Archive of Our Own

Jayce has always been a dreamer. But since the fateful ice storm that showed him that magic can save lives, he became more aware of how far the dream could go. 

As a child he would obsess over magical theory; stories; legends; myths and all manner of paraphernalia. Capes, wands, books, and pouches filled with crystals and moss he would collect, and even stones on which he would carve runes. Sometimes real, sometimes made up. He would claim proudly that his mother and him had been saved by the grace of a wandering mage. 

Nevermind the fact that for many, his mother and him had been in a dangerous accident and had been missing under an ice storm all the way until spring. He vaguely remembers the questioning from some enforcers. He didn’t remember much from the aftermath. But the before? Oh, he remembered vividly.  

And later, he would learn that his words would alienate him. No one was really interested in listening to him beyond his childish ramblings. His mother would listen with fondness but showed worry as time passed by. Classmates would want to stop playing make believe of magic and wonder and would start to call him weird. Teachers would show concern, calling his mom and wanting for her to stop feeding his whimsical thoughts. 

By the time he made it into the academy, he had learnt to stop talking about magic out loud. His mother knew about his obsession. But he had not expected to hear her thoughts so clear and hurtful at the trial. She truly thought him unwell. It hurt. He felt abandoned. Betrayed. He felt alone. 

He almost left it all behind. 

Viktor had been his savior in more ways than one. 

He had made it so that his research was not lost, had willingly put himself at risk with their experimentation, and had taken a leap of faith on him. 

The first time Jayce had felt what it was to truly be thankful, was when the Mage saved him. 

The second time was when Viktor called him back from the edge. 

~ ~ ~ 

“Am I interrupting?” 

Of course he was. The boy was about to jump from the ledge and he asks if he’s interrupting? Did he not see? Was he pretending for the sake of Jayce’s pride? Or had it been fear? Maybe he hadn’t known what to say and had blurted the first thing that came to mind? 

They had not talked about how that night began. Jayce had been swept in the adventure that followed. Afterwards, it had seemed so distant that there was no point in talking about it. 

~ ~ ~

He’s sure that Viktor doesn’t really understand the depth of loneliness Jayce had felt his whole life. Or at least, they had different ways to deal with their own flavors of loneliness. Jayce had been wearing a persona most of his life. As a child he might have been more honest, but the moment he had realized that it would be best to shut up, he had become secretive. Heck, his only friend was Cait. A much younger child from a house of better standing that looked at him as an older brother that enabled her. Because of that he couldn’t even talk to her properly because he just knew that it was a bad idea. 

But Viktor? He could talk to Viktor. He listened and theorized and made the ideas in Jayce’s head more clear. He was analytical and honest to a fault. And Jayce watched him after that first night. Viktor was a loner mostly because of where he came from. Yes, he was a bit awkward and tends to misread social queues. But that doesn’t mean he’s not well known or well liked. Jayce could sometimes see people (other students, teachers and researchers) wanting to approach him. People that wanted to know him, but the moment they realized he came from the undercity… 

Well, Viktor was alienated. 

Jayce locked himself in his own head. A cage within himself. But that was also a conscious decision. Jayce knew he could, theoretically, look for others with similar objectives. But he disliked the idea of sharing his passion and being either ridiculed or turned away. 

Viktor was locked out. Out of society, out of the norm, out of the academic community. Just out. Most people thought of him as a charity case. A living proof that Professor Heimerdinger needed to feed his own ego by saving rats from the sewers. It was all disparaging and insulting. 

It just made sense that they would lean into one another. 

Jayce was the dreamer who wanted to share the dream. Viktor was the pragmatist who wanted to become more than what was imposed on him by his context. Both met in the middle ground with one objective. To help others. To make change for the world. It was always about helping and making the tools for the people to have a better life. 

Magic saved Jayce. Magic could save others. And Viktor was helping him make that dream come true. So when people talked about Viktor as his “assistant”, it was insulting to both of them. But how can he contradict the people that fund their research? No matter how many times Jayce says partner, it’s like the words go in one ear and out the other. And he knows it’s intentional. Viktor knows it as well. Jayce might rage, but Viktor lets it go. Used to the way he’s seen.

His research is only in his name. And no matter how many times he tells Viktor that it is their technology, their dream, he still kept a degree of separation. For Viktor, Hextech was Jayce’s, mostly. He only helped give it shape. Viktor still wanted to make Hextech work, but he also had the ambition to pursue other avenues of research. The end result was more important than who carries the name. But the lack of recognition burns. It burns Jayce, when he has to sign paperwork, and it burns Viktor when there’s no proof of his contribution. 

Jayce will name him in every single paper. Will cite him over and over again. But that’s as far as what he can do within the academic space.

What could Jayce do when Viktor himself knew that the odds were against him? Sometimes Jayce fantasized of building a lab on the lanes. Of working directly in the thick of it. But reality was that the money was in Piltover. Money they could get legally and without repercussions at least. So Jayce had the patent to his name; House Kiramman had all the tools and funding; and Viktor had nothing.

House Talis is a minor house. Tool makers. Barely a family owned factory in which a couple of workers made a living and even Jayce spent most of his time working while his mother was the administrator. They weren’t old money. The name is just that, a name. It's frustrating. 

Still that doesn’t change facts for Jayce. He’s thankful to Viktor, to his mom and to the Kirammans. He’s also thankful to Mel, for giving the dream a chance. And he’s thankful to the Professor for giving him an education worth something. 

So, if sometimes he pushes a little harder, is a bit careless in the experimentation, or does not take the necessary safety precautions… Well, he just thinks back to the night his life changed for the second time. 

Jayce never put much thought in doing things. He’s all reaction and instinct. So whatever risk he takes, there’s little thought of consequence. The possibilities of success are far more important. The promise of rewards is above the risk. Most of the time. Jayce isn’t as nonchalant about security as Viktor. 

If anything, Viktor takes more risks than him. 

So stepping in front of Viktor when an experiment takes a turn for the worst was as natural as breathing. 

~ ~ ~ 

“What did we say about safety measures?” It felt like the hundredth time saying those words. By now it was a running gag, most of the time it was spoken in a fake falsetto note reminiscent of Professor Heimerdinger’s voice. 

“What? I’m wearing my goggles” Viktor waved his hand in front of his face, an amused smile hidden as he hunched over the workbench and looked as innocent as a criminal behind the bars. Uninterested and completely over the rules. 

“Be my guest”, Jayce knew when the fight was pointless, raising his hands in defeat. Standing aside as Viktor worked, smiling ruefully as he crossed his arms and was ready to pull the plug in case of an overload. Since the first night when there was a risk of them blowing up together, Jayce had understood that Viktor didn’t care much for safety. 

So Jayce had taken the role of either dragging him away or raising a physical barrier before anyone ended up hurt. Scorched eyebrows and a couple of scraps were acceptable. An explosion was the worst case scenario and he had already been through the consequences of one. He would like to avoid a repeat, thank you very much. Funnily enough Viktor had a proclivity to burn his eyebrows because he leaned in close proximity to the materials he was researching. It was almost funny. If only for the toothy smiles he got after a success in the testing. The black soot and  burnt hair smell always seemed worth it in the end 

On this occasion, everything seemed to be going well, until it wasn’t. The pulsating energy of the crystal taking shapes similar to small stars. If Jayce looked closer enough at each spark, he knew he would see a small rune etched into the core of each light. The first time he noticed that he almost choked on his words and had shaken Viktor towards the lenses to look at it by himself. 

This time however, he could hear a faint buzzing. A sound he had not heard before. It wasn’t uncommon to hear some sort of static noise when working with machinery. That was one of the reasons they had earplugs in the first place. There was always a sort of soft hum that seemed to accompany the arcane discharge. And refining crystals into gems had the tendency of creating different effects in the perception. Static being the most common. 

Still, the buzzing sound seemed different, a low deep rumbling bass that filled his chest. Jayce could feel his teeth vibrating and the air around them seemed to have entered a vacuum state. Viktor said something, but Jayce only noticed because of the movement of his mouth. The buzzing had taken over his ears. 

Viktor knew better to turn around from working machinery. Knew better than to look away from a reaction. But something had made him act with urgency, Viktor turned to him. And Jayce could see an expression that was a mix of elation, fear and mania. 

Viktor kept talking, raising a hand to take off the goggles. 

But Jayce could only watch the crystal. How the color changed, shifted, and finally took a prismatic shine that reflected patterns around them all. Viktor’s eyes were wide as saucers, looking beyond Jayce. Behind him, but Jayce had only eyes on Viktor and the machine. 

That was the only reason he saw the crystal creating a sort of mass of light he had never seen before. A rapid expanding globe of fragmented light that shone in colors he couldn’t describe as one or the other. Almost like an aurora, not quite a nebula, more like a galaxy, but less than a supernova. Dark and bright and frighteningly beautiful. 

A wonder and a terror. 

That was reaching towards Viktor. 

He needed to pull the plug. His hands were already finishing the sequence before his thought was complete. And he was moving faster than he was thinking, the thing was still reaching towards Viktor. 

He caught him first, pulling at him but the mass was almost latching unto him. Wide eyed in fear as tendrils shot out towards Viktor. 

Jayce reacted on instinct. Planting his feet firmly, pulling with both hands to drag Viktor, and finally throwing him outside of range. He could see Viktor’s eyes widen, the shifting pupils that set on Jayce, the realization, the warning call in his mouth moving silently, and the denial as he was flung. Jayce saw it all, eyes firmly on his friend’s face as he let go and prayed that Viktor wouldn’t land on his back or get hurt. 

The mass of light engulfed him, something that seemed to have substance and was not only light. It had weight and a feel to it. It burned. It felt consuming but also like it was dragging him. Like it was pulling him. It hurt. A scorching sensation on his skin that rattled him to the point of dragging a scream that was silent. 

He couldn’t see anything. Hear anything. 

There was only light. 

~ ~ ~ 

Darkness. 

He can’t see for the longest time. 

Confusion.

He doesn’t know if he lost consciousness or something else. The disorientation is pervasive and it digs its claws in everything from his senses to his memories. He thinks he should feel as if he’d been put through a grinder. 

He still has a body. His skin is sensitive and it takes a long time for the numbness on his face and limbs to go away. He can’t see or hear for the longest time. Is he face up or face down? Is he on his side? It’s almost like floating in nothingness. 

In the end, sensation comes back in waves. Like being trapped inside his body, but unable to move. Like he’s a separate being moving inside a shell but still not strong enough to move. Is that what sleep paralysis felt like? But even then it was abstract. The body doesn’t feel quite real, but the mind was running a mile an hour trying to latch onto something. 

He thinks of Viktor, hoping he’s safe. The haunting look on his face… 

The sensation of weight comes first. Gravity. With that he understands his position. Facedown. Laying on something firm. Floor? There’s an up and a down. That’s good. 

What follows is a confusing mess of information spiraling and drowning his senses. Hypersensitivity. Cold and something almost wet. He can’t tell the difference at this stage. Smell. Humidity in the air, fumes of some sort. A bit of chemical impact. Something that makes him think of the lanes and the undercity. Pollution. 

Rust. Metal. Blood? Some ferric based components. Is he bleeding? Was someone bleeding? 

“Vik-?”, he calls. But he feels his throat collapse midway in a coughing fit. Dry, painful, a scratching sensation that leaves an aftertaste of bitterness. He begins to retch. Something smelling like rot and fumes fills his nose. 

Only fueled by disgust he manages to raise his upper body before the retching becomes a full vomit. His stomach rolls. It feels as if he’s choking. He’s blind and puking. 

He falls to a side, face up, away from the vile that had left his stomach. The taste is terrible and the burning sensation in the back of his throat at least helps him remain awake. Panting, he looks into the void. 

It takes an eternity before he blinks. Dryness makes his eyes water and inducing his body to react. And keeps on blinking. Good to know that some bodily functions seem to be working.

Sight and hearing return at the same time. Overcast sky, but he recognizes the clouds as smog. Contamination and the smell of fumes (mines? factories), high buildings that are rough looking, industrial, walkways…

He’s in the undercity.

How? The experiment? A physical displacement? 

He remembered the dragging sensation, the burn and then… nothing. Not even his own screams of pain. 

There was pain, there still is. It takes him painfully long to make his body work and try to sit up.. “Ugh…” He drags his hands along the floor as he pushes up. He feels drained and with a dizziness that borders on vertigo. He has to wait before moving for fear of vomiting again. And only when the waves of discomfort subside he dares to move.

Looking around, still struggling to focus his eyes, he barely understands the shapes and notices the smoke and ruin of a collapsed building around him. Considering the placement of the debris and the clear area around himself, it would seem that either there was an explosion or he crashed into this place creating a shockwave that cleared the area. It takes him a couple of moments to understand the patterns in the surroundings. Not an impact mark, but an actual explosion that blew outwards and at the center…

Had he impacted from wherever he came from, the floor would have collapsed. Yet, it’s all smooth. So no impact, but also, the explosion didn’t damage the floor surface, only the standing building around. And it was strong enough to clear most of the area. It made no logical sense. Even the explosion in his apartment had been far more uncontrolled. 

But this one was more destructive in scope. How was that even possible?

Well, magic of course. But that's besides the point. He needs information and to see where to go from here. Wherever here was.

He sat there eyes focusing on what seemed to be a half corroded carcass of a hammer. Or maybe a Warhammer? The proportions were… like something Jayce would have drawn as a child. The hammer of a blacksmith that wielded magic for the people to use. The hammer he used to dream about building with the intention of helping workers clear the path ahead in the mines. He used to draw it as a child and he was also dead set on building it eventually… 

He had never built a hammer. But there was a hex crystal shining within it… refined into a gemstone. And Jayce could only stare dumbfounded at what he was witnessing. A shiver running up his spine with a sense of foreboding.

