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“Jayce–!” The young boy paused as the door swung open, revealing someone who was definitely not Jayce. “You… aren’t Jayce,” he states, rather obviously.
The older man smiles, a soft simple thing. “It appears I’m not. I suspect you are one of Jayce’s pupils?” The accented man asks, giving Ekko a curious once over. His honey golden eyes bore into him, almost uncomfortably so. Ekko shifted from foot to foot, half tempted to excuse himself from the situation, but stands his ground nonetheless.
“Uh… yeah. Something like that. Is he, uh, is he here? Can I speak with him? It’s urgent.” Ekko rambles, fiddling nervously with a loose seam on his green jacket. It’s the nicest material he has ever worn before, he thinks to himself, a bit bitterly.
“I’m afraid he’s not currently here, but he will be soon,” he smiles. “Come in.”
Ekko shakes his head, “I really shouldn’t, I can come back later if–”
“I insist.” The man doesn’t wait for his response, as if he’s sure Ekko will follow him inside regardless. He simply turns around in slow, awkward movements and begins making his way into his own home. Just then is when Ekko notices the metallic thunk, thunk, thunk of a crutch hitting the ground, a repetitive sound that follows the man’s every step. Ekko looks around cautiously before making his way inside with slow, hesitant steps. He falls a few steps behind the stranger.
Though, apparently not a stranger to Jayce. Or, this Jayce at least. Ekko tries to connect this man’s face to anyone he knows, but fails to conjure anyone similar. Ekko would recognize such a face if he had ever encountered him before, the man sticks out with his lack of soft angles and his piercing eyes.
“Would you like tea?” The man asks, already hobbling over to the open kitchen before Ekko can voice his response.
“No thank you,” Ekko gives an awkward smile, not really sure what he should be doing with his hands so he decides to meticulously pick at the skin around his cuticles, watching as this… stranger prepares the kettle for himself. “I’m Ekko, by the way.”
The man looks up from his busywork, the same soft smile he’s had this entire time still gracing his lips. The eye contact is fleeting, just a small glance up before he is looking back down, grabbing a mug for himself from a low shelf. “Viktor. Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Ekko.”
Viktor.
Ekko recognizes the name.
“Me and Viktor– my uh, my partner…”
“Yeah, Vik and I…”
“After Viktor left…”
He’s heard the name from Jayce many times before, swears he’s heard this stranger’s name more than he’s heard his own.
“You’re Viktor? Jayce’s lab partner?”
He hums. “‘Lab partner.’” He repeats with a soft chuckle. “I would like to believe I am a little more to him than just a ‘lab partner’ by now. It’s been awhile since our academy days after all.”
It clicks. Ekko lets out a short ‘oh’ under his breath. Ekko finally takes a moment to look around the rooms, at all the portraits littering the walls and just about every counter space. Always two men, Jayce and Viktor. Holding hands, smiling, kissing in each photograph.
“You guys are married?”
Viktor starts his slow walk over, the clink of his crutch matching with the clink of his stirring spoon hitting the rim of his mug. He sits on the couch across from where Ekko is still standing. Awkwardly, the boy sits in an armchair, suddenly feeling out of place. “Jayce has not mentioned me?” Viktor asks, brows furrowing inquisitively, the look of a scientist.
“I mean, yeah, he has. A ton. I just… I haven’t seen Jayce in awhile, and we didn’t know each other for that long, so I just didn’t know,” Ekko hurriedly explains, not wanting to ruin the marriage between this other universe’s Viktor and Jayce. If his universe’s Jayce hasn’t done enough damage already that is.
“Curious. How exactly did you two meet then, if you don’t mind me asking?”
Ekko chuckles nervously, averting his eyes from Viktor’s ever so watchful gaze. “It’s, uh, a long story.”
The other doesn’t respond, just takes a slow sip of his beverage, staring off at some distant point that Ekko can’t make out. He just wishes Jayce would get here already so they can figure out a way to get the hell out of here and back to their world. Where the hell would he even be right now? Looking for him, for Heimerdinger? Desperately searching for a way out of this perfectly fucked up mess they have all found themselves in? It’s so… perfect, but it’s not their world, not their home.
“I don’t believe Jayce has mentioned you before. But, he doesn’t enjoy bringing up people from his academy days, not after the incident… Assuming that is where you know him from, would I be correct? Though you seem much too young.”
