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Shortly after his, well, break in, Jayce had gone to visit his mother and tell her about it. He was incredibly, incredibly lucky to be allowed back into the academy district, especially after breaking into Heimerdinger's lab. He was even luckier that the project stabilized properly (sort of) and didn't blow both him and his new partner to bits. Well, he supposed he was lucky that said partner knew what he was doing.
She had been happy for him, of course, even if only because he was ecstatic about it. He'd had the dream his while life, been working on it for years. And now not only was he able to pursue it, he had someone who believed in his dream. Believed in him.
Metallic knuckles rapped against the door frame, his mother. "What's all this?"
Jayce was packing his things again, which he had hardly unpacked when he arrived. It hadn't been long between coming home and seeing the Kirramman's or his suicide attempt. Another thing he was lucky Viktor was there for.
"I'm going back, I thought I told you."
Ximena frowned. "You were nearly killed last time you were there. It's dangerous."
"Well..." He smiled sheepishly, hand on the back of his neck. "I'm actually not moving to the academy district. Well, I guess I am, but not the typical dorms." She raised an eyebrow. "Viktor offered me to move in with him - oh, uh, he's the man that got me into the lab. He's the professor's assistant, so he lives in the same building as... the rest of them." He actually wasn't sure who lived at the Academy. Heimerdinger, certainly, but perhaps the rest of the Councilors? Ms. Medarda was there just as late as the two of them. But the Kirramman's lived separately, so maybe not. He wasn't sure.
His mother didn't seem convinced. "And that's safe?" She took his hands in her own. "If such important people live there..."
"Mama, I'll be alright, I promise." He assured, squeezing her hands gently. "No one ever comes up here for crime. My lab was a one time thing! And they'll be dealt with so it won't happen again. And even if they did, there's enforcers around every corner at all hours."
She seemed content with the answer, letting his hands free and moving instead to sit at the edge of his bed. "So... why with this... assistant? Viktor, you said?" Jayce nodded.
"Well, I don't think he'll be Heimerdinger's assistant anymore. He's my partner now, we're working together. I mean, that's the plan at least, I guess we'll have to see how it works out... I couldn't have stabilized it on my own. Hell, I couldn't have even gotten back to my equipment without his help."
He looked up to see his mother smiling fondly. "What?" He laughed.
She shrugged. "He seems sweet, kind."
He smiled back. "He is. He saved my life, mama."
She rolled her eyes. "You would have been fine without your science, you'd have found something."
He forgot he hadn't told her.
"No, really." He started to explain, without really thinking. He couldn't exactly go back on it now. He moved to sit beside her. "I didn't know what to do. I know I shouldn't have and I- I was being stupid. And selfish. But I'm glad. I'm glad he was there. He saved me. I'm sorry."
"No, no, honey." She wrapped an arm around his shoulders, pulling him to lean on her slightly. She kissed his forehead. His mother was the most caring woman he'd ever met, always doting on him and everyone who was kind to her or the people she loved. "What an angel he is." She whispered. "You should bring him over soon."
He laughed quietly. "Mama, I've known him for, what, 30 hours? I'm not even sure when the last time he talked to someone who wasn't from the academy was."
"Well, we'll have to change that."
Jayce rolled his eyes. He barely knew the guy, but he was absolutely certain she was determined to find a way to care for him.
"Jayce, I'm really not sure I should-"
"She loves you, Vik." They'd been working together for several months now, and Viktor had always found a reason not to accompany Jayce to his mother's house. He was too busy, he didn't want to interrupt their time together, it was too cold for him. Eventually he'd run out of excuses and Jayce had convinced him. "She's been wanting to meet you since I met you. Like, literally the day after."
He made a face. "Why would she even know who I am?"
"Really?"
Viktor threw his free hand up. "No, I actually don't care at all- yes, really!"
Jayce laughed, he thought the question was absurd. "I'm not around anyone besides you these days. Even before I met you, it was really just me. I don't have time for anyone but my partner."
