but she was far ahead of him, already smacking at the keyboard with her paw. He pulled his phone away from her to press send.

[Viktor]: j;9&tx

[Jayce]: The prophecy....

Viktor snorted. He supposed they were joking now. That, he could do.

[Viktor]: What mysteries could she possibly be communicating to us?

[Viktor]: If it weren’t for the language barrier, we could be learning the secrets of the universe.

[Jayce]: I don't know.... Put her on the phone again maybe I can figure it out

Rio was more than happy to hit the screen again, and Viktor allowed her to for longer this time.

[Viktor]: iyco hyd3wh. 4

[Jayce]: Oh oh I know that one!

[Viktor]: ???

[Jayce]: She's saying "Jayce come over and see me again"

[Jayce]: There's not really a translation for the 4 though

Viktor's heart did a silly little leap in his chest.

Oh. So this was Jayce's way of inviting himself over again?

[Viktor]: Oh, really?

[Viktor]: You got all of that from… that?

[Jayce]: Cat translation is a delicate science Viktor 

[Jayce]: You're just gonna have to trust me

He laughed, first. Then an idea struck him. Didn't Heimerdinger have a group project somewhere in the Technical Physics syllabus? He whipped his laptop out again to check the course page. Sure enough, a sizeable block of October and November were dedicated to a project. 

Yes!

[Viktor]: Well, her wish might be granted soon enough, regardless.

[Viktor]: I don’t know if you’ve seen it, but the midterm project in the syllabus is coming up. It requires us to partner up.

[Viktor]: If you would want to work together on that, we absolutely should.

[Viktor]: I think picking groups is the day after fall break, but it never hurts to be prepared. 

A new bubble didn't pop up immediately. 

Or after a minute. 

Or two. 

At that point, Viktor deemed it safe to assume that Jayce had been pulled away from his phone for whatever reason (probably by Mel). So he put his down, too. At a certain point he just figured Jayce had gone to sleep, and put his phone on "do not disturb" so that he could do the same.

He went about his normal routine for the night after that. He turned off the living room lamps and dragged his tired body back to his bedroom to change into his pajamas and swap out his bulkier KAFO for the compression sleeve he preferred to sleep in. 

Rio circled his socked feet on the bathroom tile as he washed his face, brushed his teeth, and tried not to think about his phone where it sat plugged-in and facedown on his nightstand. Viktor had wanted to let it lie until the morning, but the thought of even a possibility of a response caused him to cave. He checked his phone one more time when he returned to bed.

Nothing.

He rolled over and went to sleep.

His alarm blared, jolting him awake at nine sharp the next morning with Rio curled on his chest.

The first thing he did was snooze the alarm.

The second was sprawl back onto his bed.

The third was double-take and sit up fast enough to startle Rio and send her to the opposite end of the bed, where she curled up, perturbed. 

He knew he'd seen Jayce's name on his home screen, even through bleary eyes.

And sure enough, he opened his phone and was greeted with the following messages from the night before:

[Jayce]: Totally

[Jayce]: If you think I’d wanna do a project with anyone but you you’d be dead wrong

[Jayce]: You’re my only friend in the class too who else would I even pick???

[Jayce]: So yeah let’s do it

A smile broke out onto his face. 

[Viktor]: Great!

[Viktor]: I've heard from one of the TAs that if we actually go to class on the Friday before fall break (which is, apparently, rare), Dr. Heimerdinger lets us pick out group partners rather than being randomly assigned. As a "reward" for attending, I suppose.

[Viktor]: And if you go, you can pick anyone, so only one of us has to go to tell him the pair.

[Viktor]: I don't know what plans you have for that day, but I wasn't planning on going home for fall break, so I'm happy to go for the both of us.

He was pleasantly surprised to find that Jayce texted him back quickly again—he only made it through a few scrolls on his Twitter feed before a notification popped up. 

[Jayce]: WAIT I forgot Heimer did that!!! Yes

[Jayce]: Tbh I was totally planning on skipping but now I feel bad, I don't want to make you go all by yourself

[Jayce]: Are you sure?? I can go if you want me to

He smiled at Jayce's insistence. Rio uncurled and climbed up to his pillow, meowing and starting to nuzzle at his ear.

[Viktor]: I wouldn't have offered if I wasn't.

He read that message back and realized it might sound a little bit miffed, so he decided to send another message, something simple. 

[Viktor]: :)

[Viktor]: But if you do want to come you still can. Obviously, I won't stop you.

As he typed that, Rio got a bit more demanding, bringing up a paw that dragged through Viktor's hair as she tried to get his attention.

"Ano, ano, kočičko," he reached up to push her away gently.

She didn't get the memo and pawed at his head again.

"Okay, okay!" He typed faster.

[Viktor]: Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a very insistent cat pawing at the side of my head because she wants to eat, so... goodbye, Jayce.

[Jayce]: Bye Viktor!!! See you Monday

Viktor walked into class two weeks later, the first Friday of October, and Jayce wasn't there. Which was to be expected—he had told Jayce multiple times that he didn't mind if he skipped. There wasn't a penalty and Viktor would be there to assign their project pairing, so really, he was fine. 

But Viktor had gotten used to Jayce's eternal presence in the seat next to him, so class still felt slightly wrong in his absence. 

But the reward for attendance was just as described, and Dr. Heimerdinger had smiled and nodded when Viktor raised his hand to claim Jayce as his project partner, the professor declaring that he was "thrilled to see their friendship continue blossom over the rest of the semester!"

Uh-huh.

The other professors for his Friday classes weren't supposed to cancel, but had adopted an if-you-don't-say-anything-I-won't attitude about the day's attendance, so he skipped out on the rest in favor of an afternoon at home with coffee, a book, and his cat.

The next days, those of fall break proper, passed without any fuss. He went about his normal weekend routine—homework Saturday, errands Sunday. The campus was nearly empty, save for the rest of the small crowd who either didn't or couldn't return home, so his trips to the dining hall were far less strenuous without the usual crowds to navigate. 

It felt weird not to be talking to Jayce, especially by the time Monday hit—enough that Viktor was struck with the urge to actually text him, which he figured he might have actually done if he had a real reason to. Between their classes and studying, he'd grown accustomed to a certain level of familiarity with Jayce's schedule. Involvement with his life. But he didn't have anything to kickstart a conversation like the last time they'd had an extended exchange over text, nor did he want to bring up their project while Jayce was at the beach with his mother, so the idea was abandoned.

Since it was break, and he would be able to give himself a day to rest up afterward, Viktor did decide to schedule an extra PT appointment for Monday afternoon. As usual, it left him sore and twitchy, despite the cold therapy they'd done on his knee to calm it down after the strengthening exercises, so the rest of Monday night was spent cozily in his bed. The most action Tuesday saw was that of Rio catching a spider on the living room floor while Viktor watched on in amusement. 

All in all, break was bland, and boring, and exactly what he needed.

(But he'd have been lying to himself if he said he wasn't counting down the minutes to 8 a.m. on Wednesday morning.)

Sky Young was, arguably, Viktor's best friend—or, at the very least, the closest thing he had to one, which, he supposed, meant the title applied by default.

Their paths had first crossed at Zaun Public High School, when Sky told off some kids who were making fun of him. Later in the semester, when they were well-established in the territory of friendship (read: when Sky kept finding excuses for them to talk to each other, and Viktor found he very much enjoyed her company), Viktor had to gently let down Sky's blossoming crush with the news that he was, in fact, very gay. She was (understandably) disappointed, but was very kind about the whole ordeal and was decidedly not homophobic, so friends they remained.

At the beginning of their Christmas break freshman year, Viktor had his big surgery—a proximal femoral osteotomy. It was a drop in the bucket considering the other problems his hip dysplasia had caused him at that point, but at least it meant things wouldn't continue to deteriorate at the same pace. Sky visited him as many times as she could manage. She even begged her mom to drive her to Viktor's family's apartment on Christmas Day so she could drop off a gift to surprise him.

(He'd been thoroughly embarrassed that he did not have anything for Sky in return. She assured him that it was fine, as he was still recovering from major surgery, and insisted he left it at that. He did not. His first real trip out of the house post-op, besides one to the hospital for a follow-up appointment, was to the mall, where he forced his parents to tote him around in the hospital-supplied wheelchair until he found a gift he deemed sufficient.)

The rest of high school saw their connection deepen, especially after Sky received her grandmother's old Corolla on her sixteenth birthday the next year, which meant that they no longer relied on their parents' schedules in order to hang out. Movie nights became a regular weekend staple. They even went to prom together senior year (and left before it ended, because they much preferred the company of a horror movie, ice cream, and each other to that of their peers).

Following graduation, they found themselves at Zaun College by virtue of both convenience and necessity; Sky because she much preferred the idea of being close to home for now, and Viktor because it was mere minutes away from the hospital he'd been going to since his family moved to America, so that if anything were to happen, at least it would be with a staff he was accustomed to. They both had plans to transfer elsewhere upon the completion of their second year. When Piltover University, by virtue of its status as a STEM powerhouse, worked its way into both of their top choices, they laughed it off.

And when they both received their Piltover University acceptance letters in the mail on the same day, they said fuck it and decided to both go. 

Since transferring, his ability to spend time with Sky dwindled as their respective course loads intensified (and as their schedules fucked them sideways when it came to mutual free time), but they did their best to remain close. The week of move-in, they'd had a grand time utilizing Viktor's new living room for a movie night in true college fashion: with a horror movie and cheap vodka he'd secured with his fake ID. Opportunities for nights like that were fewer and farther between, but they tried to make them happen when they could. 

They ate their dinners together regularly enough, though. Sky also helped Viktor out on the worst of his bad days, kind enough to come over and bring food from the dining hall once or twice when he couldn't make the journey himself. They puzzled out homework together, chatted about professors and classmates and, in Sky's case, her roommate. 

All that to say, the only part of Viktor's life that Sky wasn't intimately familiar with was his crush on Jayce Talis.

It wasn't like she would disapprove—even if a hopeless crush on a straight man with a girlfriend wasn't the wisest of his endeavors, by any means. He had just never been very open with Sky about any of his romantic pursuits (or lack thereof). He knew crushes, even past ones long scabbed-over, could be touchy, and didn't want to poke at anything sensitive on accident. So he just... kept to himself when it came to the subject.

Which was why, when Sky ran into him and Jayce as they were leaving the student labs one night post-unsuccessful-brainstorming-session, she saw Viktor laughing just a little too hard at one of Jayce's jokes (and probably looking at him like he hung the stars in the sky) and thought she had discovered something novel rather than a crack in Viktor's carefully-kept façade. 

"Viktor!" She rounded on the pair with a look of thinly-veiled excitement, greeting Viktor first with a tight hug; second, with a quiet chuckle in his ear to say I caught your ass; and third, with a knowing grin as she pulled away from that hug.

"Hello, Sky," he said, with a look in his eye that said Say a word about this in front of him, and I'll kill you. His free hand lingered on her arm from where he'd hugged her back. "How are—"

"Sky! Good to see you again!" Jayce smiled and waved from the side.

"Hey, Jayce!" 

Viktor's hand squeezed to reiterate his previous message. Sky winced and shot him a look. He let go. 

Jayce's smile faltered for a second in confusion as he looked between the two of them. "Uhhh, How's it going?" 

"Going well, yeah," she said as she tugged her arm from Viktor's grip. "Was just heading to that guest lecture tonight! Part of that series they're doing. Thought it might be cool."

"Ahh, yes, the lecture!" Viktor nodded. "I hope you enjoy it. We were actually just clearing out of the labs before the building filled up."

"Have any groundbreaking project ideas yet?" She joked.

