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It’s early afternoon when a knock sounds on the door to the lab and Dorian walks in.
Viktor looks up from his notes and smiles. “Dorian! You got my note, then?”
Jayce turns from his bench, his brow furrowed. “Um. Hi?”
“Jayce, this is my colleague Dorian. Dorian, my partner Jayce.”
“Good to meet you, Jayce.” Dorian nods to Jayce then crosses the room to the bench beside Viktor. He leans back on it, resting his hips against the edge, his knee settling against Viktor’s. The touch is pleasantly warm. “Whatcha got for me, Vik?”
“I’ve written out our needs.” Viktor pulls a sheet of paper from between the pages of his lab notebook. He’s copied out the basics of the structure of the hexgate, then included the details on the safety mesh needed for the base of it. “If you require more information, please, let me know.”
Dorian stands and turns, steadying himself with one hand on Viktor’s opposite shoulder, leaning in to study the notes, his body bracketing Viktor’s. The hair rises on the back of Viktor’s neck, and a heat stirs low in his belly.
It really has been much too long since he and Dorian met.
Dorian peers at the paper. “This is enough to start with, at least.” His thumb strokes over Viktor’s shoulder—a small caress that sends shivers down Viktor’s spine. “I can bring you a few samples tomorrow, if that works?”
Viktor waves a hand. “No need. I must meet with Heimerdinger in his office in the morning. I will visit your lab afterward and pick them up myself.”
Dorian nods, takes the paper, and straightens. “Looking forward to it.”
He winks at Viktor before he leaves.
Viktor turns back to his notes, but after a moment, Jayce says, “How do you know that guy?”
“Dorian?” Viktor looks up and shrugs. “I met him when we were both students at the Academy. We have remained friends since. We occasionally meet up for intercourse.”
Jayce huffs a breath of a laugh. “I, uh, don’t think you’re using that term correctly.”
“Am I not?” Viktor frowns. “What I mean is, we have sex.”
“You what?”
“Surely I am not using that term incor—”
“You’re fucking that guy?”
Viktor quirks an eyebrow. “Not at the moment.”
“Why have you never told me about this?” Jayce demands.
Viktor raises his brows. “Why should I? It’s my personal affair.”
“But we’re friends!” Jayce all but shouts.
“And it is my private life.” Viktor cocks his head. “It is not as though you tell me the details of your sexual exploits.” In fact, Jayce has never mentioned anything at all about his sexual partners. Nor has Viktor. Viktor assumed it was clear that they did not need to discuss such things with each other.
Jayce has gone scarlet. “I don’t— I haven’t— We’re not talking about me! We’re talking about you, and how you’ve been keeping your boyfriend secret from me this whole time!”
“He is not my boyfriend,” Viktor says, attempting to remain calm despite Jayce’s raised voice. “He is a friend and a colleague. That is all.”
“But you’re fucking him!”
“Sometimes.”
“And giving him our research!”
“That is not—” Viktor stops and takes a deep breath. “Dorian is a renowned materials scientist. We need a cage for the mesh beneath the tower. I asked him to suggest some materials. Nothing more.”
Jace is wide-eyed, breathing heavily. “It’s like I don’t even know you.”
“I do not understand why you are so upset about this.” Viktor couldn’t be more lost. They’ve solicited opinions from other people before—even people like Mel, who have no scientific training whatsoever.
Jayce turns away, staring blankly at his lab notebook, a deep frown on his lips. Viktor would very much like to determine the reasons he is upset and set any wrongs right, but he fears anything he might say would only make the situation worse, especially given that he has no idea what caused it in the first place. So instead, he turns back to his notes, working through the equations.
After a few minutes, Jayce slaps his notebook closed and stands. “I need to go to the forge.”
“Now?” Viktor asks, looking up. “But we—”
“It can’t wait.” Jayce doesn’t meet his eyes as he turns and strides out of the lab.
What is going on with him?
Viktor frets over it the rest of the afternoon and into the evening, as Jayce still does not return. He leaves the lab briefly to pick up some takeout, but there’s no sign of Jayce anywhere.