"Well- I'm not around anyone else either." It seemed like he thought that proved his own point and not Jayce's.
He decided to drop it. "She just hears about you, Viktor. We're here now." He stopped so suddenly that Viktor nearly crashed into him. He fidgeted with the hand on his crutch. They'd walked the whole way (not that there was any other way - unless they wanted to travel by blimp) and he'd probably need to sit down once they got inside.
"Help up the stairs?" He offered. Viktor nodded, and took his partner's hand to brace himself as they climbed the two sets of stairs to his mother's apartment. Having a disabled man as his only friend had made Jayce realize how truly atrocious Piltover must be for anyone with an injury, or people like Viktor. Not that there was many of either, but still. It severely limited where the two could go together, and he imagined it was the same for others.
Ximena answered almost immediately after her son knocked, wrapping him in a hug before shooing the pair in. "So cold, you must be freezing!" She murmured. "Oh, you must be Viktor! I'm so glad you made it." She quickly hugged him as well, more carefully than she had her son.
Viktor spoke a quiet, "Oh", a bit shocked, but returned the hug. Jayce knew he wasn't uncomfortable with it, at least he never was with him, but he was never expecting it either.
"Come, sit!" She ushered the two deeper into the home, pulling out two chairs out from an old, weathered wooden table. Typically she and Jayce sat across from each other at the long ends, but she had pulled out a matching chair she had found God knows where to put on Jayce's usual side. "I have food, just give me a moment."
"Oh, let me help, Mama." He offered to help Viktor sit, but he shook his head. Jayce patted his shoulder as he passed into the kitchen. "You didn't have to go through all that trouble."
She smiled warmly. "Of course not, but I wanted to. Besides, it's always lovely to have so much food, I can always give extra to the neighbors. You two can take some home, I'm sure it's hard to cook when you're so busy."
"She has a point." Viktor spoke up from the dining table. And he wasn't wrong, they went many nights far too exhausted to cook a meal, and finishing far too late to go anywhere instead. And that wasn't even considering lunch. The academy provided lunch most days, but sometimes they would skip to get more time in the lab between their few classes.
"See, I knew I would like him." She handed him a casserole of some kind. "He thinks ahead for both of your sakes."
Viktor shrugged when he brought the dish to the table. "Not that it works on him."
"Always better to have a partner." She handed him plates and forks this time. "Easier to take care of yourself when you got someone to get on to you about it."
"Jayce is a stubborn man."
"Hard to change such a thing, even when he cares deeply."
Jayce groaned. "If I knew the two of you were going to gang up on me I wouldn't have brought you."
"I told you you shouldn't have."
"Well, I'm glad you came, Viktor." Ximena placed the last few dishes on the table before sitting across from, him, followed quickly by Jayce next to him. "I've been wanting to meet you. I appreciate someone who cares for my boy."
Viktor smiled. "Your son is a wonderful man."
It was like he wasn't sitting right beside them. "Oh- Mama, I can make my own plate."
She rolled her eyes. "Just let me dote on the two of you, I hardly have anyone to care for these days."
Once all three plates were filled, conversation stopped for a few minutes. It was often like that with Jayce and his mother, and he'd noticed the same with Viktor. It wasn't that they didn't want to talk, they were simply more focused on the food. It had been strange when Jayce first dined with the Kirramman's, their dinner was a lot more talking than eating. Viktor had mentioned similar experiences from when he first ate at an Academy dinner party for the higher educated. They both had been embarrassed by their peers, so it was at least one thing the had in common before they met. It just felt more comfortable for all of them to eat in silence.
"What made you want to join the Academy, Viktor?" She started conversation once they had all finished eating.
Viktor seemed a bit caught off guard. "Well I, ah, passion, I suppose. Always tinkering as a child, wanted to create things greater than myself. More capable."
"I'd say you're quite capable yourself if you can do all that."