"Psh. More like glass-breaking," Viktor said, sparing a glance at Jayce's now-souring expression before letting out a snort of laughter and singsonging, "Jayce broke a beaker in the lab today!"

"Wh—I—Viktor!" Jayce stammered. "That makes it sound like it was my fault!"

"Well, you are the reason it was on the floor and not the table, but if you insist—"

"That's not what—" Jayce crossed his arms and sulked. "Whatever."

Viktor leaned over to Sky. "Someone before us put a beaker on the side of the workbench and Jayce knocked it off," he explained in a stage-whisper.

"Someone left the beaker in a very knock-over-able spot and I bumped into it on accident!" Jayce corrected.

"Ahhhh." She nodded. "I was wondering how a technical physics project involved a beaker."

"Well, then, I suppose that answers your question," Viktor said. 

He and Sky broke into tittering laughter as Jayce looked on.

"Well, Sky," Jayce cut in pointedly, but with an ill-suppressed smile of his own. Even as the subject of the teasing, he was just as amused. "We don't wanna keep you for too long, if you've got a lecture to get to."

"Oh!" She checked the time. "Yeah, you're right, I should probably get in there."

So the trio split and bid their goodbyes, and Viktor's phone buzzed with a text mere moments after they went their separate ways. When he checked it, he was greeted with two rather enthusiastic messages from Sky:

[Sky]: VIKTOR STROJCEK!!! we have GOT to talk about that!!!

[Sky]: (and yes i know there's supposed to be a caron over the c IDC THIS WAS URGENT!)

Viktor knew exactly what "that" was referring to. He figured, however, that his best strategy was to feign innocence. 

[Viktor]: Whatever could you possibly mean, Sky? 0:)

[Viktor]: (That is a smiley face with a halo)

Sky didn't respond for another hour and a half, until her lecture was over and Viktor was back in his apartment after dinner.

[Sky]: viktorrrrr

[Sky]: you've talked to me about jayce before

[Viktor]: I do recall such a thing.

[Sky]: but you never told me YOU WANT HIM BAD

[Sky]: !!!!!!

Well, fuck it.

[Viktor]: Ah, yes. Right.

[Sky]: you guys were totally giggling and bantering!!!! hello???

[Sky]: we are GOING to talk about this at movie night tomorrow

[Viktor]: I suppose there's no way for me to get out of that?

[Sky]: sigh

[Sky]: you know me so well :')

Tomorrow night arrived quickly, and Viktor was still lazily straightening up the notes and books that sat on his coffee table when the familiar sound of Sky's knocking rang through the living room.

"It's open!" He called, plunking down onto the couch, which was already strewn with blankets in preparation. 

Sky stepped in, toeing off her shoes and waggling a bottle of cranberry juice in the air. "I brought something!"

"Oh, you angel on earth, how did you know I was out?" 

Before much longer, they were settled on the couch with a movie, and matching vodka cranberries that were decidedly more vodka than cranberry. Rio had emerged from Viktor's room and settled in Sky's lap. They'd turned on some thriller that seemed good enough to watch, but not enough that they would care if they ended up talking over it. 

Something that Viktor was sure would happen, considering that he could practically feel Sky holding her tongue next to him.

It was only when the plot of the movie reached a lull, and the pleasant buzz of the rather strong drinks Sky had poured earlier started to invade Viktor's senses, that somewhere deep in his mind, he realized, Oh, that's why she was waiting to ask. 

That thought was what prompted Viktor to turn to the side, head lolling just a bit too much, and ask, "You wanted to talk about Jayce?" If he was the one to bring it up, at least he couldn't get caught off guard.

Her eyes lit up and she turned, her smile positively mischievous. "Yes."

"Well.." He screwed up his face and sighed. "Where do you want me to—"

"You can start by telling me why I didn't find out about this until yesterday!" She interrupted, trying to sound stern but breaking into giggles at Viktor's expression. "I saw how you were looking at him! What was that?"

"Well, Sky, If you insist," His accent curled thickly around the words—drinking always did that to his voice more than it induced slurring proper. "I suppose it could be said that I have a crush on Jayce." He blinked after he said it. "...I actually haven't said that out loud to anyone before."

"I mean, who else do you talk to?" She asked, then immediately clapped a hand over her mouth when she said it. "Oh my God. That was awful. I shouldn't have said that."

He laughed, loud and long, head falling back against the couch cushions. "Oh, Sky, you wound me!"

"No! Viktor, I'm sorry!" She was blushing now, face warm from embarrassment and alcohol in tandem. "I can't believe I said that!"

His laughs tapered off, and he sighed. "Ehhh, it was fair enough." 

Their conversation subsequently stalled as a fight scene drew their attention.

Sky's embarrassment must not have affected her for too long, however, because the next words out of her mouth were: "Soooo, like, are you gonna ask him out, though? Or are y...?"

Her line of questioning trailed off as she saw Viktor set his mouth in a flat line and shake his head furiously.

"Oh. So He's straight." She shook her head solemnly and went to take a sip.

"Well, that's—" Viktor winced and sucked a breath through his teeth. "As far as I know? But even if he was attracted to men as well, I still wouldn't do anything about it because he has a girlfriend. So."

"Ohhhhh. Shit." Sky lowered her glass.

"Shit, indeed." Viktor sighed. "And she's so sweet, Sky, and she has been genuinely lovely to me every time we've met! So I can't even dislike her!"

Sky met that with a "Boooo! " that quickly devolved into soft laughter. "Lame."

"So lame," he agreed, tipping back the rest of his drink. 

"The lamest."

They fell into giggles after that. A comfortable quiet settled as both their focus shifted back to the movie.

The comfortable quiet morphed into a loaded one, though, and after a little while he turned to see Sky studying his face again. 

"Oh, out with it," he said, with a roll of his eyes that he didn't really mean. 

"Just... how committed—"

"No." 

"Okay."

The next week, Viktor and Jayce hit a lull while spitballing project ideas. The absolute final cutoff for topics was the next Monday, a downright meager amount of time, and they had nothing. With midterms taking place in the middle of the project, it was wise to get as much of a head-start as possible, and that head-start was stalling the longer it took them to come up with something.

That dilemma was how they ended up in the library for the third night in a row, with Viktor buried in a book and Jayce scrolling through a Google search for ideas on his phone (and subsequently, getting distracted).

Jayce set his phone back down on the table and sat up a little straighter. "So, Viktor," he started, his tone giving away that he was trying to be nonchalant and failing miserably at it.

Viktor perked up and looked over from where he was poring over their textbook for anything useful. "Yes?" 

Jayce took off his glasses and played with one of the hinges as he answered. "So. Sorry, first, 'cause this is totally off topic, but I just remembered something 'cause Halloween is coming up, right?" He scratched the back of his neck. 

Viktor threw a skeptical glance his way and tucked his pencil behind his ear. "Mhm."

"ΗΣΧ is throwing—it's a big deal—our Halloween party is huge. Because. You know. Eta Sigma Chi, kind of reads like hex, so it's like spells, witches, Halloween, and stuff. It's a tradition for us to do Halloween. It might not be your kind of scene, but it's, like, a ton of people go—"

Viktor pursed his lips. "I am... not a party person, Jayce, and you know this."

"Well, I know, but, like... I dunno." Something in Jayce's slight pout told Viktor he hadn't expected to be rebuffed that quickly. "I thought it might be fun if you came. It's the biggest Halloween party all year, like there's an unspoken rule or something—none of the other frats even throw that night."

"And I am being invited because...?" He perched an eyebrow.

"Because you're my friend! And I think it'll be really fun if you come, Vik," Jayce insisted. "Plus, Mel, Cait, Vi, and I were already thinking about maybe doing a group costume, and if you're gonna go, you could be a part of it!"

Viktor afforded him a smile that walked the line between genuine and forced. "...Is it okay if I think about it?" 

Jayce deflated a little more at that answer. "Yeah, man, uhh, take your time. Just let me know if you want in! And we can keep you posted on the costumes if you want."

In truth, Viktor did not want to go. Parties were loud and often meant standing up for a far too long and being jostled by far too many drunk people and about fifty other things that he found the exact opposite of pleasurable and fun. Not to mention whatever havoc it might wreak on his body in the following days if he wasn't careful.

But this was for Jayce. And he looked so excited. Which was making it really hard to say no outright.

"I cannot make any promises, but... thank you, Jayce, for the invitation," Viktor relented. "I'll think about it."

Chapter Text

Jayce was really, really, really looking forward to the Halloween party.

To be fair, so was the majority of Piltover's student body. ΗΣΧ Halloween had become something of a legend in the years the fraternity had been on campus. It was their biggest event of the year. This year, the party was situated at the tail end of midterms, with the actual day of the 31st falling on the Friday that no exams were held—meaning that this year would be extra fantastic.

Halloween? Check.

Going into the weekend? Check.

No more exams looming over everyone's heads? Check.

It was practically the perfect night for a party—and yet, to Jayce's chagrin, he hadn't actually been able to convince Viktor to go yet.

It had been nearly a week of back-and-forth by now. Jayce would mention the party, and Viktor would stammer out something that was everything but an actual answer as to whether or not he was going, and they'd repeat the same song and dance nearly every time they spoke.

But as the end of October crept up on Piltover University, so did exam week, and conversations about parties fell to the backburner as more and more time was devoted to studying. 

Blessedly, the professor teaching Jayce's and Viktor's mechanics class much preferred a three-exam schedule, so that was out of the way for now. And their project for Heimerdinger's class, even though it was due the next week, counted as their midterm, so both of their more difficult classes were out of the way for the actual week of exams.

He knew Viktor had two more classes' worth of exams left after those were subtracted—a doable amount, but enough work that he was openly annoyed by the prospect of actually getting started. Jayce (and by association, Mel) were left with a business exam to study for.

Which was how he, Mel, and Viktor found themselves in the library on the Wednesday before Halloween, all slaving away at the various subjects of their Thursday exams.

Mel had gone to get another round of coffee, leaving the both of them alone in the study room for a while. Jayce settled further into in his chair. The cushion dug into his back at an odd angle—it was well-known that the farther you ventured into the reaches of the library, the shittier the chairs got—but he just winced and readjusted.

"Viiiktorrr," he singsonged, trying to make his tone conspicuous enough that Viktor would actually look up from whatever he was working on.

And Viktor did, pushing his notebook a few inches away and pulling his headphones down around his neck. "Yes, Jayce?"

“So," Jayce swiveled from side to side in his rolling chair. He steepled his fingers under his chin and raised an eyebrow. "ΗΣΧ Halloween.”

He could practically see Viktor's thread of patience fraying as the other boy sat back and let out a long sigh. "Jayce," Viktor said. "We have been over this already. Several times. I told you I would think about it."

"Okay, well, Vik, thinking about it and going are two different things! It's in two days, dude, I just want to know if you'll be there!" Jayce shook two fingers in the air as if to corroborate his statement.

"You know, Jayce," Viktor deadpanned. "The definition of insanity is—" 

"Okay!" Jayce interjected, with a flail of his hands. "Fine. I get it. You're not going." 

"That is not what I said."

"But you haven't—"

"Oh, for fuck's sake, Jayce!" Viktor cursed. He rolled his eyes and huffed. “I said I would think about it. I am still thinking about it." His tone had an air of finality to it that, ordinarily, would have shut Jayce right up.

But this was no ordinary occasion.

"So you're not going," Jayce grumbled.

"I am thinking about it." Viktor was already looking back at his computer screen and reaching to pull his headphones up.

"It's in two days, V—"

"Thinking." His headphones were back on.

"Two. Days."

"Thinking!"

By the evening of the party, Jayce was not feeling optimistic in the slightest about the odds of Viktor actually showing up. 