He could go looking for him at the forge, perhaps. But as Viktor is still rather lost, and, as Jayce stormed out in a temper, it may be better to wait for him to come back on his own.
Viktor hopes he will not take too long about it. They are still on schedule, but there is so much yet to be done. And he does not like having this tension between them.
When Viktor leaves the lab late that night, well past midnight, Jayce still has not returned. Viktor goes home and drops into bed, wondering what he has done to offend him so badly.
Yet once he is in bed, memories of Dorian’s knee against his, Dorian’s thumb rubbing circles on his shoulder, come back to him. Viktor closes his eyes and takes himself in hand, remembering other things as well—the way Dorian can take Viktor all the way to the root in his mouth, the whimpers he makes if Viktor nibbles on his earlobe, the stretch of him filling Viktor up, moving inside him.
It really has been too long since Viktor met up with him. Or anyone, for that matter. Tomorrow, he will see when his schedule permits another night with him.
Viktor strokes himself, thinking of it, anticipating the thrill of hands on him, of lips against his, of sweat and salt and spend.
Yet after it’s over, after Viktor has dabbed up the mess and settled down to sleep, his mind turns back to Jayce. Jayce’s frown, his raised voice, his demanding questions—Viktor cannot comprehend what upset him so badly, and every answer Viktor gave him just seemed to make it worse.
He sleeps fretfully, dreaming of the fury in Jayce’s eyes.
Mercifully, Jayce is in the lab when Viktor arrives the next morning.
“Jayce.” Viktor breathes a sigh of relief. “I am glad you came back.”
“Why wouldn’t I?” Jayce’s tone is much lighter, much more at ease than when he left yesterday.
Viktor eyes him. “You were gone all afternoon and evening.”
Jayce waves a hand dismissively. “Told you, I needed to get some things done at the forge. But that’s done now.”
“And you are not upset with me?”
“’Course not. Why would I be upset with you?”
Viktor frowns. Jayce certainly seemed upset, but Viktor has read people wrong before. Perhaps it is only as Jayce says, that he had business at the forge. Regardless, if he is not upset now, better to leave it alone.
They work in silence for a while, save for the sound of pencils scratching on paper and the two of them sipping coffee. As the time for Viktor’s meeting with Heimerdinger approaches, he closes his notebook, gathers his cane, and stands.
“Where are you going?” Jayce asks, looking up.
“I have a meeting with Heimerdinger,” Viktor explains.
“About our research?”
Viktor shakes his head. “Just checking in about my salary.”
Jayce nods, flashing him a grin. “Tell him to double it.”
Viktor grins back and leaves. He does not mention stopping by Dorian’s lab afterward. He hopes Jayce has forgotten that he said he would do that. He hopes Jayce has forgotten everything about yesterday, truly.
The meeting with Heimerdinger goes well. The professor believes Viktor’s work merits a substantial pay raise, which Viktor is not about to argue with. He’s earning far more than he needs now, but as a transplant from the Undercity, he’s pleased to have enough to set aside in case of emergencies. With a body like his, emergencies arise frequently.
The building where Dorian’s lab is located is just across the square from Heimerdinger’s office. Dorian works on the third floor, but thankfully, the building has a lift. Viktor takes it up, knocks on the door, and walks in.
“Viktor.” Dorian’s tone is cooler than usual, and he uses Viktor’s full name, rather than his usual Vik. He waves at a table. “Samples for you are over there.”
Viktor crosses to the table, on which sits a little leather case. He opens it and nods at the neat rows of samples inside. Helpful, for Dorian to make them easy to carry like this. But Dorian has always happily accommodated Viktor’s needs.
Which reminds Viktor about his thoughts last night. “Are you available tomorrow evening?” he asks. “Would you care to meet for dinner? Perhaps come to my flat after?”
Dorian shoots him an unreadable look. “Don’t pull that shit with me, Vik.”
Has everyone in Viktor’s life entirely lost their senses? “What are you talking about? Have I done something wrong?”
“Your partner came to see me yesterday.”
Viktor blinks. “Jayce? Came here?”
“He threatened me.”
“He what?”
