2025 was a fantastic Jayvik year for me, I want to thank you all for your support through this year ❤️ I’m grateful for all the wonderful and talented people I have met through the Jayvik nation, and all the support I got for Loving is Caring 🥰
My 1 year of Jayvik obsession wrap up:
First time writing in English (not my native language)
+121,000 words published on AO3, and +145,000 written in total
13,750 hits, 493 kudos, 369 comments, and 142 bookmarks on Loving is Caring
Beautiful fanart by @tragicmackpad 🤩 (see above!!!)
Meeting amazing people online who brightened my days, and gave more confidence in my writing 🥰 @chasing-the-devine @sassysnakeillustrations @cosmickite @machinerism but also every single commenter on AO3! You guys have no idea how much your words gave me energy ❤️
Special thanks to bbulma and new_space from AO3, who have been there since Chapter 1, and commented every single chapter since then 🥰 You have no idea how much your words have helped me! Thank you for always taking the time to read and comment 🥰
Thank you to all of you for 2025 ❤️
Next chapter of Loving is Caring is coming soon! I took time to write a little for all upcoming chapters to make sure I build a strong storyline 😊
JAYCE BRINGS A MATTRESS AT THE LAB (One bed for two 🛏️❤️😉)
Extract from Loving is Caring 😊
READ THE FULL FIC ON AO3
The door of the silent lab slammed open. When Viktor turned around, he was not facing his lab partner, but an unexpected cube of tissue and foam, pressed against the entrance. Somewhere behind it, he could hear muffled swears.
“Jayce?!”
“Viktor? You’re there already?” the familiar voice peaked with surprise and joy.
“What are you doing, Jayce?” Viktor laughed, raising an eyebrow at the sight of his new partner fighting against a mattress that had no intention of moving through their lab’s door.
“Do you… Do you mind giving me a hand with this?”
Rolling his eyes, more out of amusement than annoyance, Viktor put down his crutch, and started to pull on the mattress, being as careful as he could with his leg.
“Maybe try to put it more like… no… if you push on this side a bit… yes… Ok, on the count of three. One… Two… Three… Aaah!”
Without warning, the mattress bumped into the room, and Viktor fell backward to the floor.
“Kurva…” he swore between his gritted teeth.
In front of him, having tripped on their just defeated enemy, Jayce Talis was lying face down on the soft fabric.
“I really didn’t expect it to be that hard!” he laughed while getting back on his feet.
When he saw his partner on the floor, he approached and offered a hand. Viktor took it, reached for his crutch, and helped himself up. The young zaunite observed the mattress with amused disbelief.
“What is this? Did you also make your mother’s house explode?” he teased. “You need to permanently move to our lab?”
Jayce patted his shoulder playfully.
“Not yet, though I have been considering it. I’m not sure how much longer I can stand my old teenage room.”
He disappeared again and came back with two bags of what appeared to be pillows, blankets, and bed sheets.
“So I thought this could be a good solution for interim.”
“Where did you get this? And how did you even drag all these things up here?” Viktor asked.
“We had that old mattress in the attic. After we broke our backs sleeping at our desk the other night, I thought it would be great to have a proper bed for next time.”
“That… That actually sounds like a good idea”, Viktor admitted.
“We should try to find one for you too, but in the meantime it’s definitely big enough for both of us. If you don’t mind of course.”
“Sleeping in the same bed as Jayce Talis?” he cocked a teasing eyebrow. “How could I pass? Some girls have waited many academic years to get such an opportunity.”
Jayce laughed, an embarrassed pink flushing over his cheeks. Viktor watched him drag the mattress in a corner of the room – the one further away from any explosive material – and throw the blankets and pillows over. He continued to rummage in the bags.
“Aaaaand I brought lunch!” he announced before his partner could worry on what other nonsense he decided to bring in their lab. “My mother cooked it for us, sometimes I wonder if she ever realizes that I’m 24. I think getting me back home makes her a bit nostalgic. Also, she assumes because we spend all day in the lab, we don’t take time to eat. To be fair she’s not entirely wrong. There, here’s your share.”
Ignoring the surprised expression on Viktor’s face, the young piltie shoved a box in his hands.
“My… my share?”
“Yes! You’ll see this is really good.”
Viktor looked back and forth at the box and his partner, eyes as round as microscope lenses. He was certain he had never met Jayce’s mother, he even struggled to remember her name since he only mentioned it a few times.