He nods. “Yeah, yeah. The academy. I, uh, wasn’t a student. I was just a huge fan of his work when I was younger?” Ekko cringes internally at himself. What the hell was he saying? He didn’t understand the intricacies of this universe, the small references that slip right over his head. The incident? What the hell is that referring to?
This catches Viktor’s previously absent attention. “His work? Do you mean… Do you mean Hextech?” The man questions. Though his face remains void of any strong emotion, his hands unconsciously flex around the width of his mug, revealing how tense of a conversation topic was just unintentionally brought up.
The boy nods slowly, worried he was treading into uncharted territory, bringing things up that shouldn’t yet be brought up.
Viktor's previously lax posture straightens up. He sighs heavily, exhaling all the air from his system. His strong eyes narrow onto Ekko. The boy feels a bit intimidated under his gaze, but he holds onto it. “I hope that you being here has nothing to do with Hextech. If so, I would have to suggest that you please leave now.”
Before Ekko can respond, not that he knows what the hell he’s supposed to say to that, another voice sounds throughout the halls, echoing from the entrance way.
“V, I’m home!” Jayce announces, catching the attention of the two other occupants of the small home. Viktor hurries to get up, barely sparing Ekko a glance as he makes his way towards the doorway to greet Jayce. His husband, Ekko has to remind himself. Because in this reality where everything is supposedly perfect, Jayce is married to his lab partner.
Not that it doesn’t make sense. Jayce really did talk about Viktor a lot. Too much. If anything, it was more of a shock to learn that Jayce and his partner weren’t together in their own universe.
Ekko can’t make out much, just hushed whispers exchanged between the couple from the entranceway that is very conveniently blocked from Ekko’s line of sight. He cranes his neck, but can’t see any more than Jayce’s shoulder, strong and wide compared to Viktor, peeking out from around the wall. If Ekko was any nosier, he might have shuffled a few steps forward to hear better.
It’s almost normal, the way they conversate with hushed whispers, like an established routine between the two. Much too normal for a man who supposedly just got dropped into this universe. Unless… has Jayce been here for longer? Long enough to develop familiarity and comfortability with this new version of his old lab partner? Long enough to announce his arrival to Viktor, to V, whenever he walks into their shared home. How long has it been for him? Why hasn’t he found a way out?
After a few more seconds that felt closer to an eternity (but any time passing feels like forever when you’re trapped in a different dimension), the clank of Viktor’s crutch announces the pair's entrance before either of their footsteps do. Ekko sits back, trying to act like he wasn’t just trying his best to eavesdrop on a very private conversation between Jayce and his partner.
Jayce doesn’t notice him immediately, too focused on keeping his hand glued to the small of Viktor’s back to look up. Eventually, Viktor speaks up. “Ah, Jayce, how could I have forgotten? You have a guest.” He gestures towards Ekko with his free hand, the one not holding onto his crutch. He sits back down.
And then, Jayce notices him. Ekko knows he recognizes him. He can tell by the way his eyes narrow before widening in something akin to horror. In a blink he schools his expression, collecting himself as to not warrant any unwanted questioning from Viktor.
“Vik?” Said man hums his acknowledgment. “Can you please give me and Ekko a moment?” Jayce refuses to make eye contact with him or Viktor, instead keeping his gaze downcast. Ekko notices how Viktor purses his lips questioningly, eyes flickering between his husband and Ekko. He adjusts his loose fitting shirt, flattening down the wrinkles before rising from his spot on the couch. His grip tightens and loosens on the handle of his crutch. He again moves his gaze to Ekko, and then back to Jayce.
“Of course.”
Jayce catches the other before he can walk away. He reaches for his partner’s hand, lifting it up to his lips and placing a gentle kiss upon the pale skin of his palm. His thumbs rubs caressing circles into the flesh. “Thank you, V. We’ll just be a second, I promise.” The shorter nods, but not without throwing a suspicious glance at Jayce, his eyes shining with what seems like disapproval. Reluctantly, he peels his hand away from Jayce’s own, before heading towards the back half of the house that Ekko was not privy to.
Once a door clicks close, signifying Viktor’s departure, Jayce releases a heavy sigh. He collapses onto the couch, head in his hands. He doesn’t speak for a moment. The seconds tick by, and with each passing moment, Ekko grows more and more anxious. Eventually, “I knew you would come here soon. It was only a matter of time.” He drags his hand down his face, scratching at a beard that he didn’t possess back home.
“Jayce, we need–”
“You need to leave.”
Ekko pauses. “What?” He hisses out in a whisper.
“I’m not going back.”