Dorian turns, crossing his arms over his chest. “He told me to stay away from you. Told me that, if I touched you again, I’d have to answer to him about it. Why didn’t you warn me? Why did you let me flirt with you yesterday? When you said he was your partner, I thought you meant lab partner. I didn’t realize you meant partner partner.”
Viktor’s breath comes short and fast. “I did mean lab partner. Jayce and I are friends and colleagues. We are not involved.”
Dorian quirks an eyebrow. “He know that?”
“Of course he—” Viktor stops. Swallows.
Is that what this is all about? Has Jayce somehow gotten the impression there’s more between them?
Or is it a desire? A wish? Something he would like, rather than something that already exists?
Dorian grunts knowingly. “That’s what I thought.”
Viktor sighs. “I apologize. I did not realize— That is, he and I never— I apologize.”
“It’s okay.” Dorian huffs a mirthless laugh. “You’ve always been a bit dense about these things.”
“Dense?”
“You never think anyone is interested in you.” Dorian gives him a knowing look. “And they always, always are.”
Viktor scoffs, and Dorian shrugs.
“Don’t take my word for it,” he says, turning back to his work. “Ask your partner. See if I’m right.”
Viktor ponders that, as he carries the case of samples across the campus back to his lab. Dorian has always been a bit too convinced of Viktor’s sex appeal. Dorian himself finds Viktor attractive, so he assumes everyone else must do so, also. Viktor won’t soon forget a particularly disastrous situation with a freshman during his first year as Heimerdinger’s assistant.
Still, something set Jayce off yesterday, and Viktor can hardly believe it was him sharing a few details about the hexgate with a fellow scholar. They’ve shared more than that with other people before, and will need to do so again many times over if they are to realize its construction.
Yet if Jayce was jealous of Dorian… yes, that does make sense. He was so utterly disbelieving at first that he thought Viktor misspoke when he explained that they were occasionally lovers. And it was only after Viktor stated that fact clearly that Jayce became so upset.
Still, if Jayce has been harboring such desires, why has he never said anything? Did he think Viktor wouldn’t want him? That he was somehow not attracted to Jayce—the picture of masculine perfection, with his broad shoulders and straight back, his clear skin and square jaw?
Or perhaps it was less about either of them personally, and more about the nature of their relationship? They are, certainly, poised on the brink of a scientific revolution. The science is sound, there is no doubt about that, and when the hexgates are built, the world will be forever changed. It would not be right, to endanger such progress simply because of a bit of sexual attraction.
And yet Jayce abandoned the work entirely for most of the day yesterday, all because Dorian spent no more than five minutes in the lab.
Viktor must speak with him. He must get to the bottom of this and find a way forward. For both their sakes, and for the sake of the research itself.
Still, he opens the door to their lab with some trepidation. Jayce looks up, and his eyes snap to the case in Viktor’s hand.
“What’s that?”
Viktor sets the case down on the bench. “The samples Dorian promised me yesterday.”
Jayce’s expression darkens, and he turns away, back to his notes. “I don’t like that guy.”
“Yes.” Viktor watches him closely. “He said you visited him yesterday. He said you threatened him.”
Jayce doesn’t look up. “I did no such thing.”
“He was lying?”
Jayce hesitates. “I told him to mind his own business. That’s all.”
“He suggested you may have… sexual desires. For me.”
“What?” Jayce does look up now, fire flashing in his eyes. “You talked about me? With him?”
“He brought it up. Because of what you said to him.”
“And his word is worth more than mine now?” Jayce glares.
This is worse than yesterday. Viktor is making a mess, and he needs to stop it before it gets any more out of control. “No. Of course not. Never mind. Please, forget I mentioned it.”
Viktor goes to his stool and sits, leaning his head in his hands. He’s made things even worse. He should have just left it alone, should have ignored Dorian’s suspicions. Dorian likely misinterpreted Jayce’s words, misread the situation, as he has done before. He saw jealousy where there was only professional defensiveness. After all, hextech was Jayce’s idea from the start. It is only natural of him to be protective of it. Dorian is not the type to steal someone else’s research—nor would he have any idea what to do with most of their work, even if he did have access to it—but Jayce could not know that. If their positions were reversed, Viktor might behave similarly.
“What if I did?” Jayce says suddenly.
