#meljayvik week 2022

[sweatercowboy]

@meljayvikweek day 8: free space! Forgot to post it here oop

[fenfyre]

MelJayVik Week 2022 - Hextech

Day 1 of @meljayvikweek - Hextech

When Mel wakes from restful sleep the morning is still dark and quiet with only the barest hints of indigo creeping up across the horizon. For a moment she lies there, listens to the soft noises of Jayce's snoring, and wonders what has woken her this early. She can not quite put her finger on it until she rolls over and peers across her sleeping partner's body to find his other side suspiciously empty. 

When they settled down for the night Viktor had been curled up on Jayce's other side, boneless and so tired he had fallen asleep immediately.

Taking a slow breath Mel pushes herself up, rubs the sleep from her eyes to look around the room. No movement, no sign of Viktor. Only a faint sliver of light falling in where the door has been left ajar. Sending one last look down at Jayce, who is gracelessly drooling onto her silk pillows, Mel smiles to herself, lingers for a breath longer, and then slides out from under the covers and scoots to the edge of the bed.

The parquet is cold under her bare feet but Mel does not remember where in the house she left her slippers. If they might still be downstairs or somewhere in the bathroom. She had been too distracted last night to care much about where she lost them. Just like the rest of her clothes. But she does find a satin robe on an armchair by the balcony and slides into it, tying it shut as she slips out of the bedroom. Behind her the faint snoring continues.

Out in the hallway she finds the light coming from downstairs and follows it on bare feet, all the way through the silent house and into the sitting room. There she finds Viktor, half turned away from her on one of the couches by the dying embers of the fire. The lamp he has dragged closer to illuminate the device in his lap casts his profile into sharp relief. Except for a too big pair of sweatpants that must belong to Jayce he is bare and so lost in his work he has not noticed Mel standing by the doorway yet.

She only takes advantage of it for a few moments, watching the diligent and precise way he wields his screwdriver, how he tightens gears and secures thin, golden plates. His mouth is set into a sharp line of concentration Mel wants to kiss until it smoothes out again. She smiles to herself at the thought, then steps into the room. When she speaks it is soft as not to startle him.

"What are you working on?"

The steady motion of his hands stills as he looks up and over at her, blinking once, twice. Finding back into reality, into the current moment. Mel has seen it before, on both him and Jayce, how they need time after long stretches of intense work to settle back into reality. Sometimes she wishes she could join them, wherever it is they go together. But as long as that is not possible she will wait for them to meet her when they return. 

After all there are other places she can take them, just like she had last night. Those they can enjoy together, all three of them.

"I ... couldn't fall back asleep", he says, voice rough and halting. Mel can not help but notice that is not the answer to the question she asked but she allows it for the moment as she steps further into the room.

"So we'll have to try harder next time", she nods lets a slight smirk to sneak onto her lips. "I'll let Jayce know."

A sharp exhale that is a sign of amusement, she learned, then his eyes flick back down to the device in his hands. 

"No that ... that was fine. More than fine, really." The faintest trace of a smile that makes her heart flutter unfairly. The first time it had happened, that she had seen those little smiles coaxed out of him by Jayce or, better yet, somehow managing to do it herself, she had been irrationally confused by her own excitement. Now though she welcomes the flutter instead of pushing it away and savours the feeling. 

Only after a moment of sweet, lingering silence does she move on, steps up to and behind the couch to peer over Viktor's shoulder. The thing he is working on is some kind of cube of shimmering, gilded metal, one side barely larger than his palm. There are intricate symbols etched into the center surface of each plate with the topmost one removed for Viktor to reach the inner workings of the device.

He looks over his shoulder at her, taking in her quiet interest, before turning back to his work. That hint of a smile still lingers on his face.

Both of them stay silent as he continues, adjusts something inside the device she can not see from this angle. Then he reaches for the loosened plate and fixes it back into place, closing the cube. When he puts the screwdriver aside and rotates the cube in his palm, an opening on one of the sides comes into view, one that Viktor slots a tiny, golden key into just a moment later. He turns it a few times, as if winding up the device, and then leans forward to set the little cube down on the coffee table.

A soft clicking. Some mechanical whirring noises. Then the golden plating on top seems to shift and slide apart, revealing a blue gem slowly rising up and out. 