Movement on his periphery called for attention, tension rising in fear of whatever might come. Turning quickly (perhaps too quickly considering his condition) revealed a slumped form on the floor. Someone covered in what seemed to be armor with their back to him, and most likely someone that had been there moments before the explosion. They were still but seemed to be slowly recovering consciousness and Jayce, for all the disconnection he was feeling, couldn’t help but try to move towards them. Perhaps an enforcer? Someone else might have gotten caught in the explosion and could be at risk. Piltovians lost in unknown parts of the undercity… 

“Hey…”, he called as he crawled a few paces before trying to stand. He was unstable enough to know that he was going to faceplant, so he continued to work the distance on his knees. His vision swimming in and out of focus. “Hey”, he called once more, but still it was a croak more than a call. His hand touched the fabric of what seemed to be a cape of some sort. 

The slumped form was covered in armor. And while touching the fabric of the cape he felt something underneath that seemed like an attachment to the back armor. Did the people in the undercity work with that kind of technology? He should have asked Viktor. Pushing the thought aside, he took hold of the figure’s shoulder and dragged him towards him. “You-” 

He’s unable to finish the sentence. Still kneeling on the floor, feeling the pain of his weight on his knees, he can only look at the light of the attachment which had suddenly sprung to life and was hovering centimeters over him while shining a light on his face. 

A light that was clearly a bolt of energy of some sort of weapon shaped as a hand. And still shaken by everything that has happened, he couldn’t really move much at such a short distance. So he was frozen in place wide eyed and with adrenaline making him watch everything in luxury of detail. 

The figure slowly rose to their feet, but the contraption never moved away from its target. There was something almost unnatural in the way the appendage remained on Jayce as the figure (man?) stood up. And as the armored being turned to him, Jayce could only remain on his knees and slowly bring his hands up in a gesture of surrender. 

There was a pause as the visage of a smooth plate with only openings for glowing eyes focused on him. A mechanical voice echoed from deep within what he could only assume was a mask with some sort of voice modulator.

“Is this a new ploy?” The masked figure leaned their head to a side in what seemed to be a considering gesture even as the mechanical arm remained fixed on Jayce’s face. 

He tried to avoid recoiling for fear of triggering a reaction and tried to look friendly and unarmed. “Look, there was an accident and I-”

“Quiet”, the command was short and clipped. And before Jayce could say something more, a gloved hand took hold of his neck. 

Whatever Jayce could have said was cut short and not a moment later, his hands clasping the other’s wrist but he was far too weak to do much more than that, barely kicking the air as he tried to recoil. He felt a tingling sensation before losing consciousness. 

Around him, the fumes of the undercity covered the scene as the rain and pollution covered the rest of the evidence of what had transpired. The fallen structure looked almost clean from the explosion, but the Herald had not been pushed so far away. If anything the anomalous event had enveloped him and the Defender. But the result… 

The young man slumped into an uneasy dream. 

The Machine Herald had many questions and he would get his answers. 

~ ~ ~

There are strange dreams filling Jayce’s head when he comes to for a second time in an unknowable period of time. Light and dark, flashes of shapeless forms that stretch in an infinite non euclidean geometry, fractals that propagate almost like a fungus but with shapes that seem to have meaning in the inbetween of dreams and consciousness. He thinks of nets, of caves, of surfaces that have been eroded by time and are now left with smooth appearance. Still connected in some way he cannot understand.

He sees his mage, standing on the top of a ravine looking down. He calls to him, but the image loses shape by the time his mage turns to him. He dreams of Viktor, sitting alone in the lab, heavily leaning on his cane while thousands of papers filled to the brim with calculations scatter and fall like snow all around him. And then, he sees… something… he doesn’t know. Shapes meshing and fusing and pushing and pulling. A sea, an ocean that ebbs and flows and… it’s too much. Flesh meshes and fuses and is torn down and apart. Something dark in the corners of his eyes but he cannot turn to look. He’s watching himself through a fisheye and cannot understand how he can be and not be at the same time.

He sees the armored man he had briefly met. A blurred figure that dances in and out of focus. Eyes with that strange glow. The mechanical hand moving around, almost like a curious hummingbird. The sounds of machinery are comforting, but every once in a while he thinks he hears screams. Those dreams are the scariest. 

By the time he actually regains consciousness, truly and completely, he’s utterly confused as to whether he’s dreaming or not. 

Laying on a bed that feels surprisingly warm and cozy. Especially since there’s a sensation of cold air and humidity in the room. It’s raining outside, by the sound of it. The dripping sound echoing through the air as a soothing white noise. Water runs down an obscured window that takes up the entire wall to his right. To his left there’s a desk with a drawing board holding papers and schematics. There are a couple of moveable boards as well, chalk smudged in places, ink splattered paper and graphite drawings tapped all over the corners. The numbers ring familiar to Jayce. Both in shape and in calculation. 

He sits up carefully. The only lightsource is the dim light streaks that distort and reflect on the water at the windowpane. The room is more like the top floor of a studio apartment. But within a few moments of observation, Jayce notices the blinders on the opposite wall from the bed. There seems to be another set of windows. Looking around, the walls are non descript, if there was paint, he can’t really tell the color. The room is a mix of barebones with no personal hand in it, but it also reminds him heavily of the academy assigned dormitories.

He looks down on himself. He can’t find wounds, but still checks his neck, noticing the tension in his muscles. He wraps himself in the blanket that covers the bed. His gloves, boots and jacket that he wears when working at the lab are missing. He’s only in his undershirt, trousers and socks. There’s the small relief of finding the wristband with the rune is still there. Looking around, he finds no traces of his missing belongings. He doesn’t know if they were taken for his comfort, or if it was a maneuver to deter him from running. It’s a sobering thought but the most likely scenario.

How much time has passed since the explosion? Was Viktor looking for him? What about Cait? The enforcers and the council must be having a field day. And since Viktor was the only witness he’s most likely being drilled for information if not downright accused of some plot. Anxiety builds up under his skin. The unknown variables make him hyper aware of how little he knows of his current state. 

‘At least, I’m unhurt. And that means something’ 

He just doesn’t know what it means. 

Standing up, he walks around the bed towards the desk. The cold floor digging into his toes through the fabric of his socks and making him shiver. He doesn’t dare to touch anything, but he looks closely into the schematics. 

It feels like a clock winding up in his head. There’s a sensation of vertigo when looking into those designs. Familiar patterns that he had seen in Viktor’s notes. All around him, there were traces of Viktor in the room. He looks back at the bed, at the position and the way the boards take over the wall. If he were to lay down, he could roll over and go to the desk to work. Even while lying down he could watch from the bed and think over the problems to solve. It’s the kind of thing that Viktor would do. He can actually imagine him setting the cane on the bedside and laying down for the night. 

He turns to the chalk on the board. He knows those numbers. But… everything is too advanced. Viktor hadn’t really had the time to work on these numbers since they were pressured by the council to work on the refining of the crystals. Even the idea of the hex gates are at the early stages of development. There's still a long way ahead… So why was this information here? 

Did someone steal and expand on Viktor’s initial work? Someone from the undercity?

He felt an indignant rush come unto him but it was quickly smothered by the knowledge that those numbers were from his partner. There was no theft. But…

Is this Viktor’s apartment in the undercity? Jayce had always been the one to walk to Viktor’s apartment to pick him to and from the lab. So… Perhaps it’s another property? 

And if he is at Viktor’s place… That doesn’t make sense with what he had last seen after the explosion. Unless he’s having hallucinations because of a concussion. He raises a hand to touch his own head but there was nothing to show for it. No bumps, lacerations or sensitivity. 

He turns to the side, finally walking towards the blinders on the far wall. And the moment he peeks through them he feels like his heart is going to jump to his throat. 

A factory.

He is in a factory of some kind. Clearly it’s not currently working. Lights are dim and no echoing sounds of machinery reaches his ears. Also, the cold meant that there were no combustions taking place. Jayce had worked for years in the forge, he knew the sounds and smells to be expected inside a working facility. This was not one of those. 

But what catches his attention are the rows upon rows of what seemed to be, for the lack of a better term, robots. 

Mechanical beings that seemed to be in the process of production awaiting to resume work.

“What…?” 

Flabbergasted he turns towards the door, testing the doorknob and twisting. Open, and on the other side there’s a walkway scaffolding that guides towards the window he had just watched the production from, and on the other side a set of stairs that lead downstairs towards the production line. 

He feels out of his depth, at first unsure if he should move at all, but he scrunches some bravery to move forward. Walking slowly and with measured steps down the stairs. One hand holding onto his blanket, the other on the rail, and his eyes wide as he absorbs everything from close. 

Slowly, he advances, watching the assembly line which is waiting to be started. He feels like a thief but nothing could be farther from the truth. The constructs are… unique. From what he had understood by the calculations and what he was seeing now, it seemed that this place created mechanical parts of different sorts of machinery. He can see mining tools, pick axes, hammers and hooks. Overall the machines are far more advanced than anything  Jayce had seen. 

He comes to a stop in front of a powered down golem. And golem is the right term. The robot is massive and it reminds him of the old magic books he used to read about constructs coming to life through alchemy. It appears to be on stand by and doesn’t have any connections to the other machines around. Nervous, enchanted and still reeling from the memories and knowledge acquired in his childhood, Jayce walks closer. Touches the outer plate of the fist. A smooth surface with small imperfections that indicate wear and the passage of time.

“Wow”, he mutters while looking closer. He notices the use of recycled materials, his fingers itching to look ‘under the hood’. He’s almost giddy with emotion. “You are a wonder”, he says as his fingers grace the plates near the knuckle of a giant fist. 

“That’s a very kind thing to say” 

The voice startles him, coming as an echo from inside the golem. Hand recoiling and looking up towards the face of the golem. Those eyes shine with a pale light blue that reminds him sharply of the hex crystals. He takes another step back, staring wide-eyed at the waking mechanical… being?

“Uhm…” He mumbled unintelligently. “Hi?” 

“Hello.” He… They? say? The voice holds no specific gender but his first instinct is to label him as male. A thought that is ridiculous considering that it's a robot.  “My name is Blitzcrank. Viktor said you should be resting for a while yet”

“You know Viktor?” He asked in a rush, walking closer once again. The promise of something familiar makes him feel more secure. Perhaps there had been consequences from the explosion and Viktor had spirited him away towards the undercity to hide. Or maybe they had finally gotten exiled.  “Is he ok? I don’t know what happened after the explosion”

“He is well. Barely needing any repairs. Generally confused, but that is understandable. You were his main concern” 

“Repairs?” He muttered confused. “Look, Blitzcrank right? I’m Jayce Talis. Viktor is my partner and… To be honest I’m not sure what happened.” He pauses in his speech, heart hammering in his chest as he looks at the golem. “You are a marvel. I… God, there’s so much I want to ask” 

“Talis?”

A new, but recognizable, voice comes from behind. Jayce turns in time to see the armored man he had seen before. Their meeting had not been… pleasant. His fingers pull at the blanket, almost as if treating it as a barrier against the other. He had hoped to have been dreaming. He almost wants the fabled scenario of him and Viktor moving to the undercity instead of… whatever this is. 

“I had wondered…” Jayce replies. Turning slowly towards the newest arrival. He watches cautiously as the other approaches. He remains next to Blitzcrank, feeling safer near the golem (Later, he would realize that it was because the golem knew Viktor. And Viktor would never do anything to hurt him). “You… brought me here?”, he asks after a moment. The silence is unwelcome considering how the previous interaction had gone. He can’t help but look warily at the other, specially at the mechanical hand that remains idle as if awaiting orders.

“Is your name Jayce Talis?”, the man questions.

“It is.” He replies unsure of the other’s demeanor. “I’m from… Piltover. My house makes tools and hammers.” He replies slowly. His hands tense as he clings to the blanket. 

“You are a child”, it was a statement but it sounded like an insult. 

“Look, I don’t know what your problem is.” By this point, Jayce was gritting his teeth. He would rush the other but… there’s a giant robot behind him and that mechanical hand seems to shoot energy beams. An idiot Jayce is not. “There was an accident in the lab and suddenly I’m in the undercity” He can’t help the accusing look he shoots the other. “Dick move knocking me out, by the way. Thank you for that.” He says between gritted teeth. “I need to know if my partner is safe” His nerves are frazzled and he wants to punch the metallic plate out of the man’s face (man? being? Was it a robot? did it (they?) have a gender?).

“Your partner”, again a statement. The guy seems to like those a lot. “Their name?”

“Viktor. I’m… Blitzcrank knows Viktor, a Viktor anyway, and I’d hoped they are the same and that he’s ok” 

Maybe he’s revealing a lot of information with that. He doesn’t like the idea of putting Viktor to risk because he can’t keep his mouth shut. But everything seemed to point out that he was caught in a vulnerable position and he doesn’t have leverage to negotiate anything.

There’s a long pause. Long enough for even Blitzcrank to release some steam and move as if uncomfortable with the tension. “Perhaps…” The man raises a hand to stop the golem from whatever they might have wanted to say. And turns around while motioning for Jayce to follow back to the room from where he had been resting. 

Jayce looked back at Blitzcrank, directing a small smile towards them. “I hope we can talk later. You are…There’s so much…” 

“Don’t dawdle”, the mechanical voice came. Jayce huffs at the interruption.

“How about you give me back my shoes before bossing me around?” And there’s the tone that always got his mom to threaten with boxing his ears.     

He’s ignored, of course, but by then he has gotten a pretty good understanding of his situation. He might not be a captive in the complete sense of the word. And he has established he came from a minor house in hopes to avoid getting confused as a target for ransom. 

But the roots of suspicion were taking root in his mind now. 

Back in the room, the mechanical arm that moved independently, turns on the light in a hidden switch behind one of the boards. Jayce has to blink a couple of times to get used to the light. He enters unsure and moves slowly about the room. 

“What was the nature of the explosion you were involved with?” The question goes straight to the point, the man gives him his back as he organizes the schematics and the papers on the table. 