The boy stares at Jayce incredulously, as if he just said the stupidest thing possible, and in a way he did. “Are you crazy? We can’t stay here. This isn’t our home–”
“This,” he gestures around the room wildly, like a raving mad man, “is my home.”
Ekko puffs out a harsh laugh, standing up and striding over to Jayce. “This,” he mocks Jayce’s previous gesture, “isn’t your home. You don’t belong here. Our universe needs saving. And you’re just gonna sit here and let everyone die? For what? Your own selfish needs?” Ekko folds his arms over his chest, scoffing unbelievably at Jayce. This piece of shit, this asshole. He’s willing to abandon his own home, Ekko’s home, for some faux fantasy with a man who doesn’t even really know him? Doesn’t know this Jayce at least, he’s just a parasite inhabiting the empty shell of a man who once was.
Jayce shoots up to his full height, towering above Ekko’s much shorter frame. He feels microscopic suddenly, but he doesn’t let Jayce’s intimidating figure and even more intimidating glare make him shudder. He holds his gaze.
The taller man shoves a finger against his chest, jabbing him until he is forced to stumble back a step. Ekko glares at him accusingly. “You don’t get it. Everything I have ever wanted, ever desired is here.”
“We can help the Zaun back home too, but to do that you need to come with me–”
“It’s not about Zaun! Viktor is here, and–” He chokes on his own words, shallowing back the scream that’s threatening to rip its way out of his throat. “And I can’t let him go,” he averts his gaze, suddenly subdued. “Not again.” His voice comes out frail and defeated, the anger in his tone from just a few seconds ago dissipating at the mention of Viktor.
Ekko doesn’t say anything, neither does Jayce. The confession weighs heavily on them both, filling up the entire room until it soaks into every crevice.
“Please. Just leave us alone. I’m not going back. I can’t,” Jayce whispers, voice cracking on the last word.
“Jayce, this… this isn’t real. He doesn’t know you,” Ekko tries to ration.
“I don’t care. I let him go one too many times before, and now he’s gone forever. I’m not doing that again. I’m not leaving him, not– not when I finally have him to myself.”
“So, you’re just giving up on your Viktor?”
“He already gave up on me. A long time ago. I wasn’t there for him until it was too late, and now he’s gone. Don’t you get it? I have the chance to right my wrongs. I can make this one happy. Wouldn’t you do the same?”
Ekko hesitates. His mind conjures up an image of Jinx– Powder, he reminds himself – in this reality. Of Benzo, who is alive and well, and not just a body buried six feet under. Of Vander, of Claggor, of Mylo, of everyone he has lost in his life who are present and alive here. But, then he thinks of his war torn home, the disaster he has left behind. The city that has produced some of his best and worst memories, the place he owes everything too, the place he has sworn to help, no matter the consequences. Zaun, his Zaun, needs him. And it needs Jayce too.
“No. I wouldn’t.” And he means it.
Jayce huffs stubbornly, turning his back to face Ekko. “Then you haven’t loved someone the way I love Viktor,” he spits out like venom. And Ekko pauses for a second, mind reeling because he has, yet Jayce is too selfish to even consider that for a second.
“This isn’t about Viktor, Jayce. This is about yourself. Your own selfish fucking desires. You’re just gonna take this Viktor’s real Jayce away from him? Do you know how messed up that is?”
The other stiffens at his comments, refusing to look Ekko’s way. The only sign that he even registers Ekko’s comments is by the slight twitch of his clenched hand. Out of nowhere, Jayce shoulders his way past the boy to get to the front door. He opens it, an open invitation to leave and never come back. “Go and find Heimerdinger. Get yourselves out of here. I’m not leaving. I’m sorry, Ekko.” His voice is more solemn, more quiet, than it has been the entire conversation.
“No, I’m not doing that. We can’t get out of here without your help–”
“I said go.”
Ekko stares at him, examining every miniscule movement of his face, debating how serious Jayce is about this stupid, stupid decision. This is supposed to be one of Heimerdinger’s most brilliant pupils? A man who is willing to throw away everything he has ever worked on just for one person? Ekko stiffens, sucking in a sharp breath. Jayce was unrelenting, his mind was made up the moment he landed in this dimension.
“Fine. Do whatever the hell you want.” He pauses. “But if you change your mind… you can find me at The Last Drop.” With that, Ekko strides out the door, not bothering to glance back at Jayce. He isn’t worth the time, the boy decided.