The last time the two of them had actually talked about the party was that Wednesday evening in the library. Thanks to their exams on Thursday, they hadn't actually crossed paths since then, which meant Jayce hadn't been able to ask Viktor about it in-person. And he didn't want to bug him about it over text, too, because Viktor might just ignore that. So that was inconclusive.

Which meant that it was Friday night now, and while Jayce was getting ready for the party, he still didn't know if Viktor was going. 

Which meant that Viktor probably wasn't going.

Which... fuck. That was a bummer.

As Jayce went through the motions of getting ready—putting on his costume, gelling his hair up, shaving his mustache (because Mel would have killed him if he didn't do it for the costume)—it just kept hitting him. That Viktor actually wasn't going.

He honestly didn't know why it felt like such a big deal. He knew Viktor tended to be a homebody, but Jayce had figured he'd at least be able to drag him out to one party if he tried hard enough. They were friends! Friends did things together! Like go to parties! Right?

But the truth was, though, that Jayce had never exactly had the best luck when it came to friendship. His mamá told him it was because he was unique. That he had a big personality. 

The kids at school told him it was because he was weird. 

He'd known Mel since middle school, and she was sweet. She was nice. And at first, when they'd gotten closer in high school, everyone thought they were friends because they wanted to get in each other's pants. Which kind of sucked. 

But the thing was, he hadn't just wanted to be friends with Mel because she was pretty (which she was, but that was beside the point). He wanted to be her friend because she was brilliant, and funny, and because she was nice to him in middle school when no one else was. Before he had left for the summer before high school started, and shot up like a beanpole, and finally lost his baby fat, and was actually considered cool and cute enough to offset the things that people thought were weird about him.

(He had realized, though, that if people thought he and Mel were friends with each other because they wanted to get together, that meant that they thought he was attractive enough for Mel to want to be with him. So the prospect stung slightly less.)

But he and Mel were friends. Only friends. And they stayed that way.

They had kissed. Once. It was in the middle of senior year, when the bottle just so happened to fall on both of them while playing Seven Minutes in Heaven and they joked that they might as well give it one shot. After all, everyone kept saying they would be a good couple (or just thinking that they were one). Maybe they would like it.

So when they were corralled into the closet by everyone else in the room, they made out—an endeavor which lasted about twenty seconds before they swore each other off forever and sat in the closet playing Fruit Ninja for the other six minutes and forty seconds until the timer went off and the other people there let them out.

So. All that to say, he did have Mel.

Then, he went to college, and that was a breath of fresh air. A new start. He still had Mel, sure, and Piltover University wasn't far enough away from home that there weren't other people he knew going there, too. But now he could branch out more without the entirety of his past weighing him down. And he did. 

His freshman roommate was nice enough, but they weren't really buddies. He joined a fraternity, too. More out of the pressure to do so than anything, but he did. Most of the connections he gained from joining, when it all shook out, were acquaintances. Which was fine and dandy, he supposed. The guys were nice, after all, they just didn't fill the void of friendship like he hoped they would. He knew a lot of people on campus, for sure, but as for those he could call friends... they didn't exactly number very many. If at all.

He'd made friends with Caitlyn early-on, the first time he attended whatever annual dinner her parents held for recipients of their scholarship fund. It took them about fifteen minutes to be thick as thieves. Caitlyn's new girlfriend Vi, transferred in this year, and he'd hung out with them both a couple of times since the semester started. They were his friends, too.

And, obviously, there was Viktor. They had classes together, quite literally, every single weekday. And they'd studied or worked on homework together outside of class more times than he could count at this point. And, at the very least, Jayce thought they'd gotten pretty close. Jayce liked to be around him. He felt like Viktor liked being around him, too! Viktor had even floated the idea of Jayce cat-sitting for him sometime. That wasn't really something non-friends did, right?

So he had Mel, and Caitlyn, and Vi, and Viktor. And Cait and Vi and Viktor weren’t coming to the party.

So he had Mel. But it's not like he could only talk to her for the entire party, no matter how well they got along. They'd run out of things to talk about eventually. And if they ran into anyone else she knew, it'd be curtains for him.

So he figured his night of partying was either going to be rather short or rather awkward.

All of that rolled around in Jayce's head while he got ready. And he continued to think about it while he walked across campus to the ΗΣΧ house. And while he set up the speakers there, and picked a random playlist to start until the actual DJ got there...

And while he sat in the hall closet for thirty minutes because he had to show up early for the speakers, which meant that no one else was there yet, which meant it would be weird for him to just... stand out there until other people showed up.

Jayce glumly scrolled through a few Instagram stories and saw Viktor's from earlier, a repost of something Sky had tagged him in after they got breakfast earlier. His chest got a little tight. He swiped out of Instagram. 

One go at texting Viktor couldn't hurt. Right? Maybe he should text him, honestly. Viktor would definitely see it. Maybe it would convince him to go. 

Jayce opened up his messages. His thumb hovered over his and Viktor's text thread, hesitating, and then he opened it.

[Jayce]: Really Viktor you should come

[Jayce]: You don't even have to dress up, not everyone does

[Jayce]: But it would rly be so much fun if you showed up man

He gave it a few minutes.

No response. Okay. He was expecting that, no matter how much he resented it.

Just as he was about to swipe out of his messages completely, a text popped up— from Mel, though.

[Mel]: Where are you??? I'm here

He checked the time. 9:23. Shit. He'd been in here longer than he realized. He didn't know how he hadn't registered the steadily-increasing volume of the party outside of the closet, but it hit him like a brick wall almost immediately. He stood quickly and cracked the door just enough that he could peek out. Great. The hallway wasn't crowded yet, and no one was looking, which meant no one would notice him stepping out. 

The lighting was completely different from when he'd slipped into the closet half an hour earlier. Gone were the usual fluorescent lights, thanks to whatever pledge they'd tasked with going through the house and meticulously flipping every switch off. The sight that greeted him now was far dimmer, flashy, with a bunch of scattered black lights cut with stripes of neon that bled out from the chapter room's setup. 

He made his way down the hall, and since when had someone started a fog machine? 

He stopped by one of the couches and pulled out his phone again. At a first glance, he wasn't able to see Mel, so he figured he’d tell her where he was.

And yet. When he opened his phone, there was still no response from Viktor. What else could he even say to convince him now?

He opened up his messages with Viktor again, attempts at finding Mel put on hold as he sent one last message. A last-ditch effort to try and appeal to Viktor if, truly, nothing else would.

[Jayce]: Plus there's like a lot of alcohol too if that helps

A voice bled in from his periphery as he hit send. 

"—ayce! Jayce, oh my God, finally!" 

He looked up. It was Mel, standing there, with her hands on her hips. She looked, in a word, exasperated.

"Oh, Mel! You found me! I was just about to—"

"No shit, I found you! And I've been trying to say hi to you for, like, at least fifteen seconds, did you not hear me?"

"You have?" He hadn't even noticed. "I'm sorry, the music's.. uh, the music is, um, it's really loud." Which was true, but Jayce knew it was a weak-ass excuse anyways, and it showed in Mel's expression as she heard it. "...How long have you been here?"

"I've been here for ten minutes! I was looking for you!" Her expression was thoroughly displeased. "Your location showed up as being here the entire time. Where were you?"

"Sorry, I didn't know when you were getting here, so I didn't th..." Jayce trailed off when his phone buzzed again, and his hand went right to his pocket, where he palmed his phone and took it back out. He straightened up when he saw a few new messages from Viktor.

[Viktor]: Jayce, you can stop worrying.

[Viktor]: I will be there.

[Viktor]: I should eat something beforehand, so I am going to do that. But I will see you soon.

Score!

Jayce's face lit up with a grin and his fingers flew across the keyboard, texting back as quickly as he could.

[Jayce]: Oh great!

[Jayce]: I guess I'll see you then

[Jayce]: Once you get to the quad you can def guess which house it is, you're smart and it's NOT hard to figure it out lol. But if you need a guide let me know I can drop a pin if you want

Mel fixed him with a look. "You were saying...?" She prompted.

He shook out of it and looked up at her. Oops. "Oh! Um. Sorry. If I'd've known when you were getting here I would've waited by the door."

She blinked at him slowly. "I did tell you when I was getting here. I told you earlier, I'd get here at, like, nine-fifteen. And then I also texted you when I got here."

"Ah." Well, now he just felt stupid. "Yeah."

Mel bit the inside of her cheek before asking, "But, I... ah, I'm guessing that was Viktor just now?"

"Yeah, it was!" He got a faint sense that he might be slightly too enthusiastic, judging by the look on her face, and tried to tone it down. "He, uh, he finally decided to come."

"Oh, really?" Mel's eyebrows raised in surprise. "He's coming? Finally made up his mind?"

"Yeah! He was texting me just now that he's gonna eat something and head over later." 

"That's smart, I guess. Especially with his meds, and his leg, and stuff. I'm sure he doesn't want to get too plastered to go home after." She laughed. "I wonder what finally changed his mind."

"I dunno! I’m just... glad he'll be here, though." Jayce looked down as his phone buzzed again.

[Viktor]: Thank you.

[Jayce]: Of course! See you soon

"Earth to Jayce," Mel droned. And Jayce didn't have to be the best at perceiving social cues to figure out that she was, for sure, getting fed up with being ignored.

"Sorry! Sorry. Okay. I'm putting it away now. Actually." He shoved his phone into his pocket, for real this time, and looked back up. "Your, uh, your costume looks great," he said, trying (and failing, miserably) to stifle the awkwardness that felt like it was settling into his bones.

"Thanks," she said with a halfhearted smile. "Yours, too. I see you, um, you actually shaved. It looks good."

"I did, yeah. Thanks."

For the first time in a long time, their conversation felt stilted. Something was off. She didn't even tease him about the mustache thing. Which was weird. She always teased him about the mustache thing.

A tense, uncomfortably odd quiet stretched for a few seconds between the two of them, before Mel broke it by clearing her throat. 

"Umm. Drinks, then?" She asked, inclining her head in the direction of the house's kitchen down the hall. "I didn't pregame or anything, so I'd... love to get the ball rolling on that before the house is too full to get around."

"Yeah. Yeah, let's do— yeah. Drinks." Jayce followed her lead through the growing crowd of people inside the house. The hallway there had gotten much fuller in just the time they'd been talking, but they managed to make it to the kitchen for their drinks without too much hassle.

Mel went for the cooler, which had a downright fluorescent liquid inside of it—a property, Jayce thought, that could be attributed less to the black lights casting everything in neon tones and more to the potent combination of brightly-colored alcohol inside it.

He wrinkled his nose. Whatever was in there, he had learned his lesson with it freshman year. He stayed far away from the jungle juice now. He just got a beer from the counter behind the cooler, sidestepping some dark-haired pledge who was currently filling a cup for Mel after being relegated to punch duty for the night. 

When he and Mel escaped the kitchen together, drinks in hand, they mock-toasted.

"Victory!" She cheered. 

Jayce's head swivelled. "Viktor? Wait, where?" 

"Uh... victory?" she repeated with a bit of a laugh. "Like... for getting the drinks."

"Ah," he said. Well, now he felt dumb. "...My bad."

"He's kind of got you wrapped around his finger, huh?" She asked, giving him a bit of a look. "I feel like you haven't stopped thinking about him since before I got here."

Jayce could feel his cheeks pinking at her implication. "Well, wh—I—no, okay, that's not—Mel, he hasn't been to a frat party before! Ever! And this is the biggest one here! I want to make sure when he gets here, that he, like, has a good time."

Mel hummed, unconvinced, and raised her brows as she sipped her drink. "Right."

"I'm being honest!" He protested, flailing his free hand. 

"I never said you weren't."