“I...” Jayce pauses, taking a seat on the bed. He has to stop to think about what he can say and what he can’t. If he reveals his connections to the council he would be in far more danger than necessary. “I was working on a private commission based on independent experimental research. I don’t think I can reveal too much information”. Was that vague enough to avoid suspicion?  

“While I applaud your caution, you mistake my intentions.” The way the other talks makes him feel almost like a professor. “There is no Jayce Talis in the records of both Piltover and Zaun. However, there is only a registered Jayce Giopara. Member of house Giopara of Piltover” 

“What…?” Confusion colors his face. Looking at the other man without understanding anything. He takes a moment, waiting for clarification, but none is forthcoming. “Is this a joke?”

“An extremely convoluted joke if that were the case. But no, it’s no joke.” There’s a short pause before continuing. “I took the liberty of taking a blood sample.” The man turns to him. Cold faceplate studying him, hiding emotions and impressions, but the directness makes him feel judged. 

“I’m not lying.” Jayce replies, feeling the need to defend himself. He felt far too vulnerable in front of the other. No shoes, no gloves and no jacket It’s… disarming. The other had rendered him defenseless in an unexpected way. 

“You are not. Your genetic code shares markers with the Jayce Giopara that resides in Piltover. Markers of ancestry, such as skin tone and eye color and bone density, are different. But you are similar enough to be, if not the same person, a very good if not modified copy” The man approaches him slowly and deliberately. “So, I ask again, what was the nature of the explosion? What were you doing?”

Jayce felt a sensation of vertigo. Perhaps it’s what he has seen so far, the robots, the technology… but he keeps coming back to the board. If what the other was saying was real, which he couldn’t take at face value, then he was in deep shit. He let out a shuddering breath. “Viktor was running an experiment on the stabilization of the hex crystals. We…” He stopped, swallowing slowly. “The council wanted us to keep working on stabilizing the technology and we were hoping to refine them further to a more stabilized state to avoid accidents… I… Where’s Viktor? He… He was there with me. When the explosion happened, I threw him out of range but he could still have gotten caught in the blast.” 

His mind is running in circles. Denial is a strong contender for his formed opinion. The result of years of beating down on his own belief in the arcane while trying to survive high society. He had once been taken by a mage, had survived a winter and been spit out in spring. 

Different scenarios unravel before his eyes, one more daunting than the next. Blitzcrank’s words made him relax for a moment back there. He had been confused and worried. Fear had not set in, not until the proof had started to pile up in front of him. He was lost. He was alone. 

And, in his confusion and fear, he turns to the one thing that is a constant. 

Viktor. 

“Haven’t you realized yet?” The other asks. “You haven’t asked for my name”. 

Jayce remains quiet, hands clinging to the blanket that covers his shoulders and torso. His eyes stay on the other, allowing himself to watch the face plate. “I… didn’t want to believe it”, he confesses. And he can see the way the other steels himself. His body language doesn’t change, but there’s a change in the air. 

“How very like you, to deny me.” The other’s reply is filled with bitter venom. 

“Deny you?!” He’s honestly confused. “What are you even talking about!” Jayce replies as he stands and moves closer, blanket falling to the floor. “You think I would deny my partner like that? No.” He reaches the other and puts a hand on the chest plate of the other. He can feel the cold metal and the vibration of a pump inside. “I woke up from an explosion. Your first action was to knock me out. You are acting like an asshole. And while Viktor is an awkward man, he’s not that much of an asshole. So forgive me If I don’t want to believe that the partner I owe everything to has turned into a right bastard in the span of hours!” By the time he finishes, he realizes he had been raising his voice and that the contraption was spinning light on his face. 

He takes a deep breath and takes a step back. Raises both hands to rub his face as he tries to calm down and not have a meltdown right at that moment.  

“I’m… sorry. It’s just… It’s disconcerting” He ends up saying. “I shouldn’t have insulted you. I’m lacking context.” He tries to relax, watching the other who now have crossed their arms over their chest. “I’m Jayce Talis, son of Ximena Talis of House Talis. I come from a small house in Piltover. A while back, I met Viktor after an accident. He… We are working together to stabilize the hex crystals. I have always been interested in the arcane and we set out to… help the world by making magic reachable for the common folk” He stops then. Making an aborted motion towards the board. “Your research is far from where we are now. So… I… I think that I’ve been misplaced not only in… space but time as well. You sound… underneath the modulator, I think you sound older.” 

“Well, there's still hope for you” The other replies. And that’s a veiled insult. The kind of statement that seemed to come naturally but that still caught Jayce wrong footed. “You’ve been unconscious for the better part of 2 days.” Viktor, and it was so strange to call him Viktor in his head, motions for him to take a seat. “It is within the expected parameters for you to feel emotional upheaval after the distress. Physically, I’ve not found wounds. And your clothes… You are barely out of the Academy, correct?” 

Jayce limited himself to nodding, grabbing the blanket once more and crossing his legs as he sat on the bed. He did not like shouting. Did not like fighting and he simply didn’t know how to… talk to this version of Viktor. Not even a couple of minutes had passed and he felt distressed in this distance and animosity. 

“You are young. It would explain the gap in knowledge. However, there’s an extreme difference between both of our… worlds.” Viktor said. “The Hex gemstones, is an already developed and tested technology in this world. Giopara’s work only refined existing technology. Your world, as you’ve described it, is in the early stages of discovery.” He points towards the board. “It would stand to reason that most of the theories reflected here would be advanced to you.” 

“Viktor was the one that resolved the equations of my work. Up until recently… I had been working alone with raw hex crystals. I had not been able to harness it.” He said softly. “Hextech is our shared dream now. And you are telling me it can be done and has already been done?” 

He could only let out a chuckle that borders on a giggle. “I knew it. It was worth it! Good!” Elation fills him. Awkwardness aside he can only watch the other, briefly distracted by the way the mechanical hand above Viktor’s head seemed to be waving at him. He ended up dividing his attention between the hand and Viktor’s… visage. “And Blitzcrank? Is he also powered by hextech? Did we work on him? Or was it only you? Wait… Is Blitzcrank a Him? Them?” He asked, eager for more information and a bit confused on how to refer to a golem/construct that might be the most clear form of influence of what could be their conjoined work.

Viktor stayed quiet for a while. Just simply watching as he asks questions and relaxes into the familiarity. Still, something seemed to unravel in front of Jayce’s eyes. The air around them changes. Viktor doesn’t seem to be so on edge. And the hand seems to be almost acting independently, making small gestures towards Jayce that distract him to the point of trailing off while talking. 

“It has quite the reach of motion.” He mutters while walking closer, feeling more comfortable with the knowledge that it’s Viktor who’s there with him. He hopes that what had happened was the result of confusion and weariness because of the circumstances. So he tries to aim for normalcy. He just wants to be close to what is familiar, and with that in mind, he approaches as confidently as he can. And as soon as he gets distracted the mechanical hand that had all but threatened him two times before ruffles his hair. A short surprised laugh escapes him, raising both hands to trap the mischievous appendage. “Aren’t you a cheeky little thing?” he asks. And surprisingly, the hand shakes as if laughing, fingers wiggling within his grasp and squeezing his fingers in something between curiosity and glee. Surprise colors Jayce’s face as he looks up to Viktor. He gets sidetracked by others' physicality. “Damn, It’s gonna take some getting used to looking up at you” 

While the rain had seemed to let up during their conversation, cold had settled into the room.  Jayce shivered, but that was mostly because of the way those eyes were looking at him. Holding the mechanical hand that was wiggling within his grasp, he was frozen by the tension in the proximity with this Viktor. And Viktor, well, he seemed to be staring at him. 

Viktor had not taken the mast off, and he doesn’t seem keen on doing it at all. So Jayce is left with the difficult task of reading body language on a body that has changed so much, he doesn’t know where to start. It was going to get awkward pretty fast. 

“So… does this guy have a name?” He asked, raising the mirthful mechanical appendage.  

~ ~ ~

Zaun (as he learns to name the undercity) had a type of fashion sense that was more along the lines of the asymmetrical, so the clothes that Viktor had provided him were both practical and an aesthetic statement: a grey sweatshirt that had a cutoff sleeve on his left shoulder, a knee length black vest to go over and his trousers were more of a dark green work cargo pants and boots. At least he had shoes now and the fit kinda worked with the wristband with the rune he wore. He looked a far cry from the boy from Piltover. And in some ways, he can already imagine what his mother would say. 

Of all the things Viktor could have taken, he’s surprised he didn’t take the wristband, if anything to study it and the possible ramifications of the rune carved into it interfering with the components that Viktor (his Viktor) was working on and that had resulted in the explosion that brought him here (and that had apparently taken away the Jayce from this world). But he wasn’t about to complain.

What Jayce knows by now can be counted with one hand: Viktor goes by the title of Machine Herald, they are in Zaun, and he (Viktor) had been kicked out of the Academy some long years ago. Still, he seems to like showing stuff from that time to Jayce. Paper clips, a few research papers, some pictures and a couple of gadgets. Sometimes Jayce wonders if he is doing it to satisfy Jayce’s curiosity, or if it’s like he’s testing a theory of how much similar or opposite there is between their realities. Jayce doesn’t mind this kind of investigation, but he would be more willing to participate if it was said as such not… this strange push and pull they have going on. 

There’s a tentative peace between them. It’s not always easy, not by a long shot. Viktor is always on the defensive. He takes Jayce’s comments as criticism and most of the time he talks between insults and charged phrases. It doesn’t take him long to understand that there was a fall out between this Viktor and his Jayce. Although he cannot imagine what kind of fallout it would be to lead to this vitriol. He’s also cagey about information on why he was kicked out of the Academy. 

“We do not know how the knowledge you acquire here would affect your reality. This world will be unaffected from your influence as long as you remain isolated from variables outside. On the one hand Giopara’s disappearance has created enough ripples. There will be a search soon enough. However you have nothing new to bring to the table except yourself. If you are discovered by Giopara’s associates, there’s a strong chance that you would be taken in for either questioning or imprisonment.” He pauses, leveling a look to Jayce.  “There’s a real danger in rushing discoveries. The leap in technology means your world has no safeguards against what you are researching. ”

Jayce’s furrowed brow could not hide his distaste for the comment. “You sound like the professor” 

“If you mean professor Heimerdinger, I would advise you to check yourself in an institution. That swamp hamster has nothing to share with the world except his over inflated ego.” A snort and the sound of a slap fills the room, Viktor looks at him with his head cocked to the side. Jayce covers his mouth looking red in the face. “Perhaps you do need a doctor anyway.”

“You called him a hamster”, Jayce wheezes. And finally falls into a fit of laughter.

“You cannot possibly mean that you have never, not once thought of him as the critter he is, not by race but by nature of self serving stupidity. Especially as he seems to be under the impression he is… cute…” 

Jayce snorts once more, laughter prolonging, shoulders shaking. “Lord, I used to imagine grabbing him by the hair and shaking him to see what drops. I still do when he pisses me off.”

They biker, they joke, sometimes it feels as if he’s still back home.

~ ~ ~

“What are you doing?” Jayce looks up. He’s standing on a ladder working on Blitzcrank’s back. A soldering tool in one hand and the protective gear over his face. Viktor comes from the backdoor that leads to the outside of the factory. He’s carrying two bags with food and necessities.

“Installing a new module for Blitz.” He replies to the question, raising the face protector and walking down the steps. 

“For what purpose?”

“Well, Blitzcrank here says they sometimes work as a rescuer. So, I only told them that perhaps a module for handholds would be useful if he needs to carry more than a couple of people at the time. I’m focusing on the back, since it won’t hinder him from using his hands to clear the way.”

“Jayce is being very kind and helpful” The golem chimes in. 

“That would also give enemy units the possibility to latch unto him during fights” 

“Thought about that, so they can be hidden. Not so different from operating it as your extra arm. Look, the latch must be secured.” He points to the plate that once closed only had a small line that showed where the handholds are. “So the plate moves aside. And while on idle, the handholds remain hidden until Blitz decides to pop them out. Try for a stretch! Aaaaaand there, see?”

“A minor modification then”

“Sure, Yeah, I mean. It’s something that’s small but can help quite a bit. It’s kind of what I learned from you”

“Your Viktor, you mean.”

“Well… yeah. But you are not so different, I think”. 

~ ~ ~

“I didn’t know you were sick”

One of the harder conversations they had was about Viktor’s disease. Jayce knew the bare bones of Viktor’s condition. His partner wasn’t forthcoming with his private life. And while they shared ambitions and dreams for the betterment of humanity, there was a wall that Jayce had noticed at the beginning. Viktor didn’t share his life and Jayce had understood that maybe at some level, Viktor saw himself as the work he did and not the body he lived in.

“I mean, I knew something was up. I realized that Viktor was coughing more often, and I noticed him getting drained. We talked about how to help someone with back problems and genetical malformations… But he never said more than that. I’m guessing that he’ll wait until it’s unavoidable to breach the subject.”

There were many things Jayce didn’t know of Viktor. It’s not that they didn’t have conversations about their regular lives and worries. There are a lot of things they have talked about over time. Jayce had no qualms in sharing his worries and the stress of his life. He loved introducing his mom to Viktor. And Ximena liked Viktor well enough. 

Well… maybe not. Ximena didn’t like that Viktor had pushed Jayce to break the rules and had enabled him in his... delusions. Jayce loved his mother, but sometimes he felt choked by that love.

So they shared their regular lives. They didn’t have deep meaningful conversations every night. An easy friendship with a deep understanding of what they were doing. Viktor had a lot of ambition and Jayce could get the backing they needed. So Jayce sold his face and Viktor directed in the lab. 

But Viktor, he specifically didn’t talk of his life in Zaun. So Jayce can only look back into their previous interactions and promise himself to do better. Because he’s not willing to let his Viktor go through everything alone. And maybe, just maybe, Viktor hasn’t gotten used to the idea of having Jayce there to support him. 