He looked a bit confused. "They could always do much more than I, unfortunately. Great for helping laborers, injured people. I mostly repaired down there, and I never really got to create up here... assistant, after all. Though I have my own projects, of course. And ours." He paused for a moment. "Sorry, rambling. I tend to lose my words."
"No, no, I always love hearing about passions. Very important to have, you know. I was always glad he had them, as impossible as they seemed." She smiled. "Oh, where were you before you came here? Jayce never told me you were from a different city."
Viktor shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Oh not, uh, not far. Undercity, actually." When his mother was unfazed, he relaxed. She had never cared much for the unrest between the two halves of the city.
"Well, it's lovely the two of you work together now. Partners, as I said."
"Yes, of course." Viktor agreed.
They stayed for a few hours, and Viktor seemed to grow more comfortable. Jayce's mother had a way of doing that. After a while they moved to the living room, and Ximena brought out a deck of cards. (They remained untouched on the table) The sun had gotten low in the sky, and Jayce didn't really want to walk all the way home in the dark. Besides, he was tired, and he was sure Viktor was as well.
Hugs from his mother, goodbyes, and they were on their way home.
"Told you." Jayce said after a few minutes, grinning at his partner. "She loves you."
"She is very kind." He admitted. "Still, I shouldn't be intruding in your family matters. Not my place."
"Not intruding." Jayce carefully slung an arm over his shoulders as they walked. "As far as she cares, you're part of the family."
"She met me today."
"You saved my life, Viktor. She's not gonna just forget that."
Viktor scoffed. "Wasn't exactly trying to. It was simply a pleasant outcome."
"Yeah, whatever, man. I'm glad you were there."
"Me too."
Winter was unyielding, and absolutely the worst season for Viktor. He had an extremely weak immune system, and sickness was rampant in the colder months. It wasn't made any better by how often he and his partner overworked themselves for weeks on end in the lab. Regardless of why, or how many causes there were, Viktor was sick. Terribly sick. It happened every year, often multiple times. He'd had to miss many, many classes, lectures, tests, and projects to it when he was still attending classes at the Academy instead of assisting Heimerdinger or working on personal projects.
He and Jayce had planned to take a break for a few days and visit his mother, (as friends - she was unaware they were dating) but his sickness made it nearly impossible even to walk around the house, let alone all the way to a seperate district. He'd convinced Jayce that it was alright for him to go, he wouldn't want to disappoint her. Not that she would be particularly upset as long as they let her know, she understood.
Jayce had wanted to take Viktor to the hospital, as he had wanted the previous three years they'd been working together, and he had refused, just like the previous years. He understood his concern, he truly did, but he knew his own body well enough to know when something was severe enough to warrant a visit. (Not that he would always go if he should. He had work to do. But that was beside the point)
At the moment he didn't feel it was necessary, and was propped up at the couch, writing notes on runes and such, trying to make sense of things. They were fully aware they shouldn't be toying with the effects of the current iteration of their current hexcore, but they couldn't always help themselves. As long as no one else got their hands on the crystals while they were unsafe.
He hadn't been gone for long, maybe two hours at the most, before Viktor heard the sound of Jayce unlocking the door.
"Hey, Vik." Viktor meant to hum in reply, but instead only threw himself into a bout of coughs. Jayce set something down on their table. "You're supposed to be resting."
He looked up now, his eyes briefly noticing the metal cases he had set down. Thermoses? He looked back to Jayce and shrugged. "What am I meant to do, might as well work."
"Resting. You're meant to be resting. To get better."
He chose not to react to that. "You're home earlier than expected."
Jayce came over to sit beside him, pulling out a small bottle, like what you might use for a candle, out of his pocket. "She thought I should get come to take care of you in case you needed anything. This is for you."
Viktor took it from him. "What is it?"
"I'm... not sure exactly. Some kinda cough syrup she makes herself, she always gave it to me when I was sick as a kid." He stood back up, a bit suddenly. "I'll get a spoon for you. There's, uh, not really a measurement she gave me. 'A spoonful' she always says."
"What about the cases?"