“But Jayce, I… I do not know your mother. How come she cooked for me?”
Jayce shrugged his shoulders casually.
“Well, obviously she knows I’m not working here alone. I may have slipped one too many good words about you. I hope you don’t mind.”
This idea of this unknown woman taking the time and effort to cook a meal for a perfect stranger was utmost absurd to Viktor. Looking closely at the box, he started to wonder if there was a hidden message in this gift – he had learnt the hard way that pilties tend to hide certain intentions under the cover of apparently harmless interactions. Yet, Jayce was acting as if handing him a meal cooked by his mother was a perfectly normal thing to do. Was it a Piltover custom he didn’t know about yet? If so, it was bit embarrassing. Such gestures were to be repaid for, and he knew all too well how far below any acceptable standards his own cooking skills were.
Viktor’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Jayce caught the expression on his face.
“Is there a problem?” he asked. “Do you… is there something you don’t eat?”
“No, no problem. That’s… very kind of her. I just… It’s just very much unexpected. I’m not sure how to thank her.”
“Ah don’t worry about that, I will let her know. To be fair, you may have the chance to thank her by yourself: she keeps scolding me like a teenager because I haven’t taken you home for dinner yet.”
The young zaunite blinked in disbelief, wondering if he heard right. Despite having managed to cross the bridge for few years now, an invitation into a piltovian house was something he never expected to receive – let alone one in a family as renowned as Talis. To the eyes of the pilties, you may leave Zaun, but Zaun never leaves you.
“Did you… did you tell your mother I am from the undercity?” Viktor asked.
Jayce shrugged his shoulder.
“What difference does that make?”
Read more on AO3 😊
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Writing is also spending hours on wikipedia to learn about flower language and seasons so I can figure out what flowers Jayce would offer Viktor on their first date in the middle of winter ❄️💐❤️🤣
As he drifted into sleep again, Jayce turned around absentmindedly and took one of his pillows in his arms, holding it carefully against his chest. It felt better like that – as if Viktor was there, in his arms, protected and safe.
As his mind fully slipped into the warm and hazy embrace of sleep, it was no longer a pillow he was hugging: it was Viktor himself, at least a dream version of him. Jayce’s bedroom faded around him: his dreams painted the decor of their lab. They were on their mattress, curled under their blanket, the one that now smelled like both of them. The snowstorm was raging behind the window – freezing wind hurling against the glass, heavy snowflakes piling on the border of the window as if to submerge all Piltover. But it didn’t matter to Jayce.
The lab was quiet and warm, their Hexgate prototype dozing in the center of the room, and his wonderful partner safely curled up against him. Jayce hugged Viktor tight, feeling his slender form against his body, letting him bury his face in the crook of his neck. Jayce rubbed his cheek against his partner’s hair, savoring their softness, their scent of ink, soap and old paper. Slowly, Jayce rubbed the soft skin of Viktor’s upper back, just above his screws – he would hate to hurt him by touching them.
The wind howled again, furious not to find any crack to enter their haven, to reach them. Jayce knew it couldn’t get in.
“You are safe” he murmured to Viktor’s ear.
A small, familiar chuckle answered him. Viktor shifted in his arms, lifting his face so their eyes could meet. The soft amber gaze was shining with that light of joy that Jayce adored – the same as when he offered him some sweet milk.
“I know” Viktor whispered back with his adorable, curly accent.
His words reached directly to Jayce’s heart, that trembled in his chest. Some people enhance their looks with makeup and jewelry – Viktor only needed that look in his eyes to be simply magnificent. His lips curled up in a kind and trustful smile.
“He’s so beautiful…” Jayce thought.
For a silly minute, Jayce wondered why they didn’t cuddle more often – they should do that every night! Holding each other close, sharing warmth, listening to their heartbeats… it was so simple and natural, just like breathing.
The long fingers of Viktor moved to Jayce’s hair, caressing his nape and the back of his head, while his other hand found back its way to his cheek, rubbing it softly with his thumb. The look in his eyes had shifted – he now looked exactly like when he woke up Jayce earlier, looking at him as if he was the most precious thing on Runeterra.