Now, however, he’s stuck in this place, but he knew that Viktor’s caginess had a semblance of reasoning. After all, it seemed that in this version of time, war had broken out between Zaun and Piltover. 

“Do not take it as a mark of mistrust. It is simple that I dislike sharing the failings of my body.” At least having a version of Viktor share this understanding helps Jayce to calm down. 

“But you overcame it”

“At a cost. No progress comes without consequences. You can say I’m more or less than human, depending on your position on transhumanism.”

“I never thought much about it. Prosthetics help a lot of people. So I guess it depends on the extent of what you think is acceptable. And well… I wouldn’t know about the reasons behind pushing someone in that direction. There are many things that both you and my Viktor had to struggle with that I haven’t had to”

“All humans face struggles of one manner or another. It is part of life. Yours, is simply different. And for all we know, perhaps your Viktor has a different kind of disease. It could be milder, or it could be worse. Only time would tell.”

“Would you tell me how you did it?”

“If you hope to reverse engineer the process I went through, you will find that there’s a leap in technology that will hinder you. My method will not work unless you have the technological advancement we have here.”

“So it comes down to hextech”

“It comes down specifically to the Hexcore. My take on Giopara’s advancements”

“I need to study your books then. If Giopara had a headstart on refining the gemstones, I could use the information. If I can get the right information to Viktor, a lot of hurt could be avoided.”

“I’ve already warned you about the ramifications of trying to take knowledge from this timeline to yours”

“If it saves Viktor of the possibility of dying, I don’t give a shit about the risks” 

“All heart with you”

“Good thing you are here to rein me in”

“As if forbidding you would stop you”

“That goes to show how well you know me”

“Ah, but therein lies the conundrum. I do not know you Jayce Talis”

~ ~ ~

Time passes slowly, but it passes. One day Jayce notices the shadow of a beard beginning to grow. The itchiness makes him scratch absentmindedly. He also notices his hair growing unruly. He thinks that there must have been weeks since he first appeared here. And while he had been studying and taking notes to try to make sense on how to even begin to go back home, he can’t help the sensation of weariness taking over. 

Sometimes, things are very hard. The sounds of the street fill Jayce’s head with nightmare scenarios. There are times where he can hear screams in the middle of the night, other times those extend into the day. He lies awake in his bed, trying to look into what equations he knows and what knowledge he can get about the short lessons Viktor gives him. 

Some nights he wakes from nightmares feeling as if he’s going to get ripped out from his own skin. Nights of uneasy sleep where he seeks Viktor for a cup of sweetmilk and stays until dawn or until Jayce falls asleep on a ratty couch in the corner of a workshop (turns out that the factory is only one of Viktor’s safehouses. And the room Jayce woke up in, was Viktor’s. He had tried to ask if he needed to move or find some other place to crash. But Viktor wouldn’t let him leave. This scared Jayce, just as much as it comforted him). 

There are also times where Jayce feels panic swallow him at the possibility of not returning home. Feels the fear and terror of everything he left behind. And those times are the worst, because Viktor is shit comforting him. Only talking about patience and the waiting game. 

“Don’t you want your Jayce back?” Jayce would ask, holding back tears. 

“Not particularly.” Viktor replies. But Jayce knows the tilt of a lie when he hears it. “I imagine he’s far happier at your home, if that’s where he ended up. If not, he might be long dead. And whatever comes out of you leaving, might only be a corpse or a memory” He speaks so distractedly and nonchalant, his mechanical hand shooting the laser to cut small pieces of metal that Viktor uses to solder into his own mechanical hand.

“I don’t understand. Do you hate him?”

“It’s… complicated.”

“Well, tell me about him. Tell me about what he did. Maybe I can help you understand what he’s thinking” Jayce is not really interested in knowing his counterpart. But at this point he thinks he needs to learn about this version of them if only to avoid the pits and downfalls of their relationship. 

Jayce doesn’t like the idea of living in a world where Viktor hates him.  

“I do not think you share that much of the same life experiences to grasp a full understanding” Viktor replies, not looking at him. He tests his hand range of motion, but the hovering mechanical hand turns to Jayce. Those fingers give him the ‘ok’ sign. 

“But I might have enough of an idea to help you with that” 

“Fine, but it’s not a pretty story”

And it isn’t. It’s sad and frustrating and by the end of it Jayce wants to punch someone. Perhaps Giopara, or Heimerdinger, or even Viktor himself. 

“So… Ok… He is an ass, on that much we can agree. We are not that much different with the thing about ego and not wanting to waste time talking to people that can’t match our pace”, he says at first, fully aware of the reasons why it’s so hard for him to find people to work and get along with. There’s a reason why Viktor is so special to Jayce. “However!” He says before Viktor can interrupt him. “There are things that aren’t completely clear. And… I think there are things you might not know about Piltover’s society and his house?” 

“Elaborate.”

“Well, I don’t know how the Giopara family’s position holds in this version of Piltover. I do know that most of the families that work in development are tied to having to meet the needs and wants of investors. Not only because of money, but because it’s social suicide to go against it. Was he born into the clan? Or was he taken in?”

“Taken in, as far as I know. I could be wrong. Giopara was never straight forward when talking about his family, but he was rejected by many workers and scientists of the Giopara House because of his attitude.” Viktor crosses his arms, interested in the topic. “You mean that he didn’t intervene because he was protecting his social standing?”

“Yes and no. He was most likely protecting his family as a whole. If he was brought in, that means that there are certain objectives he has to meet or otherwise he can be kicked out. That would mean not only losing funding but also means that he would lose house, support and any form of income unless he had another powerful backer waiting to help him on the sidelines.” Jayce explains at the best of his abilities. “Now, consider that if he is the head of the house, he has to respond to a lot of people. People with families, people that need to work and that by associating with a fallen house could have enough bad reputation to not be rehired. It’s not uncommon for that to happen. My mother had to take over the administration of our workshop after my dad died. And the pressure was enough to drive her to desperation. And well…” He thinks of the blizzard. Of the vacation that was meant to be relaxing, a get away from the grief and the pressure, but the way the weather had turned to the worst and they’d almost died without help. “But beyond that, investors mean connections. If you jilt one, that's a bad reputation that can destroy future associations. Especially in such a closed field. If an unhappy investor takes away their support, they can also easily slander you. Suddenly, you have a lot of people you have to feed but you have no resources.” He pauses. “I’m not saying he was right. But I’m saying he might have been young and scared, manning a responsibility that was beyond him and that could have cost him a lot. And for what you describe of his personality… He might not have known who to ask for help.” He finishes with a sigh. “Granted, I can be mistaken. I’m not entirely sure how much of a difference is between his position and mine, or even if the Piltovian societal structure is different. But what I know is that I wouldn’t abandon Viktor without a fight. Not unless I had something weighing on my neck that could destroy something I find more important than myself.” 

There’s a long silence after that talk. But at least the conversation makes it easy to forget about tears and pain and fear. 

Later, that first talk opens floodgates. Suddenly Viktor asks about his life on Piltover. Asks him to explain Giopara’s reasoning on certain decisions. Asks for his input about things he had seen or dealt with in Zaun. Just… asks. 

“Why a hammer?”

“Well… We come from a blacksmith house. We make hammers. We are the hammer. And it’s a bit of a thing of pride. That’s why I was most surprised by the name difference. My family crest is fashioned after a hammer. Giopara sounds like… Oh, maybe he was brought into the family from a marriage from outside or he was sponsored?. That would explain some things. Do you know if his mom or dad are alive?” 

Some questions are worrisome. The hammer Giopara made was used as a weapon, and Viktor had taken Jayce with him to work on repairing it. And that had led to questions about the unrest. 

“I think you got too stuck in your knowledge of Zaun and didn’t see things from the other side”

“If anything, I believe I was too lenient on my Jayce” 

“Not really. Your description talks of aversion from the start. Maybe not hostility, but clearly you didn’t want him close. You didn’t want to work with him. You set a boundary and you only let yourself get close when you realized that he was smart enough to keep up. You respect him for his intelligence, but I don’t think you ever looked into his morals or wants.”

“I do expect a degree of intelligence from any association. And Giopara is the brightest of them all”

“But he belongs to, as you say, ‘them’. There’s no true collaboration from a place of alienation. At least, that’s how you sound to me. I can’t tell if this is something that you have done from the start or if it’s a result of the time apart and the distance growing. Your every description goes as if you had not wanted to be near him since the beginning. So the end result it’s a given. You set yourself up for failure, or something along those lines.” 

“Even if it had been from the beginning, the end result is the same. There was no real collaboration”

“No. It only proves that you don’t see your Jayce clearly. I mean, take it from me. I’m basically the same person in the same range of age we are talking about. I work with people that share my view. If you were building walls along the way, I would have grown tired eventually. But mostly? I would have been hurt.”

“Emotional dependency and work life should not be mixed. I hope you know that”

“Oh, I do. Believe me. My mother might have taken the managerial role of the Talis workshop, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have to deal with people. I’m the heir, and as soon as I was put to trial, I got shot down very quickly from the succession line”

“Trial?”

“Ehmm, a story for another time. What I mean is… What brought me and Viktor together was the passion for discovery and the want to help the world. If you were presented in the same way, if you shared the same motivations then, your Jayce thought as me. And likely, he was full on board with working with you. Sharing everything to make something good for the world.”

Those conversations had also led to another of Jayce’s side projects. 

Not only was he working on a way home first and foremost; he was also learning about Viktor’s disease; about the stabilization of hex crystals into hex gemstones; was working on silly updates with Blitzcrank; was fixing the hammer and.. He was trying to find a suitable way to purify the air from the mines. A way to better the quality of life in Zaun. 

“This is why I began researching Hextech. To make something good. For all of us”. 

“But even if you leave the knowledge, without funding it won’t get far”

“I can do the research. I might not have the money, but at least there can be a beginning of an answer to the larger problem. I can leave you with something that could help others. That’s worth something”

“It is all useless if the answer is inaccessible for the people that would need it. A product only goes so far as long there’s people buying it”

“I know… but we can still try” 

He doesn’t know much time passes. The lack of sunlight fucks with his senses. And there comes the horrifying moment he realizes he’s getting cabin fever. He’s in dire need of a shave and he wanted his bed. 

~ ~ ~

The worst of their interactions comes when Viktor talks about the chem spill, his research, Giopara’s rejection and… the explosion of his lab. 

“Show me”, he says. Because he needs to see what Giopara saw. Needs to understand what could have set the other man so far down the line that had ended up becoming the greatest enemy Viktor would recognize. 

He regrets it the moment he sees the lab. 

The body parts in tubes, the stale blood, the smell of medicine and antiseptic. The way life is suspended and trapped in a frozen state of carnage. Viktor is a scientist, a god complex is to be expected when it comes to becoming a surgeon. Viktor had operated on himself just as much as he had operated on others. 

But now Jayce looks. Makes a circle around the lab as his eyes fill with horror, as the fear grips his heart and the anguish of knowledge weighs on him. He tries to understand, but he simply cannot wrap his head around what he sees. He tries to think of how this saves people. How this can help people. But he can only see the indifference. He doesn’t speak then. But at one point he sees a saw blade and has to excuse himself from the room for fear of breaking down. 

There had been a brain in a jar. That wasn’t the horror. The horror came from the knowledge that the brain was fully functional, and the person there was awaiting a transplant in order to take over a mechanical body. 

He pukes outside under Viktor's watchful gaze. 

“Thank you for waiting to be outside before vomiting” 

Jayce has to choke back a hysterical laugh as he retches. He’s panting. And he feels the instant regret of having insisted on going down to see this lab. He regrets the request just as much as he regrets the knowledge that Viktor is capable of this. But he tries hard, so very hard, to look past the first impression. To look beyond human sensibility. He coughs, straightens and spits the after taste of bile on his tongue. 

“I need to walk and think”, he says. 

“Stay on the lanes, Blitzcrank can watch over you. Don’t stay out after dark.”

He’s kind of surprised to be allowed to leave without a fight. Considering how Jayce had been spirited away by Viktor since the beginning, he had thought that he wouldn’t be able to move on his own terms. 

That’s the first time since the explosion that Jayce is left to his own devices, even if it is under the watch of a keeper. But it’s better to have the cold air hit his face in order to overcome all the bile ideas and sensations that take root in his brain. He doesn’t like pain. He doesn’t like suffering. 

His mother had always told him that he was a sensitive child. A dreamer with his head on the clouds. That might be so. She knew him best after all. But he couldn’t help but look into that room and see pain. A disconnect. A clinical separation of the body and soul that hurt him. It felt like abandoning his own skin. 

Was it because of his love of magic? Magic seemed more organic. Seemed far more connected to the skim of the soul and the flesh of the heart. So watching that machinery hurt. Even now, thinking of Viktor and his body made by himself… He couldn’t condemn him for what he had achieved. He just… didn’t understand it. How many pieces of yourself can you divest yourself of before you stop being you? And it’s not even about the augmentations, it’s about the weaponization of the body. Viktor seemed to equate augmentation with violence on some level. Or was Jayce reading it wrong? So many things were tools, but tools can be used as weapons. Anything can be a weapon if you are clever about it. 

So why does Jayce see this and think of pain and violence?

Watching the lanes, looking at the people from afar, he notices the physical augmentations. He could see what good Viktor had brought with his research. But he could also see how easily the augmentation became a tool for violence. People are prone to violence. So… what was the limit? What was the line that should not be crossed? 

Is this his background clouding his judgment? Has he been conditioned to see the undercity as a place of violence that he cannot see the good around him? Only the promise of pain and cycle after cycle of abuse?  

Was this the true reason Viktor was kicked out from the Academy? Did it even matter? The past is beyond him. He has no place here, not really. He’s… filling a space vacant in this reality. Temporarily at that (Hopefully).