"You basically are! And you're— you're being skeptical!"

"Sure." She took another sip. "And you're being suspicious."

"Mel!" He whined.

She faux-pouted. "Jayce!" Came her reply, in a high pitch that was clearly meant to mock him. 

Jayce's voice took on a more serious tone after that. "Mel. Really. Come on." He sulked and sipped his own drink. "He's my friend."

"Well, I know that, you just— you're different with him. You—it's like you're always excited to be around him, in a way that, just— it's not like you. It's not really how you are around other people."

"Because he's actually nice to me, Mel!" Jayce said, exasperated, with his voice raised loud enough that a few people around him turned their heads.

Mel's expression morphed from confusion to indignation. "Am I not?"

A little spike of cold dread shot up his spine. "Okay, no, Mel, that's—that's not what I meant, I— I mean, he's, like, he's a guy who's nice to me! And isn't just some dude in my frat who texts me when I need to come fix the fucking speakers, or the TV, or something, because that's all anyone from ΗΣΧ ever talks to me for anymore!" Jayce's breath caught in his throat and he pulled in another lungful before continuing. "I have friends. I know that. But it's kinda just, like, you, and Cait, and Vi, besides him! And I'm friends with you guys without being in love with you! And I don't even like guys, Mel, so seriously! What's your deal? How come it's so different when it comes to him!?"

Mel just stared at him, looking more than incredibly taken aback by his words. When her jaw finally stopped gaping and she mustered a reply, it was a quiet, "I'm.. I didn't..." She drew in a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Jayce. I didn't realize you felt that way."

"Yeah, well, I do feel that way," he huffed. "So."

Mel worried her lip between her teeth. Her eyes flitted around the room before settling on the ice floating in her drink. "I'm sorry."

Jayce deflated almost immediately, though, and reached out as if to touch her arm but stopped short and let his hand drop. "No, okay, I'm sorry, too. I'm sorry, Mel, that was mean. You were joking and I knew that. I just— it gets on my nerves, is all." His shoulders untensed and he scrubbed a hand down the side of his face. "We already get this, like, all the time, with people thinking you and I aren't just friends, and I just... I didn't need it from you, too."

Mel looked up at him, eyes wide and sympathetic. "No, I get it. I get it, Jayce. You— I'll stop. Clearly it's bothering you. I'll stop it." And she made sure he actually looked down and met her eyes when she repeated, "I'm sorry.”

"It's okay."

They both fell quiet again, and glanced away, and, well, fuck. He'd gone and jacked up their chance at a normal night because Mel made a joke.

After a short time in which he and Mel stood there for a while, sipping on their drinks and not doing much else, Jayce pulled out his phone again to check if Viktor had texted him to say he was showing up. The result remained the same: no, he had not.

They stood there awhile longer, enough that Jayce had finished his beer and Mel had nearly finished draining her cup and the amount of people in and around the fraternity house had increased exponentially.

And yet, still no Viktor. 

He didn't take too much longer to arrive, though. Jayce had managed to actually strike up a normal conversation with Mel by then—something easy, about their exam the day before and how they both thought they did. Now that they'd started, they probably could have gone on talking for a while, but Jayce's ear caught on something and he perked up.

He could have sworn he heard...

Was that—?

Viktor?

It couldn't be. Was he even here?

"Jayce Talis!"

Yeah. Definitely Viktor.

Jayce's head was on a swivel, now, scanning the party around him for someone dressed like— well. Come to think of it, he didn't actually know what Viktor's costume was, since he hadn't opted in to Jayce's begging to join their group costume (which fell apart, anyways, since Cait and Vi decided they were actually going to Zaun for Halloween to take Vi's youngest sister Isha trick-or-treating, leaving Mel and Jayce as Starfire and Robin and no one as anyone else).

Someone standing next to him tapped him on the shoulder. He jumped, turning around and expecting to see—

"Viktor!"

It was not Viktor.

But the someone—whoever it was—behind Jayce pointed off to the side, and there he saw him. A flash of gold eyes in the party lights. That was Viktor. 

And Viktor looked good. 

Okay, well. His costume looked good. It looked great! 

What was he... even dressed up as?

Jayce gave his eyes a second to adjust, to focus in the flashing lights, and gave Viktor a once-over. A skeleton. He was a skeleton. Or he was in a skeleton sweater, anyways. He had his forearm crutch instead of his usual cane, which Jayce knew by now was probably precautionary and not an indicator that he was already struggling. But he would keep an eye out, anyways. As much as Viktor hated to ask for help, Jayce felt like he’d gotten better at picking up on his tells. And it looked like Viktor had on makeup, too, now that Jayce was actually looking at his face? 

And—ah. That face was looking back at him, and yeah, it was definitely Viktor, because that was one of Viktor's little amused smiles tugging at the corners of his mouth—

"Yes, Jayce?" Skeleton-Viktor asked, clearly poking fun at Jayce unconsciously ogling him.

"Hey," Jayce said simply. 

"Hey," Viktor echoed, the word nearly swallowed by the noise of the party.

Jayce shook himself out of whatever trance he'd worked himself into. "You, uh, you showed up!"

"Ehh, to be fair, I did tell you I would." He chuckled. "After weeks of indecision, but still."

Jayce laughed a little too loud. "Yeah, I guess you did." He gestured around the room. "Um, how.. I guess, for your first frat party, how is it?"

Viktor shrugged. "Could be better, could be worse. It's crowded. And loud."

"Yeah... it's kinda, just... like that," he agreed. "If it's ever too much, there is a patio outside we could go to that's usually less crowded." He winced. "Well. People go out there to smoke, so I dunno if that'll be fine with your asthma and all, actually—"

"Cigarettes, or weed?"

"..What?"

Viktor just shook his head. "Nevermind."

"...Okay. Uh, anyways. Y'know. There's... somewhere that's not crazy, is what I'm saying. Or, if it gets bad enough, you—we could also just... leave. If you wanted."

"Have you ever been to a house party in Zaun?" Viktor let out a soft snort. "I was sort of just complaining for the sake of it. I think I will be fine."

"Have I ever—" Double take. "Wait, so you've been t—?"

"Thank you, Jayce." Viktor said, cutting him off before he could finish that thought. "Genuinely. I will be okay." 

"Okay."

Mel took that opportunity to cut in, giving Viktor a bright smile and a gentle hug from the side. "Viktor! It's good to see you. Glad you finally decided to come. I like the makeup. Spooky."

"Oh, ah, thank you," Viktor smiled softly and patted her hand where it rested on his shoulder. "I will admit, it was a rather last-minute addition."

"Well, it looks good!" 

He shrugged his shoulders, clearly somewhat bashful at the praise. "Thank you, Mel."

"Of course." Her eyes caught on something in the distance over Viktor's shoulder, and she perked up. "Oh! Okay, Elora's here with some people. I'm gonna go say hi! I'll be back... sometime. I don't know. I'll see you guys again! Bye!" She waved, already making her way through the crowded room to wherever she'd spotted her other friends.

Either Mel was uncomfortable and wanted a cop-out to leave, or that was her incredibly-un-subtle way of leaving Jayce and Viktor alone. But for whichever reason, she left, and he and Viktor were left standing along the chapter room wall while they watched her disappear into the people and flashing lights. 

They turned back to each other at about the same time and both let out a short laugh.

Viktor squinted at him. "Wait. You look different." His eyes flitted around Jayce's face. "Take the mask off?"

Jayce pulled off the small black mask from around his eyes and looked at Viktor, palms up in a half-shrug.

Viktor's eyes crinkled for a few more seconds before they suddenly opened wide. His jaw dropped. "Oh my God, Jayce, you shaved?"

"Yeah, I did." Jayce smiled and reached up a hand to rub his now-bare upper lip. 

"Okay, who are you, and what have you done with the Jayce Talis I know?" He could hardly restrain a laugh. 

"For the costume! I did it for the costume!" Jayce insisted. "Mel said I couldn't be a convincing Robin with facial hair."

"Oh, I bet she was thrilled that she convinced you that was true." Viktor snorted. 

"She threatened to hold me down and shave it off herself, actually, if I didn't," Jayce returned with a soft laugh of his own. "Figured it was less of a safety hazard for me to just do it."

"Well, Jayce," Viktor said as he studied Jayce's face. "You look good." 

It would have been helpful if Jayce's brain could conjure up anything other than a blue screen at those words. It would have been even more helpful if he hadn't already started drinking before hearing them. 

Finally, after an unreasonably long pause that had Viktor looking more and more perplexed the longer it stretched on, he stammered out a "I—I, uh, thank you, Viktor."

Viktor studied his face a little longer before snickering and saying, "I hope you realize now why Mel and I kept telling you to shave that thing?"

"That thing? Excuse you!" Jayce returned with feigned indignance. 

They both fell into comfortable laughter after that. When the laughter petered out and they went quiet, Viktor started looking around as if he was trying to take stock of his surroundings.

"Okay, wait, yeah, hold on. You should, like, know the floor plan," Jayce said, squaring off a box in the air with his hands. "There's the door, obviously, and the front rooms, which you probably saw. The doors past those go to stairwells, which, y'know. Go upstairs. But no one ever really goes upstairs, unless, uh..." He trailed off. 

"Unless they are going up there to fuck?" Viktor asked, pulling an amused smile.

Jayce's own smile froze on his face, and he took a few seconds to blink at the utter nonchalance in Viktor's tone. But it wasn't like he was wrong, per se. That just wasn't how Jayce would've put it.

"Uh, yeah. Right. That. So I wouldn't really worry about it." Jayce nodded. "Um, then, so there's that, and then the chapter room is where we are now, and then you can see the kitchen down the hall—" he pointed to a hallway off to the side. "—and over there's the study room that we open up for parties because no one ever actually uses it the rest of the time." Inside of that room, he could see a card game going on at one of the bigger tables inside. He glanced over at the couch, only to see people already prone and making out passionately. He averted his eyes and returned his gaze to Viktor. 

"The kitchen is where the drinks are?" Viktor asked.

"Kitchen's where the drinks are. Yeah."

"Then to the kitchen we go." Viktor gestured on toward the hall. "Lead the way."

Jayce hesitated. "Well, I've already—" 

"Oh, you started the party without me?" 

"Well—I—uh—like—a little," Jayce spluttered. "I had, like, a beer with Mel."

"I was not being accusatory, Jayce, I was just wondering," Viktor said. "Come on. Let's go get drunk."

"Ah." His feet seemed to unstick from the ground and he led Viktor down the crowded hallway into the kitchen. 

He watched as Viktor surveyed the offerings quickly and darted through the clumps of people inside, beelining for the pledge—the same one from earlier—that was guarding the tub of jungle juice. Jayce watched them exchange a few words (words that left the pledge looking a little too flustered, and Viktor looking a little too smug), and then Viktor looked up and over at him.

Viktor was saying something he couldn't hear and motioning to the visible options.

Jayce tilted his head. Huh?

What do you want? Viktor mouthed—or yelled, Jayce supposed. It wasn't like he could hear him either way. He motioned again, a bit impatiently.

Just a beer? I don't know, Jayce mouthed back, pointing at the counter where a few cases sat.

Viktor looked at the pledge and pointed at Jayce, then at the beers. The pledge handed him one, which he promptly put in one of the pockets of his cargo pants to free up his right hand while saying something else. The pledge nodded, a little too fast, and dunked a plastic cup into the... incredibly potent-looking concoction in the cooler, and he wiped the sides before he handed it off to Viktor. 

Jayce saw Viktor smile at the pledge again, and was Viktor fucking batting his eyes?

Secondly, and far more importantly, why did it matter to Jayce if he was?

He violently shoved those thoughts to the backburner as Viktor walked back over. 