Intrigued Mel leans forward, places her hands on the backrest of the couch.

A flicker of light. A spark.

And then the room is dipped into soft blue as flecks of bright light rise out of the crystal and arrange themselves into shapes and constellations, slowly twirling and shifting, hovering in the air.

Mel lets out a soft, awed breath at the display that is so obviously an homage to the birth of Hextech, taking her back to that night she found the two of them floating among the magic of their creation.

Of course the scope is much smaller, instead of filling the entire room with twinkling, moving lights the device only projects into the air right above the coffee table, creating a contained, ever shifting bubble of blue. There do not seem to be any anti-gravitational properties, either. But the sight alone is enchanting enough and Mel feels herself drawn to it, to the hypnotic circles of constellations.

"It's beautiful", she breathes and the display's hold on her is only broken by the way Viktor hums and nods, his movements drawing her attention.

"What does it do?"

"Oh..." He gives a quiet, almost bashful laugh and shrugs. "Only this. It's a ... a children's toy."

The surprise on her face must be palpable when he throws another glance over his shoulder to look at her.

"Just a little, private project. It's not even a real Hexcrystal. Please don't cut our funding."

It is a joke, of course, but Mel knows Viktor enough by now to notice the honest nerves in the tilt of his head. In the way his fingers find the strings of Jayce's sweatpants to fiddle with them. But before she can answer there is another flicker, a spark, and then the blue light fades as the device shuts off. When she looks back over at it there is a faint trail of smoke rising up from the blue crystal that has gotten jammed halfway sliding back into the device.

Viktor grits out a few words in a language she recognizes but cannot understand, though by the sound of it he must be cursing as he reaches out to take the cube back into his hands.

"This keeps happening...", he mumbles, manually pushing the crystal back in and sliding the plating shut. There is an unhealthy cracking sound that makes Mel wince but that Viktor ignores in favour of turning the device in his hands a few more times.

"Something is jamming the closing sequence but I just cannot seem to find the blockage. Whenever I take it apart it looks like everything should be running smoothly..."

Before Mel knows it he has procured the screwdriver again and begins to open up another side of the cube, slowly taking out the tiny, golden screws that keep it fixed in place. He works quick, with nimble fingers and disgruntled focus and she watches for a moment or two before leaning down to wrap her arms around him from behind, nudging her cheek against his.

"You could try and find out tonight", she hums, watching as the certain motions of his fingers slow, his one fist closing more tightly around the collection of tiny golden screws he already removed.

"Or..." One of her hands slides down to his chest, fingers fanning out wide below his collarbones. She drags it lower, grazing one pale nipple as she nuzzles against his cheek. "...you put your private project on hold and come back to bed. There's always time to keep testing tomorrow. Maybe you could even ask Jayce for input if you want?"

"Input on what?", comes a rough voice from the doorway, the words slightly slurred. When they both look up they find Jayce standing there in nothing but a pair of temptingly tight underwear he had definitely not been wearing while still asleep. One of his hands cards through his hair, then drags down across his face to rub at an eye as he steps closer. "What are you even..."

He trails off as he catches sight of the golden device in Viktor's hands, blinking a few times as he seems to shake the sleep from his mind.

"What's that?", he sounds significantly more awake as he slides onto the couch next to Viktor and Mel can not decide whether to roll her eyes at their predictability or melt at her sheer endearment towards them both. She already knows the rest of the night is lost when she hugs Viktor more tightly and dips her head forward,  sighs a soft noise against his shoulder.

"Just a ... a toy projector..."

"Nice, can I see?"

The cube is already switching hands when Mel straightens to stretch her hands above her head, then unceremoniously climbs across the back of the couch to join them. Grabbing a blanket from the other side of the couch to spread across hers and Viktor's laps.

By the time Viktor hands over the screwdriver as well Mel is already dozing off on his shoulder, curled up against him with a loose arm winding around his waist, barely feeling his kiss against her temple before her eyes slide shut.

~

When Mel stirs again some time later the morning is soft pink and filled with the quiet humming of the finalized projector painting constellations into the air above the coffee table. Now and again there is the sound of a snore from Jayce, who is stretched out on Viktor's other side with his head resting in their partner's lap. There is a second blanket thrown haphazardly across his broad body and pale fingers are slack where they are winding between strands of his hair.