But Viktor wants something from him. Jayce is not sure what, not entirely, but it begins with being partners. It seems like there’s a fundamental understanding of what makes Viktor and Jayce partners that is missing here. Something got lost in translation and Viktor, being Viktor, is using him as a proxy to learn where the equation went wrong. 

“What do you think, Blitz? How do you see Viktor’s and Jayce's relationship?”

The golem matches his step, mechanical sound from combustion and vapor working on his inner core. The miracle of hextech. Jayce knows their kindness. He would like to think they have a soul. 

“Fleshlings overcomplicate their interactions. It’s sad, especially because they ignore their higher compatibility” And isn’t that a mouthful. “Giopara doesn’t want a world where my kind takes the forefront of progress. And he wants Viktor to be human. But there’s no going back from what he is now. And his advancements have saved many.”

“So you are in Viktor’s side”

“Naturally. I admire his work. I chose my path inspired by him”

“Would you advocate for what he does then?”

“I do not want fleshlings to disappear. I rather like their ingenuity. But they do tend to die easily and aren’t easily repaired. And you forget, they won’t disappear. They’ll simply join another path.”

“You know… Have you ever talked to someone that is old?”

“In what sense?”

“There comes a time in the life of every human being where we know that it’s time to go” Jayce explains. Suddenly marveled by the fact that he’s trying to explain concepts to a construct. “Sometimes, people see too much; lose too much; grow tired of the same things. Death is not so bad. Yes, it’s an end. But it’s a needed end so that new things can come. That’s why for humans the concept of legacy is so important. Your flesh will decay, but it will feed the ground. You’ll give life back to the world. And the sadness is something that only those that remain feel. But then, it becomes a memory. Sometimes it can be cruel. Sometimes it can be hateful. Yet, it can also be something happy.” He looks up to his companion. “Some things are not meant to last” 

Blitzcrank seems to ponder on his words. And the return home (not really, but close enough) is a quiet walk amongst empty streets. 

Viktor awaits him in the room. And Jayce is suddenly overcome with a mix of emotions that are quite indescribable. 

“How did my other self react when he saw the first lab?”

“He blew it up. Destroyed my work and killed all the people that were in stasis waiting for treatment.”

Jayce takes this in. 

“It was a horrifying view.” He says in the end. 

“So you agree with his actions”

“I agree that I would have one meltdown after watching what is considered an abuse of all medical conventions. I did have one, but I’m younger and didn’t have a weapon.”

“Your first reaction was of violence? Repulsion?”

“It was painful, Viktor. It felt like pain” 

“Explain” The Machine herald turns to him, and Jayce now understands why the name and moniker. 

“Tell me, in all the augmentations that you prepare for yourself. In all the technology that went into your body. Did you modify your emotional receptors? Would you do more? Would you take your brain out and stick in a jar while you man a body made of metal outside your glass jar?” He himself doesn’t like how he’s talking. He doesn’t like the way the words come out of his mouth. But he can’t seem to be able to stop and think about what he is saying. 

“If that is what it took to ensure a better result for my research, I would” The Herald responds. “And I did work to dampen my emotions. Your reactions only proves me right on that regard” 

“Don’t use me as an example of your argument. We are different beings from the start and from all of our talks I’m not surprised you were emotionally stunted from the first moment.” 

“How very like you to devolve into insulting”

“Please, you have insulted me since day one. Either my idiocy, my ingenuity, my youth and even my stupid face. You keep taking potshots at me hoping for a fight. Don’t think I haven’t realized that.”

“Pointing the obvious is not an insult”

“Well, that means that you are an emotionally stunted individual and you should accept it as it is. After all, it’s not an insult, is it?” He wants to stop. But his mouth keeps running ahead of him. “You might think yourself the arbiter of what’s right. Erase emotions, take the distractions away from the equation and have the best possible answer. Correct?” He doesn’t wait for an answer and throws a hand in the air to shut Viktor up before he starts talking. “Of course you do. Because being clouded by emotion means that answer is immediately invalid. No answer coming from emotion could possibly be right.” 

“You are talking about the merits of emotions, but that has no place within the realms of decision making and scientific research. You know that the best possible answers come from taking risks and working towards the betterment of mankind”

“But for it to be human it has to be with emotion Viktor! It’s basic! Emotions are what motivate everything. What’s the point in a world that is without it! There’s no need to further develop solutions if you already have all the answers!” He takes a slow breath, tries to calm down and only gets so far. “In your search for progress you have forgotten that there are limits. Yes, you might think yourself above morals for the sake of your evolution. But there has to be a choice. There has to be dissent. There has to be a myriad of options or otherwise we become nothing but a carbon copy of the same entity. Do you really find humanity to be so… bad?”

“Humankind is a flawed race, if that is your question. If you mean the conglomeration of flesh and primal impulses, it is an unnecessary burden that slows progress”

“Emotions as well? Just to be clear”

“What has emotion ever done for humanity except drive people to war? Greed comes from want. And the moment a human becomes greedy, their worst version comes to light. There might be some good in emotions, but whatever goodness it comes, it’s only self-serving. I do good because I feel good. I do good, for society asks me to be good. By being ‘good’ I gain recognition. I gain value.”

“You are being purposely reductive, Viktor”

“Am I wrong?”

“No. Logically speaking, you make sense. You have posed your analysis quite well.” Yes, that was sarcasm.

“But…”

“But in your reduction you are looking at the whole world as something that must be fixed. Tell, what difference is there between slaughtering all humans and changing them into robots?” 

“Are you drawing a comparison between genocide and evolution? How typical of you”

“Fine, let’s go the other way. What happens when you win?”

“Humanity embraces machines, life will be extended, wounds will be healed and all of mankind will be a united front.”

“Will they?”

“Of course. What do you think would happen?”

“Would there be a reason to keep going if there is no motivation to do so?”

“Motivation?”

“If a person, an entity, has no want or need. Why would they evolve? Wouldn’t they stagnate? Wouldn’t they grow silent and complacent? There is no emotion, as you said. So there’s no enjoyment. If you don’t enjoy, if you don’t want, if you don’t care, why would you even bother? Don’t you see it?”

“See what?”

“If there’s no emotion, no drive and no passion… How is it any different from committing a slow progressing suicide on a mass scale?”

“Please Jayce, you are being willfully obtuse”

“Of course I am. I know what it’s like to stand on the edge and be ready to let yourself fall because everything that you ever cared about fell apart. It’s so scary but also liberating. You feel so overwhelmed and everything seems pointless. There’s no reason to wake up in the morning. No reason to do anything. Why even bother? It will all amount to nothing. You live, you die. That’s it. Maybe you will be remembered for a little while, but is it worth it? No. At the edge? It’s meaningless. You’d rather stop the black thing in your chest that clouds your thoughts because you know viscerally that nothing matters.” He’s oversharing. about the one thing he never wanted to talk about. “And fixing death? As if it’s a disease? Oh, the horror. Forever trapped in a shell unable to just let go of the existence that only brings you pain and suffering. Having to tie yourself because someone else chose to keep you going when you just want to let go. Yes, that’s progress. The use of any means for a greater good”. 

“...What do you mean?”

“Fine. Fine” And he’s talking to himself by then, trying to regain control of his feelings. “I mean what I say. I don’t know about this world. About this reality. About you. But without Viktor? My Viktor? I would be dead at the bottom of a ditch. Briefly mourned, quickly forgotten. Another tragedy at the walls of Piltover’s Academy. I’m sure my mom would miss me. And Cait. Professor Heirmendinger would give an eulogy in my name. But that’s about it. I was nothing, I had nothing. And then… And then you were there…He was there” 

“Of all people… you?” The shock is strangely human. Vulnerable in a way that Jayce can barely register between his own emotional upheaval. 

“If not me, who else? I don’t know about your Jayce, but if he felt as isolated as I did…” He shrugs. “Is it so shocking? Truly? Come on, Viktor. I’m human. He is human. And for all you’ve said, flawed. We are flawed. We doubt, hurt, want, need. And for me, the moment I was at my worst… You were there. You gave me a lifeline. Heck, everyone turned their backs on me. And only a complete stranger was there to stop me from falling. I don’t know why I’m here, but maybe this is the reason. To… just talk to you. To…” There’s a long pause, Jayce raising a hand to rub his face. He sighs, deeply, taking a deep breath and letting all the tension leave his body. He is mixing who he’s talking to. He is appealing to this Viktor while thinking of his own friend. “From the moment I appeared here, you’ve told me how much… better I am to the Jayce of this world. But I don’t get it. I’m… I’m the most emotional piece of shit you could find anywhere.” 

Jayce’s hand falls to a side and he turns to the Machine Herald, to Viktor. “I know what I am Viktor. I know what my flaws are. If I have to number my sins, I have them all. From pride to greed and everything in between. By your logic, you should erase me. Erase him. But we are still around. You keep me around. So… why not end it?” He pauses, hoping for a specific answer, but unwilling to believe he would get it. “Don’t you want… to fix me? Him? To take my emotions away?” He waits for an answer, looking at that unfeeling mask, but he cannot hold it for long. His body betrays him, eyes falling to a side and his hands turning into fists resting on his small back. 

It feels like an eternity. And he wants to disappear from the situation. He wants to be home, at the lab, working with Viktor. He wants to be away from the horrors that this dimension has shown him. And he vows that if he is ever able to return, that he would spend all his time working with Viktor on what was important. 

Raising a hand he rubs his face and walks towards the window that has been a companion since the beginning of this whole mess. 

“We are talking in circles. I think I understand what went wrong here.” He doesn’t wait for an answer or expect one. “But it’s not enough for me to see if I cannot express it in a way that you would understand.” He feels flushed and lets his forehead rest on the glass to calm himself down. “You don’t see the fault in your logic. And I don’t see only the positive results of your work. I see the lack of morals. I noticed the corpses, the state of decay, those weren’t bodies from accidents or people that came to you willingly. I can tell.” He feels frustrated, and in any other situation he would walk away and leave. 

Leave this place and seek his mother or Cait. But they are not here. Not the people he needs. 

“You are simply clouded by your morals. As I’ve said. You are young and naive.”

“And you are old and brittle. Stop doing that, stop talking down to me!” And there it is, the explosive temper. The hurt takes form in the face of humiliation and despair. He turns towards the Herald, teeth gritted and face distorted in a snarl “Evolution, progress, turning humans into machines, killing the joy out of this world. Will you dig my corpse after I die and tear me apart just to make yourself a companion? How about him? Dig his heart out and keep it in a jar and laugh at it everyday for how stupid he was?!” 

“Don’t you dare!” 

The glass cracks behind Jayce’s head. The pain is inconsequential in the face of the anger. The hand on his neck is holding him hard enough to make it difficult to breath, but not enough for him to lose consciousness. The claw is displayed high in a menacing position. 

“You know nothing of us! You are a child that has brought himself into a mess and now thinks that he can fix the world! This is not your place! You have no right to talk!”

“Then fucking kill me if you hate me so much you coward!”

He is shaken by the neck and pushed once more against the glass. He’s gonna bruise if he doesn’t die by the end of this fight. 

“You are like an unruly dog. Mind your manners!”

“Fuck you. You don’t give a shit about me and my manners. If you wanted to understand so badly then you should have known this would happen. You know what you disagree on! You’ve always have! You were hoping that I would give you a different answer! But you are mistaken on one thing!” He pushes up to him, gets as close as the hand would let him (which is surprisingly close). “He never rejected you! He never pushed you away! He only wanted to stop your actions! He has always wanted you back! You were the one to cut that tie!” 

He gets thrown towards the bed. The Machine Herald turns to leave without looking back while Jayce coughs. 

“Get back here!” He calls hoarsely. “I’m not a doll you can throw to a side because you don’t want to hear harsh truths!”

“You know nothing little boy” And there’s poison in that voice. “Conveniently, it’s all my fault. You are only proving my hypothesis. No matter how different your world might be, at the end it will be like this. And you’ll soon learn the true colors of your Viktor. And you’ll be just as disgusted.”

Jayce laughs at his face. 

“You are projecting a bit hard there.” He spats in response, walking up to him. “No, it won’t be the same because I wouldn’t abandon Viktor like that. Because I owe him my life and I’d rather be dead than stand aside and watch him destroy himself.” says in a rush. “But that’s between me and him. So come on Herald, lay it on me. All this time, all the things you wanted to say to your Defender. Spit them. You are not even talking to me anymore!” He accuses the other. 

“Your piltovian sensibilities shine through. You wouldn’t survive a night in the streets of Zaun. You would be slaughtered along with your soft beliefs and disgusting narrative”

“You keep pushing away. You keep acting as if piltover is all evil. Guess what you idiot, it isn’t. Not all of them are rich, some of us are victims of our own people and we do the best we can to survive. Yes, the rich eats us all, and you have gotten the worse of it all. So that’s enough reason to push this work? Where the fuck does your money come from!” He shouts at the end, pushing the other without much impact. “I bet you have a sponsor. I bet you are doing things that hurt others just to make sure you can still do your work!” 

“I don’t have to entertain your childish conjectures”

“Because you know they are real! The chem spill. The accident. You want to give control to another over the worker’s emotions?! Guess what! The wrong person can be bought! Your operator doesn’t exist! Anyone can be corrupted! Every human can be bought! Can be pressured and threatened! And a machine?! Machines can be corrupted just as much!” He’s panting by the end. Nostrils flaring like a bull and red in the face. “Your answer is not perfect. And it will never be. That’s what you have yet to learn” He says with finality. 

He pushes away from the Herald, but his wrist is grabbed. “This conversation doesn’t end because you will it so”

“This conversation ended the moment you already had your answer and didn’t want to see it” Jayce hisses back at him. He tries to wrench his arm free, but it’s stopped by the other. “Let go!”

“No” The tone is pensive, Jayce can sense that even as he struggles to free himself. The claw reaches for Jayce but instead of a blow there’s a small pat on his head. The movement is unsure and Jayce finally notices that there are stray tears on his face. 