Viktor stopped, hung his crutch on his elbow, and leaned down to dig in his pocket for Jayce's beer. "Here, I have your—"

Someone pushed past them both, then, to get to the kitchen, an action that sent Viktor into a half-stumble on his braced leg—something that would have sent him sprawling if it wasn't for Jayce's hand, which had been outstretched to steady Viktor from the moment his crutch left the ground.

When Jayce had made sure Viktor was upright (and definitely staying that way), he turned to whirl on the guy who'd run into them.

"Dude! Hey! What the fuck?" He yelled, but whoever-it-was had practically disappeared already, and he couldn't see them anymore. "...Asshole," he muttered under his breath, setting his jaw as he turned back to Viktor.

"It's fine," Viktor straightened out his shoulders and got his crutch back in place again. "It happens."

"Yeah, well, it shouldn't," Jayce grumbled. "People should watch where they're going."

"But it does, and I am fine. So it is fine," Viktor insisted. He ducked his head to take his first sip from his cup. He swallowed, and it was accompanied by the slightest wince. "And I thought I was heavy-handed. This shit could probably wake the dead."

"Yeah, I tend to stay away from it," Jayce said with a laugh.

"But, hey. I would be lying if I said it will not get the job done," Viktor said, and took another sip. That one went down visibly easier. 

They opted to stand along the back wall of the chapter room, far enough away from the DJ stand that their ears wouldn't ache. And then he and Viktor didn't talk much, once they were settled. The party had gotten louder, as the number of people inside grew—too loud for good conversation, really—and Viktor seemed content to lean on the wall, people-watch, and mutually drink, so that was what they did. 

There were a few songs, as Viktor reached the bottom of his cup, that had him actually pushing off the wall to dance on the edge of the crowd for a couple of minutes, but he always returned to his spot next to Jayce like a tether.

After a while, Viktor had emptied his cup, and he pushed off the wall. "I'm going back to the kitchen. Do you want anything?"

"Uhhhh. Maybe?" He hadn't been planning on drinking too much more, because he was probably walking Mel, Viktor, and himself, or some combination of the three, home after the party was over. But he had a pretty decent tolerance considering his size, and it would still be a while, so he hesitated. 

"I could bring you something back," Viktor suggested.

Well, Jayce ended up just following him to the kitchen anyways, because someone had already nearly knocked Viktor over once, and he knew Viktor was capable of staying upright, but what if someone bumped into him and he couldn't recover? So he tagged along and waited in the doorway like he had last time. 

His eyes flicked over to the punch cooler. The same pledge was standing on guard, still. Did they not, like, have a rotation? At all? Was it seriously the same guy all night? 

And then when the pledge caught sight of Viktor, he actually waved at him. What the fuck? They'd met once. Talked for thirty seconds at most. And they were waving now?

There was a little while where the kitchen got especially full, and Jayce lost sight of Viktor (which, he figured, walked the fine line between for the best and for the worst—he couldn't see Viktor and the pledge anymore, but now he was stuck wondering, which was probably just as bad). 

When he laid eyes on him again, it was when Viktor was already on his way back over, red plastic cup in hand.

"I did get you another, if you want it," Viktor said, maneuvering similarly to before so he could tug a can free from his pocket for Jayce. "And if you do not, eh, I am sure there are no shortage of people here who would be more than happy to take it off our hands."

"Oh! Uh.." Jayce took the beer from him and tried to take a mental count. This was... three? Right? Right. So it'd be his last, too. "Thanks, V."

He shrugged. "Eh, no problem."

They returned to the wall—a little further down it, now, and closer to the corner, since their first spot was taken when they got back. This time, as they stood there, Jayce could see Viktor starting to shift his weight a little uncomfortably. Jayce started watching out of the corner of his eye for any vacated seating. He figured he'd try to gently suggest they move if anything opened up—he knew by now that the slight crease in Viktor's brow meant he wouldn't object if the opportunity to have a seat did arise. 

Other than that, a comfortable quiet fell between the two of them. The longer they stood, there was just one problem, really.

And the problem was that Jayce just couldn't stop thinking about the way Viktor had talked to the pledge in the kitchen. 

What had he said to him? Why had they been looking at each other like that? Viktor had been leaning in so close to him. Was that just because of how loud it was, or was it something more?

It reached a point where Jayce just couldn't take it anymore. He turned to face Viktor, and blurted out a question that he regretted as soon as it left his mouth.

"Why were you talking to the pledge like that?"

Viktor's face pinched together in a slight frown as he turned to level Jayce with a positively confounded expression. "How do you mean?"

"Like—" Jayce flailed his hand toward the kitchen. "You were basically, like, flirting with the pledge in there! The one watching the punch!"

"Dmitri?" Viktor asked, and oh. That made Jayce's stomach flip over in a way he neither understood nor enjoyed.

Jayce did a full-on double-take. "Okay, you're on a first-name basis now? I don't even know his name! And I'm in his frat!"

"Oh my God." Viktor's head tipped back in an incredulous laugh. 

"I'm serious! What was that?" 

"Jayce, I'm gay!" Viktor said, voice raised.

What.

Clearly Jayce's eyes widening to what felt like the size of dinner plates, and his jaw dropping practically to the ground, didn't deter Viktor from continuing, because he just went on talking. "I was flirting with Dmitri—something that I do not need your permission for, mind you—because I thought that he was cute, and because he responded well the first time, and because he can probably get us better alcohol if I ask him nicely! There! Does that answer your question?"

Jayce just spluttered. He was still incredibly hung up on the first thing Viktor had said, and couldn't do much more than stammer in response. "You—wh—I—wait, Viktor, slow down. Stop. What? You're gay?"

Now it was Viktor's turn to look shocked. "You didn't know?"

"You never told me!" 

"I didn’t think I had to! It is not like it was that hard to figure it out, Jayce! I am not exactly in the closet!" He stepped back.

Jayce took a step forward to match it. "I didn't know there was anything I was supposed to figure out!" His hands came up to air-quote his last words.

"There is a pride flag sticker on my laptop that you see every day! I would say that is a pretty good hint!" Viktor's eye twitched.

Shit, seriously? Had he actually not noticed that? "Okay, well, I—I'm sorry I wasn't paying, like, rapt attention to your stickers, Viktor, but I—?" 

"I am just saying, it is not like I was keeping anything from you, so I don't know why you are attempting to insinuate—"

"Y-you—well, you never mentioned any dates with anyone, either!"

"Because I have not been on any," Viktor spat. 

Why not? 

It wasn't like Viktor was— well, Jayce couldn't see any reason why someone wouldn't—Viktor had been at Piltover since August, and it was the end of October by now, and was there seriously no one who'd—

None of those thoughts actually reached their conclusions, which was probably for the better, because Jayce knew he couldn't actually ask Viktor that. Like, at all.

That would be the finale of the very extensive series of nails in the coffin he had already constructed for himself.

"Are you done, Jayce? Seriously." Viktor leveled him with an expression that just looked done.

"W-well, I—uh, like, I—" he stammered. 

"What does it even matter, anyways? All of your best friends are queer—"

He didn't miss the way Viktor said your best friends and not your other best friends. Did he not realize he fell into that category? "Well, okay, that's—"

"—so I know it's not like you are just, suddenly homophobic," Viktor continued, and Jayce knew it was more for a reaction than anything else but it still made a little flash of something flare in his chest.

"Okay—no. Viktor, come on. You know that's not how it is. It's just—"

"How is it, then?" Viktor asked, loud, and he jabbed a finger into Jayce's chest. "Because it sounds to me, Jayce, like you are uncomfortable that I like men."

Jayce's mouth just gaped.

And that wasn't what it was, was it? Because Jayce didn't have a problem with Viktor being gay. He didn't have a problem with it at all. And he knew he didn't. He knew Viktor knew that, too. So what was his deal? What was either of their deals?

He didn't know.

He stepped forward, almost without realizing it. Viktor's finger poked further into his chest. "I—I'm just—I don't know, I think it's weird that you're flirting with one of the pledges from my frat! Does that not feel, like, weird to you? At all?"

"No, Jayce, it does not!" Viktor pulled his hand away and stepped back. "I think it is perfectly normal, actually!"

And he wasn't wrong. Jayce couldn't think of any real objections to it, at all.

"Viktor, seriously," he pleaded. He took another step closer. 

"What, Jayce."

The closer Jayce got, Viktor looked like he was steadily becoming more overwhelmed and pissed off in equal measure. Surely, it didn't help that Jayce was up in arms about something stupid. Something stupid that didn't even matter, so why was he still pressing it right now?

In the recesses of Jayce's mind, he registered that he was absolutely crowding into Viktor's space.

"It's just th—I don't know, it's just that—" 

His sentence stuttered to a stop, and for the first time, Jayce understood what it meant for the world to stop in its tracks for a time.

First of all, he realized that he had practically walked Viktor into the corner at this point, which was. A thing in and of itself.

And second, they were, like. Really close to each other.

He was struck with the thought of how easy it would be for either of them to just lean in, and then.

He caught himself glancing down at Viktor's lips, and then.

Hey.

Whoa. 

What the fuck?

Jayce blinked a few times and stepped back. Viktor proceeded to stop short in the middle of whatever he was saying (which Jayce had not caught the start of).

Something flickered in Viktor's eyes, then,  Jayce thought. But it was gone before he could really catch it. Maybe it was a trick of the light. The lights which were neon, and obnoxiously flashing and strobing around the room, so it wasn't entirely out of the question. But—no. Something was different.

Something in that moment—both the spoken argument and whatever was unspoken, too—shattered when he stumbled back those few steps.

Viktor cleared his throat and spoke first. "I am, eh... I think the punch is getting to me more than I thought it would. I'm going... I'm going to get some water, I think. And maybe sit down," he said, scanning the room for any empty chairs. "I should probably try to sober up before I go home. I... I think I'm going to start that process."

"I could walk you," Jayce suggested, and even he was surprised by how quickly the offer rolled off his tongue. "Home. To your apartment. If you wanted. I'm not—like, obviously, if you don't want— Or, later, whenever you're ready to go—"

"N-no, that is fine. I think, Jayce—" Viktor wouldn't look at him. "Thank you. I'm just going to get some water, for now. I will be right back."

Jayce reached out, just barely managing to catch Viktor's shoulder as he stepped away. "Wait, let me— I'll at least go with you, I should probably get some water, too—"

"I said, I will be right back, Jayce," Viktor insisted, and he sidestepped to make his way through the crowd fast enough that Jayce knew better than to try to follow him now.

And Jayce was left, 

alone, 

in the corner.

Chapter Text

Mel Medarda had understood, before she and Viktor Strojček had even been introduced, that he had to be someone incredibly special. 

She'd figured it out from the moment Jayce first texted her, telling her that he had accidentally invited someone to their first reunion since the summer. Known it from the moment that she found out it wasn't someone that she already knew—that it was someone Jayce met that morning.

Mel had known Jayce since middle school. She'd been best friends with him since high school.

Put simply, Jayce didn't do things like that. 

As much as Jayce managed to exude the persona of someone confident and outgoing—after all, he was the very picture of a man who should, for all intents and purposes, be effortlessly popular—Mel understood that it wasn't exactly the truth. 

The rest of the world saw Jayce through the lens of who he was now. He was in college. He was sure of himself. He had shed the weight on his shoulders that came from feeling like he was one faux pas away from all his social progress washing away and swirling down the drain.

Mel, though, couldn't help but see him for what he had been. She still caught flashes of the anxious, chubby middle schooler she'd first met all those years ago, or the nervous, untrusting high-school freshman she had painstakingly managed to befriend. Because Jayce, in a sense, was still those past selves. He was repackaged in a taller, bulkier, smilier exterior now, but deep down, the same anxieties still plagued him, no matter how well they were disguised. He'd managed to put a damper on them, to tie them up neatly with a bow and tuck them away in the recesses of his mind, but they still reared their heads nastily when the opportunity arose.