When she dares to move enough to look at Viktor after a few, silent moments, she finds him asleep as well, his head tipped back against the couch and lips parted slightly around deep, even breaths.

His neck will probably hurt once he wakes up, Mel muses. But she does not entertain the thought of waking him just yet. They can take care of any soreness with a nice warm compress and the oil she keeps upstairs for thorough massages. For now Viktor is finally asleep again and Mel is content to keep it that way for a while.

So she pulls the blanket up and cuddles closer to him, rests her head on his shoulder and listens to the soft breathing of her partners. Traces her fingers along a pale arm and watches the hypnotic sway of twirling stars until her eyelids grow heavy again.

~

You can find this fic and all my other MJV Week 2022 entries on ao3 as well!

~

Commissions | Kofi | AO3 | twitter | pillowfort

[fenfyre]

MelJayVik Week 2022 - AU

Day 4 of @meljayvikweek - AU

"Oh my god, would you look at that?", Mel whispered, sharp and urgent, repeatedly tapping her foot against his shin underneath the table. When Viktor looked up from the assignment he was correcting he immediately saw what she was talking about. Because on the other side of the yard, behind a row of perfectly planted and maintained flower beds, the pool boy was in the process of taking his shirt off.

Viktor swallowed but his tongue felt sticky against the roof of his mouth. So he reached for the glass of lemonade and took a cool swig, shaking his head as he swallowed.

"He can't be serious", he murmured, still holding on to the glass. As if it could wash away his more figurative thirst as well, if only he drank enough.

They had both been speculating, of course, but neither of them could have really predicted just how ripped the guy was under his plain white polo shirt with the ugly company logo splashed across the back. Sure, his arms were impressive but the rest of him was sculpted to perfection as well. Viktor groaned, low in his throat, as he lifted the bunched up white fabric to wipe the glistening sweat from his face, muscles in his arm flexing casually and khaki pants riding low enough on his hips to reveal the snug white waistband of his underwear. The picture sparked a memory and his eyes flicked back to Mel who was just as lost in the sight as he had been.

"Boxer briefs", he rumbled, pulling her attention after a moment, hazel eyes finding his again. "You owe me twenty."

Eyebrows drawing together she looked over at the pool boy again, expression growing more confused as she took him in, then focused on what Viktor had seen.

"Oh no, no, no..." She shook her head rather vehemently before looking at Viktor again. "Those could still be boxer shorts, I don't owe you anything yet."

It was a strange kind of friendship, if what was between them could be called that. It all started when Mel's aunt hired Viktor as a tutor for her twins. He had worked just fine with them during the winter months, getting their grades up quick and consistent. Then the temperatures begun to rise and they had moved their study sessions to the patio. From there Viktor had a fine view of the sprawling, luscious garden, the pool that had soon been filled and with it, the pool boy coming around twice a week. Blessedly scheduled for the same days as Viktor.

It had not taken long for Mel to show up more often than not on Mondays and Thursdays as well, chatting with her aunt for a polite amount of time before coming out to sit with them. And enjoy the view.

Viktor had seen her in a handful of his classes, rich and beautiful and smart, but never felt the need to talk to her. Until they bonded, rather unexpectedly, over ogling the pool boy together.

"I swear, one day soon I'll just go and find out", he mumbled, attention caught once again by the shirtless man who now continued his work checking the filter. He might have wiped the sweat from his forehead but it still glistened on his back, between his moving shoulder blades, illuminating his already sun kissed skin. Viktor wanted to chase every drop with his tongue. "I'm gonna climb him like a fucking tree."

Next to him Mel hummed her quiet agreement, chin resting in her palm as her eyes followed his every movement.

"I want to eat him alive."

Viktor was sure he should probably examine the heated shiver her purr sent down his back at one point. But not now. Now he swallowed and nodded slowly, tongue swiping out to wet his lower lip.

"He looks as if he would like that." His words earned him a surprised look from Mel. But before he could defend his position a playful grin crept up on her face.

"You think so, too?", she asked, voice low and conspiratorial and Viktor was quick to nod. It seemed they both latched onto the same clues once again.

"Look at him, I bet he just loves to kneel. Body like that with such a pretty face...?"

Biting her lip Mel looked over at the guy again, shaking her head just slightly.