Jayce melted to his tender caresses and let himself drown into his loving amber gaze. Slowly, as if he was afraid to scare him away, Jayce lifted his hands to mirror his partners’ affectionate movement. He let his fingers get lost in his long and messy locks, worshipping the soft skin of his cheek just below his beauty mark. He brought their foreheads together and pressed his body even more against his, but something inside him was telling him it was still not close enough. He needed him closer. So much closer.
Jayce’s face moved forward by itself, without any second thought, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. His lips brushed with Viktor’s – they were so soft, so enticing. Viktor didn’t move – he smiled fondly, simply waiting for his partner to make his move. Jayce closed his eyes and placed a small, chaste kiss on Viktor’s lips, as soft and delicate as a butterfly. And it felt like… an evidence. The most normal and obvious thing in the world. Like it was meant to be.
Jayce stayed close, gazing in awe to his partner’s gorgeous amber eyes, gently resting his forehead on his. Viktor stayed silent, but that marvelous loving gaze and his adorable smile were more eloquent than any word.
“Only one kiss?” he asked with a faint challenge in his soft voice, raising a teasing eyebrow.
So, Jayce kissed him again – on his lips, on the corner of his mouth, on his cheek, his cheekbones, his nose, his eyelids, his forehead, his beauty marks, even the crook of his neck… He was delighted by the softness and the warmth of his skin. Viktor let a please chuckle out of his mouth. As if the sound was a reminder of where exactly he wanted to be kissed, Jayce pressed their lips together again.
This time, he took the time to explore them more – their softness, their plumpness, how fragile they felt, how confidently they moved against his, with no fear nor hesitation. Viktor’s hands were still caressing his cheek and his nape, making the embrace feel wonderfully intimate and complete. All pressed against Viktor, Jayce suddenly felt so soothed, serene… so whole. It made him want more. So much more.
He parted his lips, deepening the kiss, and Viktor followed his lead, tightening his grip at the base of Jayce’s head. The pressure awoke something more in Jayce – something deep, primal even. He let his tongue out of his mouth, gently teasing Viktor’s bottom lip first. The soft moan Viktor gave in return was enough authorization for him to go further – he slowly entered his mouth, tasting him deeply, exploring the sharp border of his teeth. He was attentive to all the small responses Viktor offered to his movements. His partner’s languid tongue on his was sending electric shivers down his spine and a burning heat in his core. It moved in slow, precise, deliberate caresses, just like any other movements Viktor ever did. It made Jayce’s head spin like never before.
With a needy moan, Jayce pressed Viktor’s delicate body tighter against his, as if he needed them to merge, to be only one, and to never part away. His lips moved faster, his kiss became greedier. Blood was travelling fast between his legs, and his instincts pressed his painfully erected length against Viktor’s thigh. Strangely, it was only now that he realized that they were both completely naked.
“Where are our clothes?” he asked, puzzled by this odd discovery.
Viktor looked at him, breathless, his lips reddened and swollen by their passionate kiss. He had that wild look in his eyes – the one he bore in the Undercity.
“I don’t think we need them” he replied with a teasing grin.
Slowly, way too slowly, Jayce could feel Viktor’s hands travel from his head to his shoulders, then his torso, painfully slowing down on his belly, with a very very clear destination. Jayce’s mind went out of control, only waiting for these warm and precise fingers to finally reach their goal. He could already picture how wonderful they would feel on him. But they were following such a treacherous pace, moving slower and slower at every inch. They were close… so close… yet still so far… Jayce’s mind was already out of any coherent thought.
“Please, please, please, please, please…”
Until the distant, blurry chime of Piltover clock tower rose through the veil of his dreams.
Suddenly, Jayce startled awake in his bed, still fully clothed from the evening before, eyes wide open, and forehead bright with sweat. His arms were tightly wrapped around his pillow.
His heart was beating hard in his chest. He could still feel the torturous caress of Viktor’s fingers running down his skin – and if they were nothing but a dream, his arousal was painfully real.
With a gasp and a shamed hand on his mouth, he realized what just happened. It was not the first time he dreamt of Viktor – they spent so much time together that he wasn’t surprised when it arrived. But is was the first time he dreamt of him like that.
“Why does it have to happen when Viktor is sleeping in the next room?” he thought in distress.
As his mind formulate these words, he realized that he should actually consider himself lucky – it could just as well have happened while Viktor was sleeping on the same mattress. His face flushed in embarrassment just thinking about it – almost as much as realizing that he just had a wet dream on his best friend.