Jayce had changed, though, despite her stubborn mind's refusal to embrace that fact completely. And Mel was glad to see it.

Mel knew quite well firsthand just how difficult it was to crack Jayce's shell—or at least, how difficult it had been. Jayce had confided in her, once, that for a good month or two of their early friendship, he'd been under the impression that she only got closer to him because he was suddenly cute (though he had quickly realized the fault in that assumption when she never, not once, made any kind of move on him). 

In their early days as freshmen at Piltover, it would have required a miracle for Jayce to connect with someone as fully, and completely, and immediately as he had done with Viktor. Even Caitlyn, who Jayce became fast friends with after they had been fortuitously introduced at the annual Kiramman Scholarship Recipients’ Dinner, had not impacted their lives to an extent such as this.

But now, by miracle or otherwise, Viktor had collided into Jayce's life (and by extension, Mel's) with the velocity and finesse of a rogue meteor.

Not that Mel would ever attest, even for a moment, that Viktor was bad company. He was quick-witted and, quite frankly, hilarious when he had a mind to be. She didn't objectively dislike his presence in the slightest.

The two of them had even discovered common ground via their mutual friendly jabs at Jayce's attempt at a mustache (which they both had found hysterical and Jayce had found rather discouraging)—and again, when Viktor made a SpongeBob joke that only Mel laughed at because Jayce wasn't allowed to watch it as a child.

However. 

No matter how cordial they were as the semester wore on, Mel couldn't help but notice that Viktor seemed to have just the slightest apprehension when it came to her. There was something that kept him at arm's length. Always friendly, yes, but never overly amicable. It was nothing overt enough for her to comment on, but it prickled in the back of her mind. 

Mel wondered, sometimes, if it was something she'd done. Had she said something to sour Viktor's opinion of her? She thought she had always tried to be kind, even at the beginning of the semester when she had been (regrettably) dubious of him. As far as she could tell, though, unless she had crossed some unspoken, unnoticed line in the sand, he was just... relatively closed-off with her, in a way that he never seemed to be with Jayce. 

She supposed it was fine. She and Viktor didn't have to be best friends, even if he had invaded the life of her best friend (which she knew wasn't the most generous way to phrase it, but still).

But as the semester wore on, Jayce and Viktor became Jayce and Viktor. They stuck together like Velcro. Magnets. Peanut butter and jelly. Never one without the other, or so it seemed. She didn't know when it happened—it just did.

It stopped being the case that Jayce would invite Viktor along to his and Mel's outings, and became Jayce extending invitations to Mel to come along when he and Viktor were doing things together. Which would have been fine, she supposed, except for the fact that it became the rule rather than the exception. 

And Mel tried, with all her might, to rationalize it. Jayce was probably excited that he'd made a new friend—which was understandable! It wasn't exactly the most common occurrence for him! 

She figured that, with all likelihood, the novelty would wear off, and she and Jayce could settle in a comfortable medium between this new extreme and their dynamic of previous years.

But, alas. It was the end of October now, and the novelty had not, in fact, worn off. And that had left Mel competing for Jayce's attention in a way she'd never been compelled to before. 

She'd heard more about Viktor in the past two months than she had about girls Jayce had dated for that long. Come to think of it, she hardly heard anything about girls Jayce had dated. Which was exactly why it was so odd that Viktor had him so thoroughly entranced that it was affecting Mel's life.

Jayce's newfound obsession with Viktor had made itself known most recently in his fruitless efforts to convince Viktor to attend the Eta Sigma Chi Halloween party. 

For nearly a week leading up to the actual event, all Jayce would talk about was trying to get Viktor to the party. He would talk to Viktor about it. He would talk to Mel about it. He would talk to Viktor about it again. 

Sometimes, she was tempted to snap at him. To tell him that it was clear that Viktor didn't want to go, so he should stop asking, and the two of them should just go together like they had for the last two years. But she didn't.

Jayce had a new friend, and that was fine, and Mel could get over herself.

Getting ready for the Halloween party was an affair of its own.

The actual costume was, unsurprisingly, the easiest part. For some reason, though, she just couldn't get her eyeliner even (despite wearing it regularly), and spent an unreasonable amount of time fixing it to her satisfaction. And somehow, she had managed to so thoroughly misplace the can of temporary hair color she'd purchased that she was contemplating either driving to buy a new one, or forgoing it entirely—a fate that she was, thankfully, spared of when she found it in the shopping bag hanging on her doorknob at the last minute.

By the time Mel had completely dressed up, and had made her way over to the frat house from her dorm, it was 9:15. And when she arrived, Jayce was, rather unusually, nowhere to be found. 

Mel knew that Jayce had to be there early to set up the speaker system for whatever brother was DJ-ing the party—something he had lamented quite a bit leading up to the event, since he always thought it was awkward to show up so early, only to sit and wait for the party to begin in earnest when he was done setting up. And his location services had him pinned in the middle of the ΗΣΧ House (with a wide blue circle of leeway, sure, but undeniably at the house nonetheless). 

So where was Jayce, if he wasn't here?

Mel had arrived when she had told him she would—she had said earlier she'd be arriving not too much later than nine. And Jayce said he would keep an eye out for her. But he wasn't doing that. If he had been keeping an eye out for her, he’d have seen her by now, because he’d be in the entryway like he'd been both of the other times they'd been to this party.

After several minutes of painstakingly (and fruitlessly) searching the first floor of the house, she decided to try texting him. Maybe that would draw him out of wherever he had managed to hide away. 

[Mel]: Where are you??? I'm here

She tucked her phone into the waistband of her skirt and made her way back into the chapter room. If nothing else, being there provided her the most visibility, in the event that Jayce did decide to make an appearance—if both of them being clad in bright superhero outfits wasn't enough.

And the chapter room was, indeed, where she ended up finding him. Jayce was standing off to the side by one of the couches, on his phone (why hadn't he answered her text, then?) and he was so completely engrossed in whatever he was typing that he didn't actually notice her until she was directly in front of him.

"Jayce!" She waved him down—a futile action, ultimately, because he only looked up from his phone when she forced her way into his personal space. "Jayce, oh my God, finally!" She huffed, exasperated. 

It's probably Viktor. That’s who he’s talking to, whispered the nasty, insidious little voice inside her head. That's probably why he forgot about you.

Like always. 

She swallowed that thought down. It settled heavy in her chest like a chunk of lead.

His face lit up with a crooked smile. "Oh, Mel! You found me! I was just about to—"

You found me?

"No shit, I found you!" She half-shouted, her tone colored with indignation, and watched Jayce's face fall as she did so. "And I've been trying to say hi to you for, like, at least fifteen seconds, did you not hear me?"

"You have?" He looked around the room and back at her. "I'm sorry, the music's.. uh, the music is, um, it's really loud." 

Bullshit. That was, first, a poor excuse, and it didn't even cover the fact that she'd had to go looking for him for nearly ten minutes. And she was sure Jayce knew that. Mel bit her tongue and glared at him.

Jayce noticeably winced, not usually one on the receiving end of her ire, and continued with a sheepish, "...How long have you been here?"

Was he serious?

"I've been here for ten minutes! I was looking for you!" Which you should have known. "Your location showed up as being here the entire time. Where were you?"

Jayce, at the very least, had the sense to actually look guilty when she asked him that. "Sorry, I didn't know when you were getting here, so I didn't th..." 

And then he trailed off, mid-sentence, and pulled his phone out of his pocket to check the screen.

Mid-sentence! 

Mel just stared. She was unable to muster a neutral expression; her jaw just dropped further and further the longer Jayce stood and typed on his phone with a face-splitting grin.

Now, she had a harder time containing her displeasure, and she just stared at him, genuinely dumbfounded. When she had floundered for a good way to proceed for long enough, she fixed him with a look that was positively affronted. "You were saying...?" 

He looked up at her, and he had the nerve to look confused. "Oh! Um. Sorry. If I'd've known when you were getting here I would've waited by the door," he finished.

Was he being serious?

Jayce had to be pulling a prank. Right? That had to be it. There was no other reason for him to behave like this. He had to be pulling her leg.

But... he wasn't, was he? She knew how Jayce joked, and she knew that he was bad at holding his giggles in for more than a couple of seconds if he was really attempting to get one over. 

And Jayce wasn't giggling.

She doubted it was a deliberate thing, that he was acting like this. But on the other hand, the fact that he didn't notice what he was doing to her—or worse, was indifferent to it—almost hurt more.

She leveled him with a stare and blinked at him slowly. "I did tell you when I was getting here. I told you earlier, I'd get here at, like, nine-fifteen. And then I also texted you when I got here."

"Ah. Yeah." His front teeth sunk into his bottom lip.

What was up with him?

It was probably Viktor. It had to be, right? It was not, by any means, an unusual thing these days for Jayce to be acting oddly because of him. Was Jayce still trying to get Viktor to go to the party? 

Mel had half a mind to tell him to just stop trying. But she didn't. Because, no matter how much it ached, she did know how much it would mean to Jayce for Viktor to show up.

She just bit the inside of her cheek and drew in a slow, deep breath before asking, "But, I... ah, I'm guessing that was Viktor just now?"

Jayce's face cracked into a crooked smile at her words. "Yeah, it was!"

Right. 

Mel frowned, and Jayce noticeably deflated. She did feel bad about that.

He hesitated before continuing, less enthusiastically, "He, uh, he finally decided to come."

That caught her off guard. Viktor was actually showing up? After his his eons of indecision? "Oh, really? He's coming? Finally made up his mind?"

"Yeah! He was texting me just now that he's gonna eat something and head over later." 

"That's smart, I guess. Especially with his meds, and his leg, and stuff. I'm sure he doesn't want to get too plastered to go home after." She forced out a quiet laugh and shrugged. "I wonder what finally changed his mind."

"I dunno! I’m just... glad he'll be here, though." Jayce looked down at his phone again—Viktor must have texted. Jayce typed something else quickly. 

"...Earth to Jayce," she said pointedly, her voice dripping with annoyance.

"Sorry! Sorry. Okay. I'm putting it away now. Actually." Jayce held up his hands in surrender. He put his phone away and looked at her (like, actually looked at her, too, for more than a couple of seconds) for the first time since she'd walked up. "Your, uh, your costume looks great."

"Thanks." She forced a smile, but it was halfhearted and a little tense. "Yours, too. I see you, um, you actually shaved. It looks good."

"I did, yeah. Thanks." He brought up a hand to ghost a few fingers over his smooth upper lip. 

There was an uncomfortable silence between them for a few moments after that. Mel caught her bottom lip between her teeth. Jayce wouldn't meet her eyes. 

Well. If there were two things Mel came to this party for, they were to get drunk and have fun. She figured she could, at least, manage to do the first. She would deal with the latter when she got to it. She cleared her throat. Jayce's gaze snapped back in her direction.

"Umm. Drinks, then?" She tilted her head toward the hallway that led to the kitchen. "I didn't pregame or anything, so I'd... love to get the ball rolling on that before the house is too full to get around."

"Yeah. Yeah, let's do— yeah. Drinks." Jayce agreed, a little too quickly.

She led the way to the kitchen, weaving through the slowly-increasing number of people inside in order to get down the hall. She flagged down the guy on punch duty—a taller dark-haired boy in the classic pledge attire of a blazer and a striped tie in Eta Sigma Chi's colors. He handed her a cup of the bright green liquid in the frat cooler and made a joke about how it matched her Starfire costume. She laughed politely even though it wasn't really that funny. 

