Did anyone ask for a partners-in-crime JayVik AU?
No? That's okay. I'll deliver anyway.
The knife spins through the air, a flash of steel slicing the dim light of the room. It hits the table with a low, resonant thunk, embedding itself in the soft, splintered wood like a punctuation mark.
Jayce Talis leans back in his chair, boots planted on the edge of the table with the casual arrogance of someone who’s done this before — often enough to make it routine. The black cargo pants and turtleneck stretch over broad shoulders, shadows playing across the lean, hard strength beneath. His hair, dark with streaks of grey that seem more earned than aged, is tied back in a low bun, loose strands falling just enough to look intentional.
He tilts his head, studying the man across from him like one might study a dying animal on the side of the road — not with pity, but with detached curiosity. The smuggler, Gael, thin and twitchy, has a face that screams collapsible. The kind of man whose spine liquefies the moment pressure is applied.
“Talk,” Jayce says, his voice low, steady, dangerous.
Gael flinches, his gaze fixed on the knife trembling in the wood, as if looking at Jayce directly might burn him. “I-I told you,” he stammers, his words catching and tangling in his throat. “I don’t know anything. They don’t actually tell me—”
Jayce exhales through his nose, slow and deliberate. He shifts forward, his boots hitting the ground with a weighty thud. The air in the room tightens, compressing, as if waiting for something to snap.
“Tell me, Gael. Do you know what happens when people waste my time?” he asks, calm but pointed. He doesn’t need to raise his voice — his reputation fills the spaces his words leave empty.
Or: Jayce, at the ripe age of 30, moves to Zaun.
This fic is called The Reflection and the Rift. Heavily inspired by Hannigram and Jim Moriarty.