“Hm?” Viktor has become so lost in his thoughts, he’s forgotten what they were discussing.
“What if I did have… what you said. For you. How would you feel about that?”
Viktor turns. What he said. What did he say?
Oh, right. He said… he wondered whether Jayce had sexual desire for him.
Jayce is staring resolutely at his notes, but it’s as though he’s looking past them, not seeing them at all. Is this an admission? Is he saying he does have sexual desire for Viktor?
Viktor has been crucially wrong about interpersonal interactions before. He needs to be sure he understands what Jayce means. “Are we speaking in hypotheticals or practicalities?”
Jayce gives a tiny shrug, then shakes his head. “He wasn’t lying. Your— your friend. I did tell him to leave you alone. I shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry.”
It isn’t at all an answer to what Viktor asked, and yet it somehow answers everything.
Jayce wants him.
Jayce is jealous of Dorian because Jayce wants Viktor.
Impossible, unfathomable, and yet undeniable. Jayce stormed out in a temper, threatened Dorian, and spent all day in the forge because he wants Viktor.
They should discuss this. They should be sure they understand each other properly, and they should consider their work, the future of hextech. Viktor should be wary of jumping into situations so fraught with peril.
Yet he has never in his life known how to be cautious.
He grabs his cane, stands, and crosses the lab to Jayce’s bench.
Jayce looks up. “What—”
Viktor doesn’t let him finish. He leans his cane against the bench and slings his leg—the one with the brace—over Jayce’s thighs, settling himself in Jayce’s lap.
Jayce’s hands come to rest on his waist, his eyes enormous. “Viktor?”
In answer, Viktor wraps a hand around the back of Jayce’s neck and pulls him into a kiss.
Jayce gasps against his lips, then moans and melts against him, his arms sliding around him, hands splaying over his back. Viktor teases the seam of Jayce’s lips with the tip of his tongue, and Jayce opens readily for him, pulling him closer.
Perhaps it is just that it truly has been a rather long time since Viktor did this—more than months, now, verging on years—but the kiss is nearly dizzying. Jayce’s mouth is soft and sweet and slick, his tongue slipping against Viktor’s own. His arms are tight around Viktor’s body, one hand on his spine and the other on his neck, fingers sliding into his hair. Viktor rolls his hips, and Jayce moans, deep and full, his grip tightening on Viktor’s neck.
Viktor’s body is alight with sensation—the taste of Jayce on his tongue, the sound of him in his ears, the heat of him beneath his thighs. It is a rush, to feel so much, and none of it pain. Without taking his mouth off of him, Viktor moves his hands to Jayce’s chest, where he begins tugging at his tie and undoing the buttons of the shirt beneath.
Jayce copies him quickly, loosening Viktor’s tie. They break the kiss to pull them over each other’s heads, then crash back together, mouths hungry, fingers fumbling with buttons, shoving shirts and waistcoats open.
When Viktor’s fingers meet Jayce’s skin, shivers race up both his arms. He has to stop and pull back, has to look down at the man beneath him.
Even like this—his shirt hanging from his shoulders, Viktor in his lap—Jayce is unbelievably powerful, the thick muscles of his torso fluttering beneath Viktor’s touch. Viktor runs his fingertips down Jayce’s chest, watching in awe as goosebumps rise in their wake.
“Viktor,” Jayce whines, his voice high and tight.
Viktor looks up into eyes dark with need, brows drawn together, lips spit-slick and crimson, cheeks flushed pink. For him. Jayce looks this debauched, this wrecked, because of Viktor.
Viktor yanks Jayce back to him, licking hungrily into his mouth, holding tightly to him to press their bodies together, skin against skin. He rolls his hips again, pulling a whole series of urgent, needy noises from Jayce’s throat, feeling the hard length of him through their trousers.
There likely isn’t any suitable oil here in the lab, and Viktor is loath to stop long enough to go somewhere they might find some—nor does he want Jayce to button his shirt again, now that he’s gotten a glimpse of the body beneath it. Yet still he needs more—not just for himself, but also for Jayce. He needs to make Jayce come, to watch the ecstasy of it play out on his face, to hear the sounds he makes, to feel his body shudder beneath him.
