Chapter Text
The school air is dry and stale in the teachers lounge, and Jayce’s hair is paying the price already, laying flat and dull despite his efforts to style it this morning. Across from him, Viktor, leaning lazily against the round wood composite table, chatting about theses and new ideas and thoughts on curriculum. His words are quiet but energetic, he has the spark of an early morning man who hasn’t been beaten down by the toils of a long day of labor.
Jayce listens quietly for the most part, taking in Viktor’s movement and body language. The way his fingers graze the rim of his coffee cup lid, the irritated twitch of his eyebrow when he complains unseriously about some mouthy student, the sunlight illuminating the soft wispy edges of his hair. It’s a buzzing crown of golden energy like a halo around his head, the midday sunshine is filtering through the sheer blinds and casting a haze of magical luminescence against Viktor’s shoulders. He wonders for a moment what it would feel like against his skin.
Jayce halts his hand halfway to its destination of brushing gently through Viktor’s hair and redirects it awkwardly to grab his coffee. A clanky swig of room temperature liquid; he almost chokes on it as Viktor pauses his rambling and looks at him quizzically. Thankfully, he quickly moves on to lamenting about the pile of papers he has left to grade before the next block. Jayce rolls his eyes empathetically at this and thinks briefly of offering extra credit to some over achieving student to grade the stack of tests and homework that he himself has been tactfully avoiding. Cruel, but potentially worth it.
Jayce interjects his own complaints and poses his student labor idea, which Viktor takes humorously and seems to consider, before pointing out that most of his students are too burnt out, busy, or stupid to take on such an important task. It’s true, Jayce can’t think of even one student that would grade fairly, or in a timely enough manner that it would actually save him any time or work. Anyways, it’s not exactly ethical, or in accordance with school policy.
Jayce smiles, disappointment drooping his shoulders as Viktor moves to stand up, their brief lunch hour coming to an end.
“If you’ll excuse me Mr. Talis, my next class begins in 20 minutes and I have some overly ambitious students that will surely be awaiting my arrival.”
Viktor smiles as he speaks, clearly enthused at the thought of getting to lecture a room full of anyone willing to listen to him. Thermodynamics is not for the faint of heart, and even then, Viktor pushes the limits of what a human mind is able to retain in the span of a two hour class.
Jayce has sat in on Viktor’s lectures one or two times, and he is completely convinced the man is some kind of genius. Even with all of his scientific achievement and flawless educational record, Jayce sometimes struggles to keep up with the material Viktor breezes through. Watching him scrawl furiously on a chalkboard sparks a sort of kindred spirit in Jayce. That furious drive for knowledge and creation. Jayce has felt that fire. He wants desperately to get the man in the lab with him and see what kind of mad science they can cook up.
Jayce stands with him, gathering his things as he shoves back the heavy metal chair. A twinge of hurt in his chest at the formality Viktor always addresses him with.
“Viktor please, call me Jayce, we’ve worked together for almost a year now.”
Viktor laughs and looks sheepish, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand as he looks away.
“Force of habit I suppose … Jayce.”
Cute. The way his accent curls around his name. The way he hesitates.
Jayce smiles a bit and shrugs. No big deal. He pushes down the warm feeling in his chest, and pats Viktor on the shoulder.
“Good luck with your class today, I’m sure you’ll put a dent in that grading.”
Jayce says this easily, like his heart isn’t pounding at how warm Viktor’s shoulder feels under his palm. his fingertips briefly card through the silky ends of his unkempt dark hair where his hand rests.
Viktor sighs wearily at this prospect, smiles up at Jayce, nods curtly, and takes his leave. His crutch makes dull quiet thumps against the carpet as he crosses the room, and Jayce finally lets out the breath he’s been holding for the last minute or so. his fingers tingle. He heads off to his classroom.