“Fuck” 

His free hand moves to his face, clearing the tears away, but he’s still under the command of the other. Vulnerable and feeling as the child he was accused of being. The herald, Viktor, drags him towards his chest. 

Locked in a cold embrace, the tears run freely. He doesn’t sob, and doesn't cry loudly. His pride makes him muffle his own reactions but the longer he stays there, the more disarmed he becomes. 

“I want to go home” He whispers. 

“I know”, Viktor responds, a hand rubbing his back. “I know”. 

~ ~ ~

They are walking on eggshells in the aftermath of their fight. Funnily enough, they don’t want to argue. There’s a silent understanding, there’s hurt but it comes from a strange place. Viktor had been hurt and alone for so long that he hadn’t seemed to notice the bitterness that had tinted all their interactions. And Jayce, being Jayce, not knowing how to process the expectations of the other, had lashed out at the end. 

So they were at an impasse. Locked in a situation in which Viktor had harsh realities to work through and Jayce that had to deal with the panic of what might come. He had known his own Viktor for a few years now, but all of this had only taught him that he had to appreciate him more. Listen to him and.. and what? What more could he do exactly? Viktor was far too intelligent to be locked working under a house. But the money was needed and Piltover wanted Jayce. 

Viktor had no place up top, not for lack of skill, but by origin. And Jayce couldn’t give him that. Maybe adopt him into the house… But that would still put him under the thumbs of higher houses like the Kirammans. Jayce loved Cait, but he wasn’t about to put Viktor under Cassandra’s watch. Not more than what he already was. And while Mel might be the rich presence from Noxus… No. Viktor needed Zaun. 

Jayce had learnt, at least from what he had seen in this Viktor, that they need to return to their roots. And the only way that Jayce could make peace with that, would be to make Zaun a better place for Viktor. A place where, if his disease did evolve as what he had seen here, he could still find a place for solace and not die because of the environment. But how? How can Jayce bring change when all Piltover’s interests were there with the nobility? Just thinking about it gave him a headache. 

Perhaps moving the workshop to the lanes? He doesn’t want to treat Viktor like a charity case. Sighing, he comes to the conclusion that he should probably talk to Viktor before making plans. But his musings are interrupted by the strangest interaction as of yet with Viktor. 

He comes in silently, but carrying a table with a projector. He doesn’t say anything, not at first. He just sets everything up under Jayce’s eyes. For a moment Jayce might have wanted to ask questions, but after everything, he chooses not to comment. And it’s only when everything is set that Viktor turns to him. 

“There’s something I would like to show you” 

“Sure” 

The projection starts. A movie was the farthest thing from Jayce’s mind at that moment. But it’s more like a reel from another time. He sneaks glances at Viktor, but the man is fixated on the projection on the far wall. 

It’s the Innovators competition. A reel from an old presentation. Taken by the image, Jayce falls quiet as he watches. 

And he sees.

“We were younger then. More naive” Viktor says, his words holding the sounds of the modulator behind the mask that not once, in all this time, had he taken off. “I used to fight many of the professors, contesting their views and demanding better answers outside of tradition. Jayce…” He turns to look at him, knowing that the pensive tone and dreamlike tone are dedicated to his other self. “He was a nightmare to work with. Too proud, too asinine, and mostly an utter ass. Always pointing out the stupidity of others… But we were good partners” 

Jayce watches the projection, the image of the younger Viktor on the stage and the broad smile of the famous Jayce Giopara. “He does have a smile that makes one want to punch them”. 

“He truly does. But once you look past his attitude, he’s someone you can trust to get things done”

“That’s why you wanted him to understand you. Right?”

“If him, with all his intelligence cannot see the answer, then there must be something fundamentally flawed in either his brain or my equation.”

“It’s not that simple Viktor.” Jayce turns on the bed to look at him. “Your premise comes from a place of isolation. So your answer is logical but unyielding. You are not letting space for correction.” The metal visage turns to him as the light shines on the wall, casting shadows and colors between grey and gold over them. 

“So you think the answer is my flexibility.”

“I think you both need to find the middle ground and work on the root of the issue. There are things that can be solved, but flipping the table because you don’t like the board seems too radical for someone that actually enjoys their humanity.” He raises a hand, watching the light of ripple as his fingers interrupt the projection. His eyes settle back on the projection, on the more familiar visage of the Viktor he knows. “I wish I could just pour liquid gold in the places where Viktor feels broken.”

“Do you fashion him as something to be fixed? I don’t have to tell you how insulting that is. And how against your argument it goes” There’s a shift behind him from his companion. His voice was distorted by the mechanical apparatus. A cadence that seems more curious than judgemental.

“Back home it’s an art form. Perhaps it also is here.” He explains. “To elevate what has been broken and showing the beauty within the imperfection.” Jayce pauses, searching for words. He has learned to think carefully before speaking. To be clear in his ideas. “I know how he feels, and I see how you feel. You fixed yourself, so I guess you did find the gold within the steel.” He turns his head  back, hair falling because of the position, to show him a soft smile. Truly happy for him. “But my partner is still struggling to find a cure. And I want to help”

“If he chooses to take the same road as me, will you accept it?” There’s no pause in the Herald’s voice. Decisive and curious. Jayce knew he was regarded as an anomaly. The differences, from what Jayce has learnt so far, are shocking.

“Of course", he replies without doubt. Rolling on the bed to rest on his belly and watch the other. “I want him to live. I just… I can’t imagine living without feelings. Like, if there’s no passion, how does it work?” He can’t help the struggle between what he knows and what he has seen. He cannot accept a world that’s so… utilitarian.

“You find me strange”, the Herald says. Head tilted to a side in a projection of emotion. Inquisitive. 

“I find you fascinating. I see what you mean, but that doesn’t mean I actually understand it.” Jayce clarifies, raising his eyebrows and looking at the other’s form. “You know me, could you imagine me without emotions?” He asks softly.

“No”, a short clipped answer that in the rush could be construed as distaste. “It would not suit you.”

Rapport is found, finally. The ebb and flow of their interactions turns the whole experience into a dream that Jayce can barely begin to understand. He doesn’t quite know how long he’s been gone, time in Zaun is marked by the mechanical clocks as the light of day and stars are mostly lost in the fumes of the mines. But a couple of weeks for certain. 

“Why did you contemplate ending your life?” 

Ah, Viktor had the tact of a sledgehammer. But Jayce could appreciate that the other had taken a long time thinking about this, and finally had scrunched up the strength to ask. 

“I was meant to die. I think. Or that’s how it feels.” He begins and Viktor’s attention on him is focused. He feels as if he’s under the gaze of a predator waiting for a weak point. “When my father died, my mom wasn’t doing well. So we took a vacation, it was late fall and early winter. We were taking a hike in the mountains.” 

He tells him about the weather changing. The storm. The cold. The shape of his mother as she slowly froze over. Tells him about screaming into the storm and finally seeing someone there. The fear as he was about to leave. And then… The magic. 

“There is nothing more profound and beautiful than what I saw then. The way time and space changed. How it took us from the moment of death to early spring.” He closes his eyes, fingers moving over his arm brace, the way the rune was so familiar under his finger. Rubbing back and forth. “That was the first time I touched death. But it ignited a craving in me that… not many understood. And as you’ve said, here the technology was ready to be used. My attempts… well. I got kicked out of the Academy and exiled from Piltover.”

Viktor lets out a laugh that’s closer to a bark. 

“Of course. Of course” Viktor doesn’t interrupt, but there are words he clearly wants to say. “Of course the version of you that takes the time to listen, is the one that has had the closest experience to me” 

Jayce doesn’t have anything to say to that, merely shrugging his shoulders in a helpless movement. 

“The result was obvious, I went to trial. I was stripped from my research, all was to be destroyed. I wasn’t mistreated. But I was labeled as an irresponsible and dangerous individual.” He continues. “My mother testified.”

“She tried to keep you safe.” 

“She did. But she also treated me as a lost child that has delusions with good intentions. Misguided, I think she called me”. He shakes his head. “So there I am, abandoned by family, without my life’s work, without a road ahead, alone in the most complete sense of the word, so I didn’t think”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t think when it comes to emotions, Viktor. I only knew that everything was lost. So, I went back to look at what was left of my life. I looked down at the rubble of everything that I had built and simply...” He raises a hand, fingers making a soft pushing motion. Almost like a plucking of a string. “I almost let myself fall. If not for Viktor.” 

“There must have been other underlying reasons.” Viktor interrupts. “You are not the kind of person that takes adversity and lets yourself be beaten into the ground.”

“Well… Maybe I’m a more broken version of the Jayce you know. Because I was about to do just that. I had lost meaning and direction. My family and only friend that I had at the time didn’t have anything to say to me. I was utterly alone in the world for the first time. A dream broken… Nothing left.”

“You are quite dramatic.”

“Why yes I am.”

“And now? Do you still feel that impulse?”

“No. Not like that. I have people I love waiting for me. I have a reason to return. And I owe it to Viktor to give back the chance at life that he gave me.”

“You love him.”

“I suppose I do.” Jayce doesn’t think much about the statement nor his answer. It was just something natural. He loves his family and friends. He loves Viktor. Why should he be ashamed of saying that much? He owes his friend everything. His life, his work, his entire future. Everything always comes back to Viktor in one way or another. 

“But you are not together” Another statement, and this is the moment that Jayce actually looks back at him. It takes a moment to register his meaning, and while he might not be the smartest when it comes to realization of feelings, Jayce does have a bit of self awareness. 

Just a bit. 

“Ehrm… no. We are just partners” He says, but then lets out a choked laugh at how that sounds. “Jeez. Ok. No, we are not together as a couple. He’s…” And then he stops trying to find words. 

Calling him best friend doesn’t quite match. For the longest time his best friend had been Cait. Viktor is… more than a friend. But not a lover in the full extent of the word. “I guess I don’t have a word to describe what Viktor is to me.” He just can show a small smile. Something that’s shy and a little rueful. 

“Would you like to be?” 

“Why the curiosity?” He asks in turn, his thumb touching the rune on his brace as he watches the other. The herald doesn’t quite emote, but the claw does wave at him in a gesture that seems eagerness.  “Well… I… don’t know?” He replies stilted. 

“You don’t know? Is it as simple as expressing attraction or is it not? Do you find him attractive?” 

“I mean… I dunno. I don’t usually think of people in terms of attractiveness.” He doesn’t ‘think’ of people that way. But he does notice people around. There was Mel. But Mel exudes sex appeal as a weapon, so it was hard to not look that way. But if he’s honest, he has had some intrusive thoughts from time to time. When he’s sleep deprived and tired, when he feels lonely, he does imagine what it would feel like to kiss Viktor. He would never risk their partnership, of course. So there’s no reason to entertain such thoughts. “You sound awfully invested in this.” 

“Not invested. Merely curious. You speak highly of him. Even when you talk to me you still show your care for him.”

“Well, yeah. You are Viktor” Jayce replies. And it is as simple as that. “I know I give you shit about the way you treat me because you have this… tension with Giopara. But I do care for you. To be honest, I think I would care for any version of Viktor I’d meet.” 

“Just caring for any version?” Viktor stands, walking towards him. Jayce moves a bit, making room for him on the bed, thinking the other wanted to share space. That would be the first time that Viktor sought to sit beside him. He hears him approach, but the slow steps that echo; the weight and the slowness of movement that is deliberate; makes him nervous. The conversation before had taken his head to places that… are better left untouched. 

By the time Viktor reaches his side, Jayce feels the need to look away, he feels like he’s about to jump out of his skin. He soldiers on, making himself stay where he is. Looking up to Viktor towering over him. They are so close now that Viktor’s body is consuming his vision; the soft hum of machinery filling his ears by the proximity; and he sees that hand rise and touch his cheek. The light cast by the projector shines over him, a kaleidoscopic reflection that almost blinds him. He cannot look away, not with the soft way the hand touches his cheek.

There’s no rush. No push. It’s almost like a request. Not an unsure movement. It’s a gesture that seems soft and makes him wonder when was the last time Viktor had touched someone with kindness. The surface is soft but also weathered by use, still there’s something sweet in the gesture. Jayce feels the blood rush to his head. 

“I forget how young you are.” Viktor’s distorted voice reaches his ears. He’s musing to himself. And Jayce can’t help but wonder how long Viktor has been alone, that his musings are so freely voiced.  “No… I would not fix you. You do not need fixing” 

Only then does Jayce realise that he’s trembling softly. Maybe it’s the words. Maybe it’s the stress. Maybe it’s all the things that had been happening since the explosion until now. Or maybe it was that this was one of the first gentle touches he had experienced in a while. The prickling sensation of tears in his eyes and the telltale pain of emotion choking him. He lets out a small sound, something between a whine and a moan. Something small that is open and without defense. And both of his hands rise to hold the forearm of the hand touching his face. 

“You as well”, he says with all of his conviction. “You are and always were perfect Viktor. I… I always admired you. You had all the odds against you, but… you were never broken. You were never something to be fixed. And… And I’m glad that these augmentations saved your life… I just… I just wish the world had been kinder to you…” He takes a deep breath, closes his eyes and nuzzles Viktor’s hand. He wants for things to be right. He wants this world to be kind to Viktor. But it isn’t. And his words might hold value, but they would be stronger if they came from someone else. “I wish my other self had told you that long ago” 

He hears a soft click and a hiss followed by movement of air. He looks up and instead of looking at the machine visage he had grown used to, he’s looking into a familiar loved face. Older, weathered with lines that spoke of pain and experience, metal grafts on the sides of the neck and face, eyes like black pits for sclera but the familiar gold looking down on him. 

The mask is held on the other hand only for the mechanical hand to take it. 

Jayce is stunned. He opens his mouth to say something, anything, but is interrupted by the other hand coming down to hold his face. Lips come crashing down on him. His eyes flutter shut and his mind goes completely blank.