The images of his fantasies jumped back to his mind, and his throbbing erection brought him back to his most basic needs. Relief first, thoughts after, he decided.
Tossing his pillow aside, he closed his eyes again, and let his fingers take over where his fantasied Viktor had left. He finished the movement, caressing his flustered skin, and slipping them under the band of his briefs.
A sigh of relief passed his lips as the familiar grip of his hand wrapped his cock, his fingers instinctively adjusting to the exact right pressure. He took a deep breath and started to move, his other hand on his mouth to strangle the pleased moan in his throat. He must be silent – even more than usual.
He tried to focus on the movement – the familiar pace, the warmth flooding in his guts, the pure physical pleasure – not summoning any specific fantasy. But visions of Viktor were flooding his mind. He could still see his mischievous smile, feel his lips moving passionately against his, his tongue dancing with his own, his warm body pressed against his. And the simple idea of his fingers – his long, slow, precise fingers – was lightning a fire on his skin that could grow and consume his whole body. Jayce’s hand increased his pace, his hips rocking unevenly into his grip, chasing a fast release.
Jayce couldn’t resist anymore the urge to revive the memories of his dream – he was too far gone. He closed his eyes even tighter, seeking in his diluting memory for the deep, passionate kiss. The very idea of these sweet lips and mischievous tongue on his was sending pure electric shivers down his spine. All his muscles tensed, aiming for the delicious deliverance of orgasm. The closer Jayce was getting, the more Viktor’s name was burning his lips, and he had to bite them to avoid letting it slip.
He could see him so clearly now… Viktor laying there, beautifully naked, his warm skin and slender frame pressed against his body. His tender lips and mischievous tongue were dancing against Jayce’s in a deep, passionate kiss. His long and precise fingers were curled around Jayce’s length, full masters of his pleasure. His big, beautiful amber eyes, lidded with pleasure, were shining with a unique shade of love and passion. And his delicious accent rolling against Jayce’s ear when he moved to murmur a teasing “I told you we wouldn’t need clothes”.
This image threw Jayce over the edge. It took just two more uneven moves for him to release himself in his fist, mouthing the name of Viktor without letting a sound out of his throat.
He let himself go lip on his bed, panting and sweating, as the veil of his fantasies diluted in the air like the smoke of a cigarette. His hand automatically gathered a tissue on his bedside table and clean his stained belly, as he tries to catch up his breath.
But it definitely wouldn't clean the mess in his mind.
“Oh gods… I can’t believe I just…” he didn’t even dare to finish this thought. “How… Why did I even thought of him… that way?”
Embarrassment burnt his face, and he buried it in his hands. Thinking of a friend like that never happened to him before – at least not a male friend. Even though Viktor was special to him, he wasn’t special like that… or... was he?
Suddenly, things started to come together, like the pieces of a giant puzzle. His deep care for Viktor, the fact he was haunting his thought almost all the time since they had started working together, how he loved sleeping next to him, even his misplaced jealousy when he thought Viktor may be meeting someone in the Undercity...
It suddenly all made sense. His hands moved from his whole face to his mouth, eyes wide with surprise and maybe a bit of fear, as the realization struck him like a slap on the face.
“Am I… Am I falling in love with Viktor?!”
Want more? Read the fic on AO3!
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
A stretching silence sat between them. Viktor could hear again the gears of Jayce’s brain reeling in his mind - words shuffling, sentences rearranging… Seemed like now was the time to know what he wanted to talk about so badly. Whatever it was, this seemed really serious – at least serious enough Jayce hadn’t dared to raise it during their dinner.
“So, about that topic you said you wanted to discuss…” he began tentatively, trying to encourage Jayce to spill the words that were burdening his mind. “Is it about what made you so strange these last days?”
“Well… yeah. I… fuck, I didn’t really think how to put this.” Jayce stammered, shifting in his seat like a different posture could make his thoughts more comfortable. “I… I had kind of a… a personal breakthrough, if you can call it that.”
“A personal breakthrough…” Viktor echoed. “Hm… I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t formed a few, eh… hypotheses about your behavior.”
Jayce snapped upright, tension sparking through him like a jolt of electricity.
“R-Really? W-what did you came up with?”
Viktor took a deep breath, steadying himself. Well, maybe now was the time to find out, afterall…
“Well… I assumed you had… someone special.”
A burning blush surged across Jayce’s cheeks, and Viktor had the terrible impression he had just caught him.