—
Jayce silently slips into his and Viktor’s shared bedroom. Viktor is sitting on the edge of the bed, back facing the doorway, feet planted firmly on the ground. He doesn’t say anything, Jayce doesn’t either, he just continues with his approach, climbing atop the bed so he can wrap his arms around Viktor’s waist from behind, pressing his chest against Viktor’s, his husbands, back.
“Vik?” He whispers into his hair, feeling the soft bristles tickle his upper lip.
“Jayce.”
“Are you alright?”
He hums, a bit stilted. “Yes, just… tired.” Jayce nods against his head, his beard scratching against Viktor’s scalp. Viktor begins to turn in his grasp, lifting his legs up onto the bed so he’s face to face with Jayce. “And you?”
“Also tired. Very, very tired.” Viktor chuckles softly, leaning forward until his forehead presses against Jayce’s chest. The taller pulls him closer, wrapping his arms around Viktor’s smaller figure like a cocoon and Viktor is the beautiful butterfly enclosed within that Jayce is never releasing. Jayce moves them both until they’re laying down on their sides facing each other, noses mere centimeters apart.
Viktor grabs for his hand, pulls it up to his own face so Jayce’s palm is cupping his pale cheek, thumb resting under his eye, hovering over the mole that dots his face. “What were you and that young man discussing?” His voice doesn’t reach above a whisper, a soft murmur meant for Jayce alone.
“Nothing important, V.” Jayce lies, but he has never been good at lying to Viktor, especially not when he’s so close to him, nose almost touching his own, every point of their bodies overlapping until you can’t tell where one ends and the other begins. Viktor’s golden eyes bore into his own, scrutinizing his every microexpression. It would be annoying coming from anyone else, but not from Viktor.
“Do you take me as a fool?” But there’s no malice behind his tone, just a teasing lilt combined with a soft, lopsided smile.
“No, that’s all me.”
Viktor’s smile only widens, and if it isn’t the most beautiful thing Jayce has ever seen. “Well, yes, now that you say it.”
Jayce rolls his eyes playfully, pausing his gentle caressing of Viktor’s cheek to give the soft skin a painless pinch. Viktor scrunches his face up cutely in response, his lips forming a small frown as his thick brows furrow together. “My point stands,” he retorts.
“At least I’m your fool,” Jayce responds with a giddy smile. A smile reserved for his husband. His husband, and the thought just makes his already impossibly wide grin widen.
However, the good mood wasn’t meant to last, it seems, as Viktor curiously asks, “So… your conversation?”
Jayce sighs. A bit reluctantly, his hand pulls back from Viktor’s face to rub tiredly at the bridge of his nose. “It really was nothing. He just… wanted my help with Hextech. I told him that part of me was long gone. I refused.” It was only a partial lie technically. Just enough of the truth so that the guilt of lying to his husband’s face wouldn’t eat away at him.
His partner scowls deeply, thick brows pulling together in a tight furrow. “I told him not to bring that up.”
Jayce places a chaste kiss onto his lips to placate him, their noses rubbing together in the process. “Thank you, V, really. I love you.”
“I know you do,” he teases. “I suppose I love you, too.”
“I’m never leaving you, you know that?” Jayce’s serious tone jolts Viktor, causing his lips to press into a thin line, worry glistening in the golden hue of his wide, expressive eyes.
“I never assumed you would be. You’re stuck with me after all,” he replies.
“Other way around if anything.”
“Possibly so.” He pauses before shifting the conversation back. Viktor always has been good at talking about the things Jayce specifically did not want to talk about, this conversation being one of them. “What did he want with Hextech? It has been… years since those days. What could have been so important?”
“I’m not sure. I didn’t ask.”
Viktor and his curious mind didn’t like that answer. “Perhaps you should have. It could have been a worthy cause, possibly. Must have been if he was desperate enough to come to you for assistance.”
“Trust me, it wasn’t.” Jayce asserts, hands toying with the matching golden band around Viktor’s ring finger. Thinner and smaller than his own twin ring. Their golden glint glows in the otherwise dim room, matching the honey-colored gaze that Jayce wakes up to every morning.
“I suppose we will never know. No point in wondering about the past, or the ‘what ifs.’ These kinds of things, they’re unchangeable for a reason,” his husband muses. It seems to be spoken more to himself than to Jayce.
“Yeah… no point,” he mutters. “But, what if… What if there was?”
Viktor raises a brow. “Was what?”