The kiss is deep, slow and all encompassing. He feels like being swallowed. He moans, eyes half open in a confused mess and a whimper escapes him as a questing tongue pushes past his lips. He’s never kissed someone bigger than him. Never had to crane his neck back or felt so overtaken by someone. Viktor is a bit taller than him in this world, stronger and more experienced. The taste is shocking in its warmth and the aftertaste of something almost chemical. It’s a human tongue, or as close to one, but the sensation of it is almost electric. Jayce can’t tell if that’s because of the machinery or because he’s kissing Viktor. 

Jayce is no blushing virgin. But that kiss destroys his thoughts and takes over all his senses. He tries to kiss back, unwilling to be just a bystander and carrying a competitive streak, but Viktor doesn’t let up. There’s no give and take. Viktor has complete control and for the first time Jayce understands what it means to be young and inexperienced. 

He feels weak on the knees and is thankful for being sitting. He’s panting into the kiss, feverish and clinging to Viktor by the time he pulls apart. And even though it’s just a moment to breathe, Viktor’s teeth hold Jayce’s lip like a prize. There’s a moment of pain, a soft metallic taste, but Viktor is already licking away at the wound. 

“You make it extremely difficult to control myself, Jayce Talis”

The familiar accent grows deeper and heavier now that the mask is gone. There’s no distortion, and Jayce has never been more turned on in his life. He can feel the tightness of his trousers, uncomfortable and obvious. This was happening. He wanted this. And… And he needed to stop thinking right about now. 

“Fuck Viktor…” he groans. He looks at the other, fascinated by those eyes. Taken by the marks of age and the strangeness of the kind and metal under his fingers. There are no words he could say now, he just wants. “I want- Can we?” He’s leaning closer to Viktor, pushing against an immovable force. And the smirk that meets his eyes just makes him want more. 

“Did you ever wonder about your Viktor’s kiss? Ever thought of his taste ?” The hands holding Jayce’s face seem to be the only thing holding him up. A gloved thumb pressing against his lower lip. “Ever let yourself reach between your legs and palm yourself at the thought of him?” An air of possessiveness taking over the older man. 

“N-No..” Jayce stammers, blushing from want and nervousness. The other painting an image that he had never considered within that context. “I only… We never…” He tries to make sense of his thoughts and put them into words. “I only ever wondered about how it would be to kiss him… Being near him has always been enough…” 

“Perfect” 

He’s pushed down on the bed, Viktor making himself comfortable between his legs. Hands both smooth metal and rough at times dragging the fabric of his shirt from his torso. Exposed skin in the cold air and under the light of the projector. There’s no further film to show, but the light stays on. It’s intimate and he doesn't know where to put his hands. 

Looking up at Viktor, he detects the faint glow of those eyes. So, without much of an idea of what to do, he bites the bullet. He frames Viktor’s face with both of his hands, thumbs caressing the parts where flesh meets metal. He follows the cheekbone, the tip of his fingers grazing flickering eyelashes and then moving further. He touches his hairline exploring skin and metal, taking him in. The older man watches him. A heavy gaze tinted with both want and curiosity. 

Viktor studies the way Jayce reacts to the changes. Searching for something. Perhaps disgust, fear or something closer to hate. Maybe, Jayce ponders, he’s waiting for rejection. And as the proud idiot that he is, Jayce sets himself on the task of proving him wrong. 

He leans up towards him, lips skimming along Viktor’s cheek. A caress that he follows by letting his hands move up Viktor’s chestplate. He had not dared to invade Viktor’s space before, but now… He follows the connections, feels the soft hum and wonders of there’s need to touch. 

“Does… Do you feel?” He asks a bit unsure, looking at those eyes. A chuckle is the response he gets.

“Don’t worry about me. I plan to enjoy you.” Viktor replies, pressing down on him. A firm weight that rubs against the right places. “I feel enough. And while some parts hold no pleasure, other parts make up for it.” A roll of hips drags along Jayce’s center and he feels metal casing of a body part that he had not thought about. He shudders at the promise of touch. He had never been as curious about an experience as that moment.

“Did you think of this when you augmented yourself?” He asks, smiling as his hands move up to push the cape out of the way. The claw sets the mask aside on a bedside table and wiggles for a moment as if fully excited. Jayce can’t help the laughter reaching to entwine his fingers with the claw. Letting out a muffled exclamation as Viktor drags him up. Now he’s fully sitting on Viktor’s lap. One hand on his shoulder, the other busy with the claw. 

“I thought about many things.” Viktor replies, pressing his face to Jayce’s neck. Warm lips skimming along his neck. Soft bites and wet kisses make him sigh and lean his head to the side to give him more space. The hand he had on the shoulder for balance slowly moved up following the neck and settling into Viktor’s hair. He rubs there, fingertips pressing against the scalp and massaging. Pulling a bit in his hair. The muffled exclamation on his neck let’s Jayce know he’s doing something good. 

This is the kind of thing that Jayce craves the most. The intimacy, the closeness, the caring. He pulls at the hair, his mouth seeking Viktor’s. It’s not a kiss to fight for dominance. It’s more like a show of love. 

So perhaps, he didn’t only love Viktor. Maybe, he also wanted him. 

Wanted the cruel and the soft. The flesh and the metal. The weaknesses that he wanted to cover in gold and the strengths that were made of pure steel and will. And now, both hands of metal, were kneading at his ass with clear intent. The claw didn’t seem keen on letting go of his hand either. It was a novel experience, to have someone manhandle him in such a way. Not to hurt him, not in a fight and not roughhousing. In this context, everything feels kind of new.

Jayce had never been one to be taken care of in bed. He was used to pleasing and usually that ended with bed partners that sought him out for a good time but didn’t want to deal with him as a person or outside the bedroom. He knows himself for being too much. Too focused on his objectives and with a tendency to grow blind to other things. But now, this time… This experience was promising to be overwhelming. Especially as Viktor’s tongue worked on his, the kiss became dirtier and deeper. Warmth pooled in Jayce’s underbelly, hips twitching and being enticed by the friction to move towards more pressure. The promise of more to come. 

When they separated, he had to wrestle his hand out of the claw, laughing at it as Viktor watched with a mix of amusement and annoyance. Finally letting his hands work on the clasp that held the pauldron in place. “Is this ok?” He asked, watching out for signs of discomfort. But Viktor merely looked intently at his hands, the way his fingers held the latch and released part of the outer armor. 

They had talked briefly of what was armor and what was augmentation. Much of Viktor’s body had to be replaced, but the brace on his leg along with some other attachments were outer works that masked the true extent of what was left of humanity. Viktor had rebuilt himself, but that also meant that his human parts were a bit more vulnerable. “Let me show you”. Viktor says, helping Jayce out of his back and standing up. 

To a normal person, the unraveling of Viktor’s armor would not have been erotic or even interesting. But to Jayce, it was a marvel. His hands helped along the way, removing the brace, plates and parts of the workings that protected his inner body. And with each piece that was removed, Jayce let it rest on the workbench, unwilling to drop on the floor what was essentially a part of Viktor. 

Pauldron and chest place made way to a less bulky frame. Still it was far more built than what his body was originally. The upper torso was pure metal but even so Viktor kept a form that respected human anatomy, ribs and chest along with the innards had to be replaced to make way for the metal works. His spine as well had to be replaced and reinforced to hold up the weight of the metal. Lungs and heart were now artificial. He was a wonder of science that had little use for human parts. The Hexcore, as Viktor called it, served as an attachment that fueled most of his augmentations. As for the rest, his hips had to be replaced, as well as both arms. Whatever remained human, wasn’t easy to find at first sight. He seemed to have saved his bones, and his left leg showed the signs of the first batch of augmentations he had worked on. It made sense that the first works were more rustic, that would explain why a hand had four fingers and was dramatically different in design.  

Jayce had to wonder if his bones were held by some sort of alloy. Perhaps the Hexcore held him in place. Jayce could only watch, eyes drifting from his chest downwards the valley between his legs. The smooth plates from his torso seemed to cover everything, making Jayce wonder where was the hardness he had thought he had felt before. He reached out, a hand settling in what would be the underbelly, but he could only feel the smooth metal. He looks up at Viktor. But Viktor’s smirk was the only warning he had as he watches the way his body… shifted. 

“Exposed genitalia is dangerous in a world like mine” The man that was more machine said. Metal feet carried the man closer to Jayce while the young man watched fascinated as what had been previously a smooth surface expanded into an engorged cock. That was for show. Jayce was sure about it. Viktor wanted to keep his fascination fixated on all the things he had done to his body and it was working. A retractable dick was not something he had even considered in this whole thing. 

“If my body were to blow up, I could reconstruct myself many times. Each time better. It’s happened. So, if I were to make myself perfect, why not also make myself functional?” He asked, left metal hand pulling Jayce by the belt of his trousers. His five fingered hand cupped him through the fabric. “But now, I would like to see you exposed.” The hand expertly held him in a firm grip, stroking through the fabric twice before letting go. “Enough of me. Your turn”

Sweatshirt long forgotten, Jayce’s trembling hands work to take off his trousers. Toeing the boots off along the way. He’s so turned on that it is not even funny. And Viktor is not helping, just watching him with amusement. He had made himself at home on the bed, watching him like a predator on their perch waiting for an unwitting prey to walk by. 

Jayce had never been self conscious of his body. Working at the forge under the scalding heat meant seeing more skin than many. But it has always been about context. And right now being exposed in front of Viktor was more challenging than he had expected. It was because this was Viktor. A more mature and more jaded Viktor. It was still him. Still the person that had shown him beautiful and terrible things. And the weight of his eyes that shone in even under the light of the projector, made him feel very much at display. 

He didn’t feel judged. That wasn’t the sensation. It was more like… He was being drunk. And as he walked towards him, hardness weighing between his legs with each step, he felt very much exposed. His eyes went to the claw, which was clearly attached in a neural way to Viktor. And when Jayce extended a hand, that claw caught his wrist. The wristband pressed against his skin in a comforting grip. Viktor’s arms came around his waist and suddenly Jayce was sitting naked on Viktor’s lap. Both of their manhoods touch and press between their abdomens. There was a change in temperature. Viktor was more cold than hot, so there were goosebumps on Jayce’s skin for that first contact. 

“Come on Talis. I know you want to touch and explore” 

“You sound far too satisfied.” Jayce complained in a whine, but obeyed by letting his right hand move down to hold Viktor’s cock. 

Smooth, almost velvety at first, but firm. The not-flesh yielded to his touch but at the same time was more… firm than a regular cock. Jayce could only watch in fascination as he continued to touch it. He couldn’t help but think about how it works, about the way it had grown out of Viktor’s torso not dissimilar to some other animal's genitalia. Not dissimilar from what Jayce knew about reptiles. Most likely an inverted organ that only extended when in use. But Viktor could will it away. “Now that I know you have this, I can’t help but think of if you have other attachments or if you can change your genitals at will”

It was a silly confession, but Viktor’s amused huff made it worth it. 

“Already thinking of the other ways in which I can fuck you? You are daring” 

“As if you hadn’t been thinking about it”

They shared a soft laugh, falling into slow deep kisses as Jayce took them both in hand and stroked them into full hardness. The differences make it exciting as they are disconcerting. Viktor’s hands move down to knead at his buttocks, fingers passing over his crack teasingly, metal creating sparks over Jayce’s skin. Feeling adventurous, Jayce rolls his hips moving in on an upstroke and down back into the fingers that dig into his ass. 

Their mouths part, Jayce’s nose rubbing along Viktor’s in a skimo kiss and moving up until he’s kissing Viktor’s forehead. The reaction it brings is interesting, Viktor’s fingers dig harder and a few quest further until they rub over Jayce’s taint. Metal rubbing and pulling as if to test how much it can give. 

“You like my ass.” Jayce accuses full of humor. Soft sighs escaping his lips. His hand was beginning to cramp, but the wetness of their mixed precum made the job easy. He can’t help but raise his hand and look at Viktor’s prick. The liquid is clear, and Jayce has so many questions about his reproductive system that he can’t help but get distracted. 

“Of course I do. Don’t act as if you don’t like the attention”, and with that he spanks him sharp and firm. Jayce lets out a squeak of surprise, color painting his face and ears. He looks at Viktor with a mix of surprise and genuine embarrassment. “Focus, Jayce” 

The claw lets go of Jayce’s wrist and moves to the back of Jayce’s head, cupping it and dragging him into a kiss. All the while Viktor turns around and gets on top of him on the bed. 

They were going to break the bed at this rate. 

Thoughts drift after that. Just the sensation of skin on metal. Sighs, moans and wet sounds of lips and teeth meeting and retreating. Jayce feels almost as if underwater. He opens up to Viktor. Not thinking much about what he’s doing or if there’s a deeper meaning into it. He just wants it. And Viktor wants him. That’s enough. 

Briefly Jayce falls into a fit of giggles when he realizes that the claw had dug into the pile of clothing while Viktor had gone down on him to reach for lube. The joke had told itself. But the giggles make way to moans, especially when Viktor’s hands open his legs and he dives into Jayce’s hole with tongue and intent. 

“God!” The exclamation is punched out of him. His hands scrambled along the bed and held onto the frame. He’s completely lost, unable to shut his mouth and babbling without even knowing what was coming out of his mouth. But whatever he was saying seemed to do good for Viktor. Because the way he was getting eaten out was full of enthusiasm. 

Jayce can only look down, bent in half in a way he has never been, and watching his own cock drool over his belly and Viktor’s hare obscure the way his tongue works him open. His muscles contract between the sensation of invasion and the pure want for connection. There’s a slight burn making Jayce try to breath in order to relax. He’s fully aware of where this is going and he’s not scared. He likes it. 

He always knew he was a pervert. What guy isn’t one? 

He just never thought that his inclination would go this way. 