She and Jayce reconvened outside of the kitchen. They tapped their drinks together—her cup and Jayce's can of whatever mediocre beer had been on the kitchen counter—and downed their first sips of their respective drinks. 

"Victory!" She cheered and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

Jayce stood up a little straighter so he could scan the people around them. "Viktor? Wait, where?" 

Of course. 

"Uh... victory?" She laughed uncomfortably. "Like... for getting the drinks."

"Ah." Jayce's lips pressed into a thin line. "...My bad."

Mel was beginning to wish that Viktor would show up already so Jayce would stop worrying about him and she could actually enjoy her night.

"He's kind of got you wrapped around his finger, huh?" she blurted. 

Jayce looked up, eyes wide.

Mel hadn't really meant to say it, but now that she had, she doubled down with a pointed look as she continued. "I feel like you haven't stopped thinking about him since before I got here."

"Well, wh—I—no, okay, that's not—" Jayce was blushing now, she could tell. Even in the flashes of party lights, his cheeks had a pink tinge that wasn't there before. "Mel, he hasn't been to a frat party before! Ever! And this is the biggest one here! I want to make sure when he gets here, that he, like, has a good time." 

Okay, well. She hadn't been pressing that hard, but if Jayce's load of stammering was meant to convince her that there wasn't something going on with Viktor, it did an exceptionally poor job. Mel took another sip of her drink and let out a quiet hmm. She raised her brows in a way meant to convey her disbelief. "Right."

"I'm being honest!" Jayce flailed the hand that wasn't holding his beer. 

"I never said you weren't." Which was technically true. She had just very heavily implied as much.

"You basically are! And you're— you're being skeptical!"

So they were doing this now.

"Sure." She had another sip of her drink. "And you're being suspicious."

"Mel!" He whined, sounding remarkably like a toddler on the verge of throwing a fit.

Well, if Jayce went low, she could go lower. "Jayce!" She mocked, in a tone just as whiny as his own.

Jayce's face went a little stony, and the whine left his voice in favor of a serious edge. "Mel. Really. Come on. He's my friend."

And that was the point, wasn't it? Viktor was Jayce's friend. 

...So was Mel, though.

She didn't want to have it out with Jayce about this right now. She really didn't. They were at a party. They were supposed to be having fun. She wanted to be having fun.

And yet, she found herself going on.

"Well, I know that, you just— you're different with him," Mel said. "You—it's like you're always excited to be around him, in a way that, just— it's not like you. It's not really how you are around other people."

It's not really how you are with me anymore, she didn't say.

"Because he's actually nice to me, Mel!" Jayce yelled, and oh.

"Am I not?" Her reply, sharp and indignant, flew out before she could vet it.

"Okay, no, Mel, that's—that's not what I meant," He started to backtrack. "I— I mean, he's, like, he's a guy who's nice to me! And isn't just some dude in my frat who texts me when I need to come fix the fucking speakers, or the TV, or something, because that's all anyone from ΗΣΧ ever talks to me for anymore!" His breath hitched on his next inhale, but he kept talking all the same. "I have friends. I know that. But it's kinda just, like, you, and Cait, and Vi, besides him! And I'm friends with you guys without being in love with you! And I don't even like guys, Mel, so seriously! What's your deal? How come it's so different when it comes to him!?"

Oh. 

Well, shit. 

Mel's lips parted further in shock the longer Jayce went on, and by the time his short rant had subsided, her mouth was agape and her brows were scrunched and pensive. "I'm.. I didn't..." She mumbled, then stopped to take a deep breath and collect herself. "I'm sorry, Jayce. I didn't realize you felt that way."

"Yeah, well, I do feel that way," Jayce huffed, eyes still fiery. "So."

A heavy, guilty feeling settled in her chest. She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth again, and she suddenly found it rather difficult to meet Jayce's eyes. She watched an ice cube as it drifted along the surface of her punch. "I'm sorry."

Jayce's expression fell into remorse right away. He reached out to touch her. He stopped himself. "No, okay, I'm sorry, too. I'm sorry, Mel, that was mean. You were joking and I knew that. I just— it gets on my nerves, is all." He pinched the bridge of his nose and let his hand scrub down his face. His shoulders sagged as he let out a short, weary sigh. "We already get this, like, all the time, with people thinking you and I aren't just friends, and I just... I didn't need it from you, too."

She shook her head and looked up at him. "No, I get it. I get it, Jayce. You— I'll stop. Clearly it's bothering you. I'll stop it." She tilted her head to catch his eyes so she could repeat, "I'm sorry.”

"It's okay," Jayce said. His voice was softer than before. She almost didn't catch it over the music.

Their conversation died after that. What more was there even to say? 

Mel did feel bad. Really. Clearly, she had pushed too hard, and it had touched a nerve. She also hadn't even gotten to the root of what she was really hurt about. She hadn't been attempting to get Jayce to admit that he liked Viktor. She'd just been trying to get him to realize he was neglecting her. 

In the end, they stood and people-watched for a while. Her eyes flitted between other people at the party—people who were actually having fun, and not standing miserably on the back wall because they didn't know how to shut up. 

Jayce fiddled with the tab of his can as they both stood quietly. Mel watched him check his phone once or twice out of the corner of her eye. Apparently he cared more about when Viktor was getting here than he had about her. 

Great.

She tried to fight the hurt that radiated out from her chest when she thought about that too hard.

"How do you... uh, think you did on Hoskel's exam yesterday?" Jayce asked hesitantly, after all the anxious wiggling of the tab had finally popped it off of his can with a quiet clink!

She perked up and looked over at him. "Oh, um, I.. I think I did alright. I know there were definitely things I missed, though."

"Yeah, I had some of those, too." He laughed sheepishly. "The application question probably kicked my ass."

"Yes! That one!" She nodded. "Because we hardly had anything in our notes!"

"—in our notes, yeah!" Jayce said at the same time. He tipped back the rest of his beer. "Where did that question even come from?"

"I checked after I left, it was a sidebar in chapter five that he never actually mentio—"

Mel was quite abruptly interrupted by a shout over the music. 

A heavily-accented, extremely recognizable shout.

"Jayce Talis!" 

Well, it appeared that Viktor had arrived. 

Jayce's head was on a swivel. He stood up, ramrod straight, to survey the crowd, looking for Viktor over the heads of everyone else. A girl leaned over to tap Jayce's shoulder and Jayce spun around. 

"Viktor!" 

The girl shook her head and pointed to where Viktor actually was, and Mel watched as Jayce turned his back on her completely as his attention was diverted. Jayce, after he'd turned, just... stared at Viktor for a few long moments. 

Mel took a step to the side so that she could see Viktor. He was dressed rather simply, in all black besides a dark gray skeleton sweater that hung loosely off his frame. He'd done something—smeared eyeliner, probably?—around his eyes to give off a sunken, skull-like impression, and drawn lines around his mouth for the teeth. He might have emphasized the jut of his cheekbones slightly, too, but she couldn't quite tell if it was the lighting or not.

Viktor's neatly-lined mouth turned up in a small smile. "Yes, Jayce?" 

She didn't quite catch what Jayce said next. 

Viktor said something in response that looked like a Hey, but Mel couldn't hear it over the noise.

"You, uh, you showed up!" Jayce said, sounding more cheerful than he had all night. 

This party was beginning to feel like death by a thousand cuts. Mel finished off her drink. She already wished she was getting another.

"To be fair, I did tell you I would," Viktor pointed out. "After weeks of indecision, but still."

Jayce laughed loudly—abnormally so. "Yeah, I guess you did. Um, how.. I guess, for your first frat party, how is it?"

"Could be better, could be worse," Viktor said. "It's crowded. And loud."

"Yeah... it's kinda, just... like that." Jayce shrugged. "If it's ever too much, there is a patio outside we could go to that's usually less crowded." He hesitated. "Well. People go out there to smoke, so I dunno if that'll be fine with your asthma and all, actually—"

"Cigarettes, or weed?" Viktor asked, interrupting him.

"..What?" 

"Nevermind."

Mel snorted out a laugh.

"...Okay. Uh, anyways. Y'know. There's... somewhere that's not crazy, is what I'm saying. Or, if it gets bad enough, you—we could also just... leave. If you wanted," Jayce offered.

We could leave? 

Mel blinked and tilted her head. 

All the work Jayce had done to get Viktor to the party, and he'd drop it, just like that? As soon as Viktor wanted to leave? 

...And what about her? Jayce was talking to Viktor with his back completely turned. When he said we, was Mel included in that?

Or was Jayce just going to leave her, again, to go spend time with Viktor?

Mel zoned back into the boys' conversation just as it started to lull, so she stepped the rest of the way around Jayce and greeted Viktor. She mustered a beaming smile and pulled him into a side-hug that was more for show than anything else. And then Viktor leaned into it a little, and she felt bad that it wasn't entirely genuine. 

"Viktor!" She said. "It's good to see you. Glad you finally decided to come." Half-true. "I like the makeup. Spooky."

"Oh, ah, thank you," Viktor smiled softly and patted her hand where it rested on his shoulder. "I will admit, it was a rather last-minute addition."

"Well, it looks good!" That, Mel didn't have to fib about. It did look good.

From here, she could see the little half-smile-half-pout that tipped the corners of his mouth up. "Thank you, Mel."

"Of course." She stepped back, and then perked up immediately at the sight of another friend of hers, Elora, coming in through the entryway. "Oh! Okay, Elora's here with some people. I'm gonna go say hi! I'll be back..." She hesitated. 

Mel didn't want to make promises she couldn't keep. She knew Jayce was, likely, going to be orbiting Viktor for the rest of the night, and she would rather die than stand and be semi-to-completely ignored like she was now. But she also didn't want to make it seem like she was dying to be rid of the two of them. 

"...Sometime. I don't know." She waved. "I'll see you guys again! Bye!"

Mel started in the direction of the entryway, but decided to swing by the kitchen first. She forced her way through the crowd, colliding with some jostling elbows as she made her way for another drink. She figured she would need it if she was going to be here any longer.

She recognized the pledge doling out punch as the same one from earlier—which she thought was odd, since as far as she knew, they were usually supposed to take shifts. She just chalked it up to what it probably was—a pledgemaster's grudge against this boy in particular, for whatever reason—and took her second cup of punch from him with a smile.

After that, she ambled toward the entryway, peeking through the sea of people for Elora's chestnut hair twisted into signature twin buns. She supposed she should have been keeping her eyes out for cat ears—Elora had lamented her inability to have any kind of complicated costume thanks to working late hours tonight right before the party, and had settled for something she could throw on in the car after her shift.

But Mel found her, all the same (and apparently, with perfect timing, as Elora was just starting to turn away from another conversation).

"Oh, Mel!" Elora's arms spread wide as she approached and pulled Mel into a tight hug.

"That's me!" She leaned in and returned the embrace.

"I was just about to go looking for you, I guess you beat me to it!" 

"I guess so! How was your shift?"

Elora hummed, "Meh, it was alright. Nothing too exciting." She looked over Mel's shoulder. "Sooo... I see a Starfire, obviously, but I don't see a Robin! Where's Jayce?"

Mel's expression soured. She puffed out a short sigh and rolled her eyes. "...Viktor."

"Ah."

Elora was quite aware of Mel's particular gripe—mostly, because Elora had questioned the amount of free time Mel suddenly had this semester, and Mel had been all-too-happy to bemoan Jayce's shifting of affections. 

"Well, point him out to me, at least?" Elora asked, peeking over Mel's shoulder to try and look around the dark room.

"Jayce is here, he's just.." She turned to point at the corner of the chapter room, where Jayce and Viktor had been standing when she left. But weren't there anymore. "Well, I guess they moved. I'll tell you if I see them again, though." 