“A way to redo the past, to right all your wrongs? Would you do it?” Jayce asks hesitantly, worrying his lip between his teeth, dreading whatever answer he might soon receive. But… he needed to know, needed to reassure himself he is making the right choice by staying here, and can only hope Viktor agrees, even if he is not aware of the true reasons behind the sudden philosophical question Jayce poses.
He thinks on it for a second, and Jayce can almost see the cogs working in his head by the way his mouth screws him like he just ate something sour. “No, I don’t think I would. The past is the past after all, you do not get do overs. And perhaps, that’s for the best, don’t you think so? Imagine all the lives you would be ruining, all the universes you would be tearing apart and rewriting. An endless loop of suffering, just to quell your own wants.”
Jayce frowns deeply, eyes drifting away from Viktor’s impossibly striking stare. “It’s…” Jayce’s mind catches onto the word Ekko used, “selfish, isn’t it? But… is selfishness always a bad thing?” His voice is but a whisper. He doesn’t want the answer.
“Maybe. Maybe not. It’s in the eye of the beholder, I suppose.”
Viktor laughs faintly at his own bemused idea, a crisp sound Jayce wishes he could record and playback over and over again. An addicting, all consuming noise that muddles Jayce’s thoughts. He can make this Viktor happy, he can be the source of his laughter this time around, not just his pain. He can make it right, he has to. Despite what Ekko thinks, despite what even Viktor thinks, unknowingly so. He has to do this, not just for himself, but Viktor as well, he tells himself. In the back of his mind, however, not even Jayce is fully convinced of his intentions.
“You should know the answer. You’ve always been more reasonable than me,” Jayce responds, trying to push back the worried thoughts that cloud his mind.
“I must not be if I decided to marry you.”
“You love me.” Jayce grins stupidly. He does that a lot these days, smiling, laughing, grinning. All because of Viktor, the man he got to marry in this universe. This Jayce, whoever he was before his body was taken over, seemed to make every right decision. Lined up all the right dominos and let them fall in all the right ways to end up here, married to the only person Jayce has truly ever had eyes for. The sacrifice of his Hextech dream well worth it, if it meant he would end up sharing a bed with Viktor each night.
He wouldn’t trade it for the word, no matter what pesky thoughts peck away at his brain, eating away at his insides slowly but surely. Though, through the mist Ekko’s words shoulder their way to the forefront of his mind.
Selfish, is the word that, again, comes to mind. Is he being selfish? Is it selfish to remain here by this Viktor’s side? A Viktor he knows so well, a Viktor that he had lost long ago. A Viktor who is so alike to the one Jayce met all those years ago, a soft spoken man yet biting man. He’s doing this for Viktor, Jayce harshly reminds himself.
It’s a lie and he knows it. Knows it as well as he knows each mole on Viktor’s freckled body, mapped out like constellations dotting the endless sky.
“Yes.” Viktor breathes out, pulling Jayce from his thoughts. Viktor’s soft smile falling ever so slightly. He reaches his hand up to Jayce’s face, and pulls him in close. Jayce meets him halfway there, pressing his lips against Viktor’s own slightly chapped ones for a slow kiss. Jayce has far gotten used to Viktor’s kisses, the heated one punctured with breathy moans, the chaste ones he dots Jayce’s face with, and these ones. The slow ones that pull at Jayce’s heart strings. “I do love you. In every imaginable universe, I will love you. Even in the ones you think I do not.” Even after breaking the kiss, Viktor keeps his hand on Jayce’s cheek, his thumb grazing over his lips.
Jayce wants to cry. He can feel it bubbling up inside, clawing its way out of his throat. He tries to swallow it down, to choke back the tears that threaten to spill, but it’s too late. His eyes are already watering, blurring Viktor’s sharp features. Viktor says nothing, only wipes away at his tears before pressing a gentle kiss to each eyelid.
“I know,” Jayce croaks out, his voice ruined. He feels torn in two, his mind crossed between his want to stay here, safe and warm in the arms of the person he has loved for years and the duty he owes his own universe. Owes his own Viktor, a man that may not be completely lost to him yet.
He buries his head in Viktor’s chest, wrapping his arms around his waist as Viktor rests his head upon his own, running a soothing hand over his tousled hair. He can’t stay. He knows that, has known for a while perhaps, but buried it deep inside his own subconsciousness. But… for just one more night, he will enjoy Viktor’s warm presence stuck to his side. It may be selfish, yes, but Jayce has never prided himself on being a completely selfless man. Not when it came to Viktor at least.