Especially when those robotic fingers move along the rim of his entrance. Tension rises on his body, his hands clenched into fists as he looks at Viktor with trepidation. He’s trembling. “I always suspected you would like this.” The older man says, sitting back on his haunches. The claw holding onto Jayce’s right ankle keeping him spread. His left leg falls to the side near Viktor’s waist. “The way you work on machinery. The way you are curious. Your questions and your touch…” He smiles full of teeth as a lubed mechanical finger breaches him. “You love how it feels to be full” 

The moan that escapes him is loud and long. Jayces hands move up to his face, fists almost covering his mouth as he watches wide eyed how he’s taking Viktor in. “I imagine I could fuck you with my fingers and that would be enough for you”. The pressure builds up, making some tears of overstimulation appear on his eyes. He can’t look away from what is being done to him. And Viktor cannot look away from his face. “You would love that, wouldn’t you? Laying on my lap as I pump you full with only my fingers” There’s dark humor and want in those words. “I bet you would be a good boy just taking me in. Only me”. 

Jayce moans again at those words, trembling and incoherent. Another finger pushing its way in and moving in and out in a rocking motion. Viktor crooks his finger and a muffled shout escapes Jayce. His hands move down to hold onto Viktors thighs. Nails trying to dig in but only finding unyielding metal. “V-Viktor… I…” He can’t talk. Those fingers are disproportionately thick compared to a human hand, and it was rendering him speechless. 

Viktor digs into him almost cruelly in the single mindedness of his search. And finally Jayce shouts, blind to anything but the want. “Please! P-Please!” he begs. Teetering near the edge. Frustrated tears fall as those fingers move away, and finally Viktor positions himself in. 

“Such a good boy Jayce” Viktor whispers. Pushing in without warning. Jayce chokes on his tongue. His hands reach towards Viktor in a desperate attempt to hold on. And the other barely gives him time to grow accustomed, thrusting in a punishing pace. In an almost out of body experience, Jayce is spread open and completely overwhelmed. Loud moans filling the air around them. He feels like he’s being taken apart. The sensation is almost too much. Not quite pain, but so much pleasure that he feels like falling apart right then and there. Each thrust hits his gut and he think deliriously that he can feel him on his throat. 

His eyes are on Viktor, on his expression. The scrunched brow in concentration. His breathing. The way his eyes even half lidded still shine in that eerie way. The darkness and gold mingling under the light of the projector. The sound of his flesh being abused. The way he feels his bones being grinded with each motion. 

“Kiss me… Please… Just…” He reaches up, hands looking for Viktor’s face. 

The claw lets go of his ankle and his leg falls to the side. Viktor’s hands smooth his legs and he holds him from behind his knees around his waist. Laying fully flat on him, they finally kiss. A deep and long kiss as Viktor marks his insides over and over again. 

Sharp hard thrusts slow down into a more deep and slow pace. Jayce feels his fingers curl with the telltale of an incoming orgasm. He bites Viktor’s lips as a warning, holding on to his shoulders as he moans openly. Louder with each thrust until finally his voice breaks. He’s sweating and the warmth from Viktor doesn’t help. Teeth dig into Jayce’s neck. The claw touches his face. 

Blurry eyes open to see the metallic hand caress his cheek and those fingers reach for his lips. He opens his mouth unconsciously. A moan escapes him as the questing appendage touches his tongue. Viktor pulls back and just watches him. His hips rolling into him and using more strength. Finally Jayce cannot control himself, cumming in a long drawn out moan muffled by the fingers in his mouth. Legs twitching and drooling around the claw. 

But Viktor doesn’t stop. He just watches closely, his hands moving up to rub against Jayce’s chest. They cup his pecs, squeezing and rubbing at his nipples. 

“There you go” He says softly to which Jayce can only groan in response. The orgasm had been long and drawn out. And while he waited for it, Viktor hadn’t finished. So he squeezes his inner walls. It’s an open invitation and a bit affronted of being the only one cumming. He gets a low laugh for his efforts. 

And then he gets utterly wrecked into overstimulation as Viktor fucks him fast and deep. He moans and shouts into the claw. Teeth bitting into the metal fingers as he drools and stray tears escape his eyes. He feels Viktor’s tongue on his cheek. And when Jayce turns his face that mouth crushes his in a furious kiss. 

Viktor cums almost silently. Barely a groan to Jayce’s shouts. They both end up trembling and entangled on the bed. Jayce can’t stop holding and caressing Viktor. And Viktor showers him with kisses. 

For the first time in a while they are both fully relaxed. So much so that Jayce can’t help but notice the way Viktor melts into him, becoming more soft in the way he touches him. 

The night is spent like that, an ebb and flow of rocking into each other and pushing for more. They stop, rest, Jayce drinks some water, Viktor fixes something on the bench that Jayce can’t see from the bed and soon falls asleep. He wakes up to those fingers buried inside him, the pressure of an orgasm making him roll his hips into the bed and back towards Viktor. Soft moans in the darkness of the early morning. The projector finally turned off and only the light of the window barely illuminating them. Jayce buries his face in the pillow as Viktor enters him from behind, the claw holding his head and Viktor’s hands finding purchase on his hips. 

“Fuck…” Jayce mumbles and then groans at the slow pace. He’s sleepy, relaxed and doesn’t mind the way Viktor plows into his body. A leg hooking up behind his left knee, making him spread himself further as Viktor rocks into him. The older man is barely thrusting, he’s more rocking into him. Touching his prostate constantly and almost swaying in slow movements without pulling out. Jayce moans once while Viktor sucks at his nape. 

Jayce almost feels like he’s dreaming. 

It’s a nice long dream. 

~~ 

After that first time, floodgates open. Much like a pair of teens, Jayce and Viktor fall into a pattern of experimentation and discovery. Jayce’s libido and fit physique come into play everytime Viktor’s hand touches his hip. He likes the touch and gets hard on the most innocuous of things. Most of the time he just walks up to Viktor and makes himself at home on his lap. The nearness and warmth is always an open invitation. 

Viktor is the one that initiates the most, pressing the younger man against walls, benches, bed and on one memorable occasion the window. 

They are fucking like rabbits. Which makes wonders for their productivity because the clarity of afterglow blows winds of change for every single one of their works. Jayce finishes the prototypes for air filters, using chips of hex gems that under the right conditions work like a net. Or perhaps it would be better off described as a lattice. Light that reflects infinitely through the waves and feeds on contamination. A filter made of light in a way. The first prototype needed some fine work and Viktor’s help in mathematics. But at the end he had a small hand size model that fed on the polluted air around him and let out purified air. The first prototypes had killed a couple of plants, but then he had made it into something that actually half worked. 

“If I had to be poetic, we could say that the arcane feeds on corruption to return the pure components back to the world. Burns the waste with light” Jayce could admit that the result was heavily attributed to Viktor’s knowledge and experience. As well as the advancement of technology here. And while he had already studied what he could out of the shuriman crystals and the history of refinement, he could only hope that he would be able to replicate the work in his own world. So he took to memorizing everything. 

That time, Viktor had bent him over the bench and fucked him hard enough to bring tears to his eyes. Trousers down to his knees, clothing rumpled and one of the schematics sticking to his face from all the sweat. They had laughed at the ink marks on his skin, which had set Viktor on a quest of getting him messier. 

Viktor liked him dirty. He liked to fuck him raw and rough. Jayce wasn’t into pain, and there was something there that was more about Giopara than him. But he did like the way he was comfortable to touch him like that. The slow love making was his favorite, but some roughness did make him feel good. Jayce understood, so it was only fair that once or twice he pushed back and wrestled for control. 

Most of the time Jayce loses, but the times Viktor lets him win are memorable. 

As soon as the hammer is fixed, Viktor takes to drinking while watching Jayce test it. Still sweating from the forge work and looking more of zaunite than ever, Jayce shoots the energy from the hammer towards the marked target. The recoil makes him use his whole body to absorb impact. No wonder Giopara looked so built in his pictures. Jayce looks at Viktor out of the corner of his eye, the mask had been taken off more and more since that first kiss. And currently, Viktor looked quite distracted. They both know who the Herald is actually looking for through Jayce. So that’s the time Jayce sets the hammer down, takes the glass out of his hand, takes a swig to finish it and falls to his knees to make himself room between Viktor’s legs. 

They break the chair. 

Blitzcrank starts to leave the factory for longer periods of time, most likely confident that Jayce won’t run and that Viktor won’t leave him unattended for long. 

With the hammer fixed, Jayce concentrates on the crystal and with half remembered equations and Viktor’s help, they try to replicate the conditions of the explosion that had dragged him into this place. The first test ends up with broken equipment and localised energy charges. Viktor quickly learned to leave during testing as the arcane field affected the machinery around. It takes a couple of weeks. At this point, Jayce doesn’t want to know how much time has passed. He’s afraid of what awaits him upon his return. 

In the end, they had end up preparing a room in an abandoned building for the final trial. 

“There’s a chance you could actually die now.”

“I know, but I don't belong here. And I owe it to everyone else to at least try to get back home.” He looks back at Viktor. “Besides, I imagine that people around here must be looking into Giopara’s disappearance. They are going to come after you soon enough.” 

Viktor shrugs. “They can try” 

“Yeah, let’s not test that”. 

The crystal that belonged to the hammer, in theory, had been the thing that had called Jayce here. Their working theory was that there was a resonance that had opened something like a gate that had exchanged both Jayce’s from their place. There wasn’t really any proof for this theory. The localized explosion on the hammer was the most proof they had. “Are you sure this chamber is secure enough? I don’t want to bring down the building on our heads” 

“Sacrifices can be made. I chose this place specifically to reduce the impact of destruction. At least, there won’t be a roof falling on top of you. I would loathe to have to dig you up… If you are successful, there might be a chance to explore interdimensional travel” 

“I’m still not sold on that. One dimension is hard enough to live in. And greed can spread to many places.”

“The only other answer would be to find ways to lock away your universe as a pocket dimension, and that is very much outside of your scope.”

“Further reason to look for the mage I met long ago.”

“Any mage worth their salt would tell you to stop meddling with the fabric of reality. If it’s advice you seek, you would be better suited to stay here with me.”

“We both know you don’t really want me here at the expense of your friend.” 

“Even so. I will miss you.”

“And I’ll miss you.” Jayce takes two letters from his vest’s pocket. “One for you and one for my other self. I wish I could leave something more substantial to remember me by. But it is what it is”

“I’m keeping your piltovian clothing” Viktor replies, taking the letters. Jayce can only laugh as he is reeled into a kiss. 

It was goodbye. 

“Go. I don’t want you stuck with me in case this blows up” 

“It was good knowing you, Jayce Talis”

“It was an interesting adventure, Machine Herald. Maybe this time, you’ll find the answers you want from your Defender.” 

“If you ever feel as if you’ve lost your place, come back here. I’ll give you enough to find a new place to live” Viktor puts the mask on and leaves. The claw reaches towards Jayce as if wanting to ask him to stay, but neither turn or reach to the other. They both had a place. 

~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~

The light is familiar. And the pain is a hateful reminder of how he had felt that first time. As soon as he had operated the machine, he knew he was on the right track just by the buzzing that filled his head and body. But that didn’t help his stomach at the moment. The darkness, the out of body experience, the similitude to sleep paralysis was… awful. He wasn’t used to it. Not by a long shot, but still it was proof that he had been successful. So he waits, because he can’t do much until his body catches up to his head. 

It does feel like an eternity. Long enough to make him afraid that he had made an horrendous mistake and was now trapped in another place without hope of return. So he tries to will his body to register his heart and his breath. It takes him far too long to notice his out heartbeat.

He moans from his place on… hard surface. Smooth. His hand extends, fingertips digging into it as he tries to get his eyes to work. He cannot hold his head up, hair longer now tickling over his eyes and forehead. His fingertips reveal a cold hard surface, but the texture wasn’t metal. It was more resembling polished stone. Marble? That already put him miles above the cobblestone of some of Zaun’s backstreets.

There’s a deep bass noise in the background. Some sort of vibration. Something charging energy? No, it sounder almost like a sliding sound. Perhaps a gate sliding open or closed? He can only wait, moving his fingers slowly, one at the time until…

Step, a faltering sound, another step. The sound of a soft movement. He feels it on the floor more than he sees anything. Blinking, he begins to try to concentrate on his sight. A moan escapes him, he groans. The air is fresh but there’s no draft, not Zaun and not outside. Blinking some more, he sees spots of light. White on a dark background. 

Stars. A windowpane. He knows that window. That’s the lab window. How had he missed it.

He tries to roll, ending briefly face up, his neck giving him trouble. Movement to his left. Vertigo makes it hard to see what’s ahead of him. The last time he had been puking his guts, he’s hoping this time he can control his stomach. He looks to where he things the source of the sound came and it takes him a while to make sense. 

Viktor. The Viktor he knew. Young, looking weary, tired. He looks in disarray, eyeshadows from lack of sleep, a bit more hunched over, exhaustion in every line of his body. He looks worried but his eyes… 

“Vik-..” He cannot finish talking as he chokes on air. The coughing fit reminds him that the last time he ended up puking his guts, so he prepares himself for nausea. 

But Viktor is there, cane seemingly thrown to a side as Viktor is kneeling beside him. His hand touches his chest and Jayce holds his hand there. Those familiar eyes settle on the brace, touch the rune and finally Viktor looks at his face. 

“You are late”

Jayce would like to laugh, but he can only smile. He squeezes that hand, eyes never looking away from Viktor. And Viktor has a smile that is reassuring. Those eyes shine with unshed tears, there’s so much emotion there. “Hey…” Jayce begins. “I have… a crazy story” 

“Rest now. We have time” Viktor replies. 

Jayce closes his eyes, unable or perhaps unwilling to look for changes. He doesn’t know how much time has passed here. Or if Giopara had landed there. He doesn’t know a lot of things. But for now, he can rest. 

He 's home.