“Ah… w-well, either you’re very good at reading me, or I’m very bad at hiding it. But I guess it makes things a little easier for me…” Jayce chuckled nervously, a shy smile spreading on his lips. “Yeah. I recently realized there’s someone I really like.”
Someone I really like…
Not I like you.
So, Jayce indeed had fallen in love with someone. And that someone wasn’t him.
It hit him much harden than he had anticipated.
Saliva turned into battery acid in Viktor’s mouth. Not even sweet milk could cover the harsh taste of deception and jealousy spreading on his tongue. The corners of his mouth twitched down, reverberating the heartquake splitting his chest in halves. He contemplated the wasted feelings and untold love words bleeding out from the open wound. What a waste…
What a fool he had been to let himself get so engrossed in this. Never did Jayce ever mentioned liking men. He was straight, and straight men don’t suddenly fall for other men. Never.
“You should have been smarter than that.” He scolded himself. He was the only one to blame for his pain.
The smile faded from Jayce’s face when he looked at Viktor, as if expecting a different reaction.
“Of course he was. Friends are supposed to happy for each other in moments like this.” Viktor thought bitterly.
He forced a friendly mask on his face, harshly swallowing his pain and jealousy like razor blades.
“Ah, well… Shall I understand you have a new… romantic partner? I’d remember if you’d mentioned it before. Why you never told me?” his words wavered but came out casual enough to fool Jayce. At least Viktor hoped so.
Jayce blinked, as if surprised by the question. It gave Viktor the weird impression there was something he was missing – like they were talking about two different things, though he felt like the discussion was leaving no space to misinterpretations.
Jayce shook his head with a small, relieved smile, as if tasting some irony Viktor couldn’t grasp.
“No! No, we’re not… it’s just… I haven’t confessed yet.” He laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck.
Viktor frowned. Not confessed yet? That was ridiculous. What could possibly bring someone like Jayce Talis not to confess if he had someone special? Did he figure out too recently? Or was it linked to his weird behavior? Was it some sort of impossible love?
“Ah…” he nodded slowly. “Why not? Is this person already taken?”
The thought of Jayce heartbroken by an impossible love was somehow worse than his own bleeding feelings. Viktor trusted himself to handle his own pain – he knew he could endure it. But Jayce? Such a soft and sweet heart could be so easily scorched…
Jayce searched for words, trying to navigate through his messy thoughts.
“No, it’s not someone taken” he finally said. “It’s a friend. A really good friend. Someone I can’t risk losing if my feelings aren’t returned.”
Hope sparked painfully in Viktor’s chest, like a dagger cutting in the open wound in his heart. Janna, Jayce was not making this easy…
Jayce’s brows furrowed, as if he was unsure on how to keep the conversation going from here. He drew a deep, steadying breath before speaking again.
“Vik… have you ever been in a situation like that before? You know… in love with a friend?”
Irony tasted like raw metal on Viktor’s tongue. His jaw clenched so tight he feared his teeth might crack. His eyes escaped to the floor, knowing all too well the weakness of his composure. His face hardened, and his voice came out edged with resignation.
“I have, yes”.
“So? What did you do?”
“Nothing.” Viktor whispered, his shoulders dropping in defeat. “He was… straight.”
“Are you sure? How did you know he wouldn’t reciprocate?” Jayce persisted. “Maybe he was straight, but he could have… switched? I know it doesn’t sound likely, but things like that happen… right?”
Viktor shook his head, sadly.
“No, Jayce. I’ve never heard of a straight man just suddenly falling in love with a male friend. It is better to face the cold hard truth as fast as possible.” His voice was low, and his words now for himself than his partner.
He prayed this conversation would end there. He didn’t want to hear about that pretty girl Jayce had met – about her bright white smile, her cake-smelling hair, and her perfect little life… And even less on how Jayce was planning to confess. Because that was probably where this conversation was heading: Jayce asking him about the romantic dinner he had planned for her, and all the pretty words he wanted to offer her. Viktor didn’t had the strength for it. Not tonight.
All he wanted now was for Jayce to go to sleep – hadn’t the clock tower chimed midnight already? - so he could have a little time for himself to silently mourn his silly dreams and gather the shards of his shattered heart.