"I can't wager against that, you'd definitely win." She paused, then. As if a few more words were just waiting on the tip of her tongue. Viktor did not know her well enough to read her silence so he waited until she continued: "Maybe we could find out one day soon ... together?"

The words needed a moment to really make it through the different slopes of his brain but once they did Viktor's breath got caught in his throat. He could only stare, silently, at her still smirking face.

But before he could even begin to formulate anything close to a coherent answer they were interrupted by a girl skipping towards them. The younger twin, Leandra, spread out her work book on the table between them, beaming with pride.

"All done!", she called out and from the edge of his vision Viktor noticed the pool boy's attention being pulled towards them by her loud voice.

As he pulled the work book closer to go over Leandra's scrawled equations he could think of nothing but Mel's quiet offer ... and how much he wanted to accept.

~

You can find this fic and all my other MJV Week 2022 entries on ao3 as well!

~

Commissions | Kofi | AO3 | twitter | pillowfort

[fenfyre]

MelJayVik Week 2022 - Celestial

Day 6 of @meljayvikweek - Celestial

It had taken Jayce months of research, tedious combing through weathered scrolls and dusty tombs locked away in the darkest, most heavily restricted parts of the libraries all across the land. The process had been slow and frustrating. But in the end he gathered enough snippets of forbidden knowledge to set off on his expedition.

The journey through the sprawling jungles and sweeping mountain ranges had taken many more weeks but Jayce had come prepared to fight every step of the way, knowing he was on the right track as he found more and more markings etched into cracked bark and mossy stone. And when finally, after days of fighting his way upward and through steep gulches, the oppressing cliffs to his sides opened up and revealed the view of a sunbathed temple atop the mountain, his heart was soaring despite his burning body.

So when Jayce entered the now forbidden place of worship after months of preparing and searching, the last thing he expected to find was another person already there.

The other man was kneeling at an altar b the feet of an immense statue at the far end of the temple. His slender frame illuminated by the many torches lining the weathered walls and the dancing flames of two braziers to both sides of the altar. As he took in the sight of the stranger Jayce wondered how anyone this whispy and frail could have braved the mountain range to get here. But then he noticed the staff on the stairs next to him.

Jayce swallowed, unsure what to do. The mage had not noticed him just yet, seemingly lost in worship as he shaped the smoke from smouldering herbs strewn across a bed of coal before him. He might not take kindly to being interrupted. But Jayce had risked too much to turn around now, that he had finally found what he was looking for.

So he adjusted the straps of his heavy backpack and stepped further into the temple.

He had made it about halfway through the ample, empty hall when the mage stilled the motions of his hands, the smoke trailing after the smooth movements of his fingers dissipating as soon as he did. Jayce held his breath. But he did not stop moving. Not even when the mage turned his head, one sharp, golden eye squinting at him him over a slender shoulder.

"You better turn around, wanderer", the mage warned, his voice low but firm and his words slightly lilting in a foreign accent. "Your gods do not reside here."

"I know." Jayce tried to sound casual as he slipped off his heavy backpack and set it down, his equipment clinking quietly within as he did. "That's why I'm here."

While the mage still squinted at him Jayce took in the sight of the statue looming above the altar. It measured easily fifteen feet and depicted the outlawed goddess in all her revered glory. She was strikingly beautiful, even with her features carved from stone. Her cheekbones high and elegant, her lips full and pulled into a soft smile. Her eyes kind but lifeless.

Her hair was chiselled with the same care and attention to detail, thick strands curled against her head, the thick bands worked into it seemingly made from gold, the pure metal associated with her worship. Jayce had spotted it all throughout the temple, from the golden decorations at the door to the golden plating carved with runes let into the floor, each a few paces apart.

The work on her flowing robes was less detailed but still beautiful, each fold artistically depicted. Her hands hovered above another in front of her body, palms facing another with the fingers gently curled inward, as if she were cradling some kind of object between them.

"What do you want?", the mage asked after a long stretch of silence, now having turned to watch Jayce suspiciously as he opened his backpack and retrieved some of the most important pieces he had taken on this trip. He set them down gently on the temple floors, openly spreading out his intentions, before looking up again at the other man.

"Same thing you do, to worship. And pray."

Dark eyebrows drew together as he watched Jayce work, confusion apparent on his face.

"Why not pray to your own gods?"