He reaches between them, yanking open the buttons of Jayce’s trousers, and wraps a hand around his cock. Jayce breaks the kiss, muttering a string of profanity and leaning his forehead against Viktor’s. Viktor gives him a moment to adjust, holding his cock but not stroking it, wrapping his other hand around the back of Jayce’s neck.
And still Jayce doesn’t move, his hands gripping Viktor’s hips, his head bowed and his eyes closed. His cock throbs in Viktor’s hand, despite Viktor’s still grip, and Jayce hisses in a breath.
“Do you need to stop?” Viktor asks softly.
Jayce’s head snaps up. “No!”
He reaches for Viktor’s flies, unbuttons them with shaking hands.
“No, don’t stop,” he whines, “please don’t stop.”
“Jayce—”
“Please.”
Then his large hand closes around Viktor’s cock.
Viktor shudders, a fully-body tremor that starts in his hips and works its way up to his head and down to his toes. Jayce’s hand on him is firm and sure, despite the whine in his voice, despite the tremor in his limbs.
Viktor rolls his hips, thrusting into Jayce’s hand as he begins to move his own on Jayce’s cock, a bead of moisture leaking from the tip and running down onto his fingers. Jayce groans as his eyes flutter closed, and he moves beneath Viktor, pushing his cock into his grip. It throbs again beneath Viktor’s fingers, and Viktor marvels at it, how little it takes to elicit such reactions from him.
Then they’re moving together, a rolling rhythm that would unseat Viktor entirely were it not for Jayce’s strong arm holding him in place, wrapped around his back. Their fingers brush as they stroke each other, each moment of contact pulling a gasp from Jayce’s lips.
“Viktor,” he whimpers, fingers curling against Viktor’s spine, “oh fuck, Viktor.”
“That’s right,” Viktor says softly. “Let me make you feel good.”
Jayce nods, his lips parted. “You do. You make me feel so good. Oh my god, it’s so good.”
Viktor tilts Jayce’s chin up to kiss him again, rocking in his lap, his hand working his cock. Jayce speaks into his mouth, words tumbling out around kisses.
“I’ve— I’ve wanted you so bad, Viktor, you have no idea.” His tongue darts into Viktor’s mouth. “God, you taste amazing. You feel amazing. How are you so— oh fuck.”
Viktor lengthens his strokes, his own cock throbbing in Jayce’s half-remembered grip, drunk on the need in Jayce’s voice, high on the intensity of his desire.
Jayce pulls him in for another deep kiss, thrusting hard into Viktor’s fist. “Fuck, Viktor,” he whines, “if you keep doing that I’m going to— you’re going to make me— is it okay if I—”
He bites down on his own lip, as though afraid to speak aloud what he is clearly on the verge of.
“Yes, love,” Viktor murmurs, only half aware of what he’s saying. “It’s alright, I’ve got you.”
Jayce’s movements become more frantic, more urgent, and he repeats Viktor’s name. He says it over and over, like a litany, like a prayer, like it is his only hope of salvation. Viktor watches his face, watches the tension tighten and tighten and then crest, and he feels the flood over his fingers as Jayce gasps through it, Viktor’s name still on his lips.
The glory of it is devastating—Viktor has seen his lovers come plenty of times but never like this, never like an act of rapturous submission. As the last shudders wrack his body, Jayce’s eyes open and lock onto Viktor’s, and he seems to realize that Viktor hasn’t come yet. He stammers a lot of incoherent nonsense— “I— But you— I didn’t— What do you—” until Viktor silences him with a kiss.
“You didn’t come,” Jayce mutters against Viktor’s lips. “I want to make you come.”
“You will.”
“How?”
“Don’t stop.”
Jayce’s earnestness, tinged with insecurity, nearly breaks Viktor’s heart. Jayce pulls him impossibly closer, his grip still firm, his mouth back on Viktor’s, warm and rich and sweet. Viktor’s desire coils tight, pushing him toward release, and he pulls away from Jayce’s mouth and opens his eyes.
Jayce chases his lips, but Viktor holds him back with a hand on his shoulder.
“Don’t,” he gasps. “I want to— want to see your face when I come.”