Jayce’s warm hand landed on his shoulder, a gentle token of friendship that was putting a little bit of balm on his pain. At least he would still have Jayce as a friend. Lovers could come and go, but friendship was made of a harder material, wasn’t it? That was still better than not having him in his life at all.
Jayce chuckled softly.
“I’ve never heard of a Zaunite being accepted into Piltover Academy before you. You, of all people, should know nothing is truly impossible.”
A pained smile teared through Viktor’s face. If only that was true… But he knew his own limits. He had known from the start his chances were thin. He just needed time to accept his defeat.
He dared to lift his gaze to meet Jayce’s, when suddenly he froze at the sight of his friend’s smile.
And suddenly, his heart skipped a beat.
Jayce was smiling in a way he knew all too well. He had seen it before. It was the exact same his mother used to wear when she met a new man, few months before he had to cover new bruises on her skin.
Old alarms rang in Viktor’s mind. That smile was dangerous.
A surge of protectiveness rushed through his veins.
He could come to terms with never having a chance with Jayce. But he would never bear to see him fall into the arms of someone bad for him - someone egoistic who wouldn’t care for him like he deserved, shattering his heart like broken glass, and leaving it to Viktor to dry his tears and put him all back together.
Viktor may never be the lover in Jayce’s arms, but he would always be the shoulder Jayce could cry on.
As a friend. A loyal friend.
Whoever Jayce loved, he needed to be absolutely certain he was safe.
“Jayce” Viktor began cautiously, searching his partner’s expression. “Is your friend… a good person?”
“What? Of course! Like I could ever fall in love with someone who’s not…”
Viktor lifted a hand to stop him.
“Are you really sure about that? Take the time to think about it. Ending up with someone bad for you can be destructive, more than you imagine. I know you always assume the best of people around you – and I find this… beautiful. But there are bad people out there. Real bad people: cruel, careless, egotistic. People who will take everything from you, and never give anything in return. And I…I just saw what loving the wrong person can do. And I don’t want you to go through this.”
Viktor sighed heavily, countless memories of bruises on his mother’s skin, her makeup messed up by tears, and her half-muted sobs in the night superposing in his mind. His heart shrieked in his chest.
Suddenly, Jayce’s hand left his shoulder. It slipped all along his arm, and covered his hand with tenderness.
Viktor’s heart missed a beat. He lifted his head to meet Jayce’s eyes, shining brighter stars on a summer night.
Jayce’s expression was now relieved, almost confident. There was something unsettling in the way he was looking at him… Something Viktor had never seen before and was struggling to place.
Viktor’s heart trembled in his chest. No one ever looked at him like that.
“There is no risk of that.” Jayce said softly. “You see, my friend is the most remarkable person I’ve ever met. It’s someone strong and brave – stubborn sometime for sure, but never unkind. I know we’re different – quite different – but we’re also so alike! I’ve never felt so understood by anyone before. I love what we have… that’s maybe why I can’t help but wanting even more. When we’re together I feel like nothing is impossible, like we could achieve anything. Even our wildest dream.”
His eyes flicked briefly to their Hexgate prototype, then back to his partner.
For once in his life, Viktor’s brain was blank.
No analysis, no hypothesis, no reasoning… Just emotions, raw, unfiltered, roaming wildly in his chest.
All these words… All these beautiful, beautiful words… It was too much for him to believe. Even with Jayce’s hands gently caressing his.
The silence stretched. For how long? Viktor couldn’t tell. When his voice rose, it was weak, strangled by emotion and disbelief. A beg for undeniable proof.
“… your friend is a very lucky girl.”
Jayce other hand cupped his jaw, caressing his cheek in a gentle and grounding way.
“Oh Janna…”
Viktor’s heart was thundering in his chest – so loud he was certain Jayce could hear it. His throat felt tight, his mouth dry…
“Vik…” Jayce whispered, his voice soft like the first beams of the morning sun. “It’s not a girl.”
Viktor’s whole world stopped. Like an interrupted symphony – a sudden change of partition no one was prepared for.
It’s not a girl.
The words echoed, again and again. An impossible proof. A statistically absurd evidence.
It’s not a girl. It’s not a girl. It’s not a girl.
Viktor looked in Jayce’s eyes, searching the moment he would realize this was a cruel joke – crueler than he could ever imagine Jayce to be.
But there was no trace of a lie. Only honest, vulnerable, undeniable truth.