And that really was the crux of it, was it not? Jayce gave a wry smile as he picked up one of the offerings. He uncorked the bottle of well aged summer wine and poured it into the bowl of the purest gold he had been able to find. Then he picked up the device he had built, the stylized model of the sun, a glimmering ball of gold with three rings of implied beams. Once he wound up the device the rings stuttered into movement, twirling and twisting around the little sun with slightly stuttering movements.

That seemed to catch the mage's attention. He tilted his head, watching the display with interest as Jayce retrieved his own bundle of herbs to burn in favour of the goddess.

"Because they don't answer prayers they deem too ... ambitious..."

At that golden eyes flicked up to him again and Jayce could see intrigue there now. He gathered the bowl, the herbs and the slowly spinning device in his hands and crossed the remaining distance between them, confident to have shown his intentions and thus calmed the mage enough to join him.

He was allowed to settle on the steps to the altar right next to the stranger, allowed to lay out his offerings with a quiet whisper of the correct ancient syllables strung together. But before he began his prayer he looked to the side, at the man who is still watching him curiously.

"How about you?"

Pale lips parted in surprise, breath halting as the answer got lodged in his throat. A shadow flickered across sharp features, one that Jayce recognized all too well.

"They killed my gods", the mage finally whispered and Jayce nodded. Like they tried to kill her, burning down her temples and banning her very name by the threat of the dungeons or worse. As if she were dangerous. Well, to them she certainly was.

Just like all of the Celestials. Those the people had worshipped before the Empire installed their own gods, leashed and sanitized to keep anyone from earning the favour of something as eternal as a Celestial again.

"So ... you want revenge?" If so Jayce would not be able to blame the mage. Many people were burning with righteous fury still and even though his path to help them did not involve the kind of direct action that was called for by some, he understood their longing all too well. Who was he to tell the oppressed how to live with or fight against their oppression? he was simply an inventor trying to ease their suffering where he could.

That was why he was here, after all. To offer his service, his very life, in exchange for holy revelations.

The mage paused, golden eyes gliding from Jayce's face down to his hands that lay folded in his lap. Then to the still twirling rings of gold around the model sun. Their keen attention made Jayce just a little nervous.

"I want to live", he finally said and the burning determination in his voice was something beautiful and almost terrifying in its inevitability. "And if I do ... I'll exact any revenge she'll want me to."

His words had not even stopped echoing through the ample hall of the temple when the fires in the braziers began to lick higher, shining brighter along with the flaring torches lining the halls. But even their flickering shine paled against the blinding light flaring up right in front of them. 

The empty space between the statue's hands came alive with the light of the very sun itself, the blindingly beautiful orb cradled between her palms like something precious and vulnerable. At the same time dozens of golden flecks began to shimmer along her skin, her bare arms and sculpted cheeks, and even the thick bands of gold in her chiselled hair began to glow as her shoulders rolled, her chest expanded. As if taking a first breath after awakening from deep slumber.

When her eyes opened, slow and inevitable, Jayce found himself staring into the golden light of twin suns that did not burn his vision but soothed his very soul.

When the goddess spoke her voice shook the very foundations of the temple.

"Not revenge."

Jayce could feel the reach of her words saturate every cell in his body. Had he not already been kneeling he would have thrown himself to her feet, awed and breathless.

"Justice."

The single word held the power of an earthquake, making every single stone of the temple vibrate with sheer strength. Right before their eyes the goddess began to shift, slowly drawing her hands apart as she spread her arms wide. The radiant sun rose up right in front of her, shining brighter and still brighter as it passed by her chest, her chin. Her forehead. Until it stood high above her, bathing them all it's light.

Beside him the mage was frozen just as Jayce was, both of them lost in the proof of her power right in front of them. Neither of them would have been able to run even if they wanted to. If they had not come here hoping for less than this. Whatever she deemed to bestow on them they would take and they would be grateful. Jayce felt it in his bones.

"Take my blessing. Restore to these lands what has been lost."

The words had not stopped shaking the temple when the sun high above them shifted and expanded, growing brighter and brighter, larger and hotter. Until all Jayce could see was eternal, soothing light.

And then.

Darkness.

~

You can find this fic and all my other MJV Week 2022 entries on ao3 as well!

~

Commissions | Kofi | AO3 | twitter | pillowfort