Jayce’s face splits into a blinding smile, his eyes so soft it pulls Viktor apart from the inside out. Viktor has known since the day they met that Jayce is beautiful, but this is something else, something entirely new—a brilliant joy that is for Viktor alone, because of Viktor alone. This bit of Jayce belongs to him and no one else, and the knowledge of it is overwhelming.
Viktor rocks harder, Jayce’s hand sliding up and down his cock, Jayce’s smile filling his vision. He forces himself to keep his eyes open as his orgasm overtakes him, to keep his gaze locked on Jayce’s. Jayce himself looks nearly on the brink of tears.
When the last of the spasms finish, Viktor slumps against him, breathing hard. Jayce slides a hand up under Viktor’s shirt, stroking circles on his spine, pressing kisses to his hair. When Viktor recovers enough breath, he lifts his head and kisses him deeply—softly now, and without urgency.
Finally, Viktor pulls away, and Jayce smiles.
“Hi,” Jayce says.
It is utterly ridiculous, and so completely Jayce. Viktor giggles, and he can’t even bring himself to feel awkward about it.
“We should find something to use to clean up,” he says.
“I’ll do it,” Jayce says quickly. “You just— you wait here.”
He lifts Viktor off his lap, turning him and depositing him on the stool with breathtaking strength before Viktor can so much as protest. He rummages for a moment in a cabinet, then comes back with a cloth they once used to polish gears.
“Will this work?”
“Thank you.” Viktor cleans the mess of his hand, still a bit in awe of its presence in the first place, that this is from Jayce. He hands the cloth back to Jayce and begins to button his shirt back up as Jayce cleans up the mess Viktor made of him.
When Jayce is finished, he sets the cloth aside and does up his own shirt—more’s the pity, although now that Viktor has glimpsed the body beneath he can recall it anytime he likes—then rubs the back of his head. “So uh. What now?”
Viktor shrugs. “We go back to work. We have deadlines to meet.”
Jayce nods, then drags the other stool over and pushes Viktor’s notebook in front of him, pressing a knee against his. They both open their notebooks and take up their pencils, and as Viktor begins to turn his mind back to their equations, a hand settles on his back. Jayce runs his fingers lightly over Viktor’s spine, up his neck, into his hair. Viktor glances at him. He seems entirely lost in thought, his other hand sketching a design on the page.
“You need not do that,” Viktor says.
“Mm?” Jayce looks up. “Do what?”
“Touch me,” Viktor replies. “Like that.”
“Oh.” Jayce frowns. “Do you not like it?”
“No, I do, it’s just—” Viktor chews his lip, trying to find the right phrasing. “Do not feel as though you owe me anything, just because we— because you—”
“Viktor.” Jayce laughs. “I like touching you. I want to. If it doesn’t bother you.”
Viktor blinks at him. “It does not bother me.”
Jayce smiles, and leans in to press a quick kiss to Viktor’s lips, then goes back to his work, his fingers still gently scratching the back of Viktor’s neck.
This is… novel. Often, Viktor’s lovers leave as quickly as possible after sex. A few, like Dorian, will stay for a little while, especially those who tend to fall asleep immediately after.
None of them has ever been affectionate with Viktor like this.
Viktor did not expect Jayce to leave, bound together as they are by hextech, but neither did he expect such a pervasive change. Of course, Jayce has always been liberal with touch—a hand on Viktor’s back, an arm around his shoulders—but this is something else. The casual intimacy of it is almost dizzying. Yet Viktor cannot pretend it is unpleasant.
And that kiss, as though— as though this was more than a physical release for Jayce. More than meeting a need.
Experimentally, he sets his hand on Jayce’s thigh. Jayce flashes him a brilliant smile, then goes back to his notes.
Oh. Viktor could get very used to this. It feels easy, simple, good. It feels right. It feels more like them than anything they have ever done. Like this is how they are meant to be.
It feels like home.
He takes up his own pencil, and they work side by side for the rest of the day. Jayce’s hand never leaves Viktor’s body, and when they lock up the lab for the night, Jayce follows Viktor to his flat.
Viktor does not invite Dorian over ever again.