Jayce’s thumb stroke his cheek. Kindly. Lovingly. Sealing the reality of this instant in Viktor’s mind.
“You truly have a way to make the impossible happen, you know” Jayce he murmured, cheeks flushing with a smile.
It all felt like a dream. A beautiful, impossible dream.
Viktor’s heart leapt, as if it had stopped for few seconds and struggled to catch up. His brain was still processing what was happening, but Jayce’s eyes were asking for an answer. Silence was too cruel.
With all the courage he could gather, Viktor placed a trembling hand on Jayce’s cheek, watching in awe his partner leaning into his touch with a radiant smile.
“Oh Janna… if this is a dream, please never wake me up…”
Slowly, he leaned closer, pausing only when their noses brushed. His gaze flicked to Jayce’s eyes, as if to check one last time this was all real.
He could already feel Jayce’s warm breath on his lips. The distance between them was so small… that gorgeous sunlike smile was so beautiful… So enticing… At reach.
Viktor leaned his head, closed his eyes, and closed the gap between them, pressing his lips against Jayce’s.
His heart burst in his chest like Progress Day fireworks.
He was kissing Jayce…
Janna, he was kissing Jayce!
It felt unreal… the warmth of Jayce’s lips moving tenderly on his, dancing on a rhythm that was theirs only…
Jayce’s hand on his cheek was caressing his skin like it was the most precious fabric on Runeterra. The touch was so sweet, it felt like Jayce was stroking his very heart. Viktor’s eyes stayed closed, as if opening them would break the spell – as if it could make Jayce vanish, the whole moment nothing but an illusion of his tired brain.
Jayce wasn’t the first man Viktor had kissed. But this… this was nothing like the pragmatic, affectionless kisses he’d experimented before. This was the real thing. The one they talked about in songs and books. The one he had started to suspect being nothing but a sweet fairytale.
When they finally parted, Jayce’s warmth lingered on his lips: an indelible mark etched by love.
For the first time since he had step foot in Piltover, maybe even longer than that, Viktor let go. His composure slipped away like a worn mask, revealing a wide, serene smile brimming with tenderness.
Their eyes met, filled with all the emotions they didn’t need to share.
Jayce blushed, his grin widening to reveal the tiny gap between his front teeth.
“So… I guess that means you like me too?” he asked sheepishly, breaking awkwardly their silence.
“Your deduction skills never fail to amaze me,” Viktor chuckled softly, teasing but too overwhelmed with affection to really bite.
“Ah, come on, Vik! It’s not like you gave me any hint.”
“Any hint? Jayce, I thought you were straight!”
“Well… so did I, honestly,” Jayce admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. “That’s kind of what’s been wrecking my mind for the past two weeks…”
“Quite a wild ride, I suppose.” Viktor smiled, puzzle pieces finally sliding into place.
All his early escapes from the lab, awkward blushes at his teasing, unease at their touches were suddenly making sense. Viktor never had thought he could be the type of man to make another question his sexuality. It was quite the ego stroke for him to be the awakening of no less than Jayce Talis.
“Yeah… But I’m happy with the outcome.” Jayce grinned, pressing a kiss sweet as sugarcane above Viktor’s lips, just on his beauty mark.
Viktor couldn’t help but softly brush his cheek with his thumb. It was just as soft as the night he tried to wake him the same way – except now he could touch him for as long as they both wanted.
Jayce leaned into his new lover’s touch with delight.
“You know, I had a dream just like this.” he smiled, his eyes falling to their hands as he fondly remembered. “You were in my room, touching my cheek the exact same way. You looked at me just like this too.”
“Ah, eh… That may have not been a dream.” Viktor admitted, blushing in embarrassment. He had hoped Jayce had been too tired and sleepy to remember. “Well, it was the night your mother was sick, yes? You fell asleep on my shoulder while we were working. I was just trying to wake you up…”
“Wait, really?!” Jayce laughed, eyes wide in surprise and delight. “Gods, you need to wake me up like that tomorrow!”
Viktor arched an amused brow, lips curving slyly.
“Depends… Do you plan to fall asleep on my shoulder tonight?”
“Well… The mattress isn’t very big. We never know what could happen…” Jayce muttered, his cheeks turning bright red, a hand rubbing the back of his neck.
A low chuckle passed Viktor’s lips. His gaze turned heavier with implications.
“We never know, indeed…” he smirked devilishly.
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