"Yeah, I have to catch a real-life glimpse of this best friend thief," Elora said with a little giggle. 

For a frat party in a house that wasn't large, Mel was genuinely surprised by how long it took for Jayce and Viktor to reappear where she could see them. She guessed they must have gone to get drinks and ended up standing somewhere else.

Mel only caught sight of them again when she and Elora were on their way to the kitchen for what was Mel's third drink and technically Elora's first full one—Mel and Elora had split most of her second cup while they stood chatting by the entryway, and they were going to the kitchen so they could each get another.

By this point, Mel's head had begun to feel pleasantly fuzzy. She was still coherent enough to carry on conversation—she carried herself remarkably well under the influence, or so she'd been told—but knew that following her third cup she and Elora would probably end up dancing more than talking.

When she saw Jayce and Viktor again, they were against the back all of the chapter room, surveying the room. Viktor turned to say something to Jayce. Mel pointed them out to Elora. "See? They're over there. Jayce is—yeah. Yeah, you see him?"

Elora nodded, squinting at the pair from across the room as they passed back to one of the front rooms. "What is Viktor—"

"A skeleton," Mel answered before she could finish the question. "The makeup he did is pretty decent, up close."

"Ah."

"Though I guess that's not exactly the hardest look to, uh, produce."

"Yeah... I guess not." Elora squinted to make out Viktor's face better in the lights. "He's kind of cute, honestly," she mused. 

"No, he definitely is," Mel agreed. "He is gay, though, so.. Sorry to disappoint." 

Elora clicked her tongue. "I see."

They settled against one of the walls in the entryway—where the cool air from outside was able to waft in and mitigating the stifling warmth of bodies on bodies on bodies in the fraternity house, but where they could still hear the music to dance if the DJ played anything particularly compelling. 

And, whether by coincidence or divine provision, Mel ended up with her back to the door—which meant she had a perfectly clear view of Jayce and Viktor over Elora's shoulder.

As the third frat punch started to work its way into her system, and the alcohol began muddying her stream of consciousness, Mel had to start making a conscious effort to pull her gaze away from Jayce and Viktor and keep focused on her conversation with Elora. 

Mel wished it was her chatting easily with Jayce along the back wall. Of course she did. For fuck's sake, they were in matching Halloween costumes, and they'd hardly stood by each other for more than thirty minutes! And half of that, they were either arguing or sulking. 

What was the point of matching if they were hardly seen together? 

Elora stopped what she was saying to tilt her head to the side and block Mel's view.

"Mel," she singsonged, to catch her attention. "Are you listening to me?"

Mel's brows unfurrowed, her cheeks went hot, and she looked over to Elora's face and then down at the ground. "Sorry! Sorry. I just—" 

"I know," Elora said, mercifully. "It's okay."

"Well, no, I've been whining all semester about Jayce doing the same thing. I shouldn't do it to you, too. It's just..."

"It's just..?" Elora prompted gently.

"I know that you, like, you're supposed to go off to college and make new friends and meet new people. That's—Elora, that's how you and I met! And I wouldn't have it any other way!" Mel paused for a moment as she fumbled for her next sentence. 

Elora stood, listening, with more patience in her eyes than Mel felt like she deserved to receive. 

"But I... I don't know. I feel like I'm being left behind. I never..." She grimaced. "I feel bad saying, but... But after coming to Piltover, when he didn't find any real friends immediately, I just... I don't know. I just assumed it'd always be like that. That it would always just be me and Jayce. And obviously that was never gonna be the case forever, but now that it's—now that it isn't like that—"

"It feels weird?" Elora finished for her. 

Mel couldn't help but agree. She nodded.

"It feels weird to you not to have Jayce all to yourself?" Elora continued. "You got used to being the only person who really wanted to be friends with him, and now it feels odd to have competition for his attention?"

"...Yes," Mel agreed again, reluctantly. She puffed back up. "It's just, I—I was there for him when—when nobody else was! And now he's just—and now he—"

"He made one more friend?" Elora asked, and even though yes, that was the situation, it was so much more than that, and she just didn't get it.

"Elora."

"Mel."

"Elora."

"Is it so bad that Jayce has made another friend?" Elora perched an eyebrow. "You don't have a problem with Cait or Vi."

"Because he doesn't do this with anyone else! He's normal with everyone else! And then he's with Viktor, like all the time. Every day, actually! They have classes together literally every day!"

"Does he not have one with you every other day?"

"That's not the point! I—!" Mel's lip wobbled dangerously, and she took a halting deep breath. It wasn't the point. "I just—" She was not going to cry. She wasn't.

The point was that even when he and Mel were spending time together, Jayce was consistently enthralled with Viktor. He was either texting him, or talking about him, or thinking about him, constantly. 

It was Halloween and she was in the entryway of a frat house. 

She was not going to cry about this.

"It's fine. It's fine. 'S fine," she repeated, almost as if she were trying to convince herself instead of Elora. 

Elora graciously stayed quiet, sipping on the last of her drink while Mel fought tooth and nail to compose herself. 

Mel was beginning to wish she'd just stayed home.

That conversation died out too. She and Elora entered into the same quasi-social state that Mel had been in with Jayce earlier—a state that had them both just standing there, looking around at everyone around them, and finishing off their drinks.

She hadn't realized just how strong her two and a half cups of punch were until she finished the last sip of what was in her cup. Then she blinked too hard, and something in her sight shifted as everything seemed to hit her all at once. She leaned a bit more heavily on the wall.

She zoned out again. 

Viktor was Jayce's best friend now. Mel knew that. She could probably chart the exact moment, if pressed, when she realized her status was beginning to nosedive. When she'd fully grasped the trajectory that Viktor was on to replace her. Not that she figured it was malicious. Viktor wasn't malicious. Mel knew he wasn't. 

But he was going to replace her, all the same, and she didn't want that. 

So if the space of Jayce's best friend was occupied by someone else... where did that leave her? She'd gotten used to Jayce's attention. If Jayce replaced her with Viktor, then she'd lose that. So how should she keep it? How could she make sure her place in Jayce's life was still cemented, still secured? 

The loud, familiar intro to Michael Jackson's Thriller blared from the speakers around the house, and Elora grabbed Mel's forearm to tug her toward the chapter room, yanking her quite unceremoniously from her thoughts. As she was pulled from the wall, her vision started swimming in the periphery. 

"W-wait—" Mel blinked hard, and the beginnings of double vision unified enough for her to keep from stumbling as Elora dragged her to the dance floor. 

She found her mind continuing to wander as she and Elora moved fluidly with each other in the crowd. She caught a glimpse of Jayce in the corner as she danced, and found she couldn't stop glancing back over.

There was one way to secure Jayce's attention. Or so she thought. A way that she hadn't seriously considered since one time in high school.

If she... 

She shouldn't.

But if she were to get with Jayce, somehow, that could be a way. 

If Viktor was assuming the role of Jayce's best friend, there was... another spot Mel could step up to fill. The role that people had already been assuming she filled for years.

If Mel was Jayce's girlfriend, he'd have to find time for her, right? Uninterrupted, Viktor-free time? 

Mel glanced at Jayce again. 

Viktor was, suddenly, nowhere to be seen. 

If that wasn't a sign from above, she couldn't have named another.

And before her rational mind had the opportunity to claw itself from the depths of her alcohol-muddied coherence, Mel was already bidding Elora a rushed goodbye, pushing past her to beeline for Jayce. 

When she approached him, now, he had a similar look on his face to that from earlier. He looked guilty again, like a kicked puppy where he stood in the corner.

Where was Viktor? Was he why Jayce was like this? What had he done? What happened?

"Hey, Mel," Jayce mumbled. 

"Hey," she returned. Faintly, she recognized the greeting came out with a slight slur to it. Whatever.

"Enjoying the party?" He asked. But Mel could tell his heart wasn't in the question. 

What had happened with Viktor?

A small voice, deep in her head, cried, Irony!

All she'd been wishing for was a moment that had nothing to do with Viktor. But now that she was alone with Jayce, Viktor was all she could think about.

Mel found herself leaning closer to Jayce, as if she was being drawn toward him from outer orbit by some gravitational force. Or maybe she was just swaying on her feet. She couldn't quite tell. 

Jayce's hands shot out to steady her, so she supposed it was the latter. Okay. 

She leaned into the contact. Grabbed Jayce's arms in a motion that was somewhat meant to tether her and somewhat meant to draw even closer. Had she answered his question? She didn't remember. 

"Jayce," she breathed. 

His brows scrunched in confusion. "...Mel?" His tongue darted out to wet his lips. Her eyes tracked the motion and darted back up to his. 

"Jayce. Hey." 

"Hey," he said. He scanned her face and his lips downturned in more of a frown. "Are you..?"

"You... what if w..we.." She blinked really hard. "You know how.. people say things sometimes. About you and me."

"Mel, I think we should get you some water."

"Y're not listening to me," She whined. 

"I am listening to you, Mel. I'm also positive that you don't know what you're saying."

Rude.

"I do!" She protested. "'M saying.." 

You like Viktor more than me now. 

"I'm sayin' we..." She trailed off.

I don't feel like I'm your best friend anymore, and that hurts.

"I..." She couldn't find her words.

 Maybe if I was your girlfriend, you'd want to— no. You'd have to spend time with me. 

"..Go out w'me, Jayce."

His eyebrows shot up to his hairline. "Are you trying to tell me you have feelings for me?" 

"Not... exactly," Which was true. She didn't, really. She figured she could, given time, if she tried.

"Then what do you—what are you—?"

"I jus' think..." She slurred. "Jus' think that we could give it a shot."

His brows pinched, at that. "What?" 

She swayed closer. Jayce's tightened around her biceps.

"Mel, what are you talking about?" 

Closer. Her hands slipped off his arms. She repositioned them at the junction of his shoulders and his neck. "Y'know, I.. feel like we could.. be together."

"Ha-ha. Very funny, Mel." 

"'M'being serious," she protested. 

"Yeah. Right. Sure," he said, still obviously disbelieving her. "Well, I think you need some water, so I'm gonna find—" Jayce tried to step off to the side, but Mel half-stumbled with the sudden shift of her support, which, in turn, meant she only held onto his arms tighter. 

"Okay, no, you need to sit down," Jayce resolved. "Mel, just... sit tight, okay? 'M gonna find you a chair, somewhere, or—"

His voice dipped down to a lower register, and it was only because they were standing so close that Mel heard him mutter "Where the fuck is Viktor?" while he scanned around the room. 

Viktor. 

Fucking Viktor. Of course it was Viktor. It all came back to Viktor, Viktor, Viktor.

"Jayce." Mel grabbed the sides of his face with her hands and forced him to look at her. She just needed him to look at her. "Look't me."

Her next thought caught her off guard. But as Jayce's wide, round eyes locked onto hers, still not believing, still not listening, it was the only thing that ran through her mind:

He'd know I was serious if I kissed him. 

"Mel," Jayce said, his tone gentle. His hands came up to wrap around her wrists. Prying, pulling, like he was trying to remove them. "You're drunk."

I just need to kiss him.

Mel held his face tighter. She had him close already. She pulled him closer.

I just. Need. To kiss him.

Mel could smell both of their alcohol-tinged breath where it mingled now, hot in the air between them. She wrinkled her nose. So did Jayce.Then he'll know.

Her lips parted. Jayce looked down at them. 

Then he'll get it.

She squeezed her eyes shut.

I just need...

And before she had a chance to think about it any longer,

before she had a chance to regret what she was about to do,

and before either of them had a chance to pull away...

Mel pressed her lips to Jayce's, and she kissed him.