"Oh, that's soup. A few kinds, I think. Don't worry she didn't make it just for you - though she definitely would have. Anyway she just always makes a lot of soup when it's cold. She made sure to send a bunch home with me for both of us, but even more since you're sick." He paused by the table, and then glanced at the clock on the windowsill. They had clocks everywhere, needed to know the time. Mostly so they knew what was open around them, they rarely went to sleep at a reasonable time. "Do you want some now? It would be a good time for some lunch."
He wasn't very hungry, he never was when he was sick, but he knew he needed to eat. Besides, Ximena's cooking was always absolutely lovely. "Alright."
"She told me the one with all the vegetables and broth would be good for you..." Jayce searched through the cases until he found the one he was looking for. "Great, looks like it has meat too. Some kinda bird, I think. Does that sound alright?" He looked up at his boyfriend now.
He nodded. "You eat something, too."
He smiled and nodded. "Of course I'm going to. She made some tomato pumpkin soup with some spices, which was always my favorite. I would make you try it but I'm pretty sure tomato isn't great for an upset stomach."
He was correct, at least in Viktor's case. He always vomited when he had any kind of even mildly citric or acidic foods while he was sick. Though he was probably vomiting anyway if he was sick.
Since the soup was in thermoses, (surprisingly high quality ones, at that) it was a quick prep. Jayce poured each soup into a bowl, got three spoons from a drawer in the kitchen, and brought it over to the couch while Viktor moved their notes and materials to the side so they could set the bowls down. Jayce went back to get two glasses of water.
They often sat at their table to eat meals, especially together, but it was quite a bit of trouble to help Viktor to the kitchen and then all the way back to the couch or bed later while he was sick. It had already been quite the ordeal to transfer to the couch originally so he could sit up. Everything just hurt so much more when he was sick, and he became fatigued so quickly.
Finally, Jayce sat beside him and the two ate, after he made him swallow a spoonful of the cough syrup. He had been skeptical, although he knew he shouldn't have been. It tasted of floral honey, and eased the pain in his throat.
"You must extend my thanks to your mother. She's been so kind to me."
"You'll tell her yourself." Jayce spoke with a mouthful of soup. "I did tell her you would be grateful, since you always are."
"Close your mouth while you're eating, God's sake." Viktor laughed.
"Oh, like you're any better."
"I am!" He was a bit offended. "I eat like an actual person, at least, you eat like an animal."
He scoffed, but he didn't seem to have a reasonable argument, either, so they both simply kept eating.
"I'll have to thank her next time we go over." Viktor sipped the last of the broth and set the bowl on the table.
Jayce looked over to him, a brightness in his eyes. "Glad you're accepting your role as part of the family."
He made a face. "What?"
"You said when 'we' go back. Usually you find a reason not to go. So you're planning on coming with me next time."
Viktor smacked his boyfriend's shoulder. "I would have gone today." Jayce raised and eyebrow, and Viktor pushed him again. "I would have!"
He shrugged. "Still, you never say anything about going to see her. It's almost like you don't want to or something."
"She's a wonderful woman." He almost felt like he was defending himself, even though he knew he didn't need to. Jayce would understand, he always did. "I simply do not want to intrude on your time." His partner groaned. "What?"
"How many times do I have to tell you you're not? It's been like, three years since you met her. It's like you're my brother." He made a face. "No, that sounds... wrong. Like you're her kid, I guess. I do seriously worry if she makes you uncomfortable, you can tel me if she does and I can talk to her about laying off a bit."
"No, no." Viktor was quick to oppose. "She is wonderful, truly. I'm a bit uneasy sometimes- but that's simply because I'm not used to it. She is kind. Very kind. I appreciate it, and... enjoy it."
Jayce set his own bowl down, going to wrap an arm around his shoulders. "Then-" Viktor tried to evade his arm. He was sick. "Hey, I'm not gonna get sick, it's fine. Even if I do it's never bad. Anyway, then you should let her be kind to you. She loves you, let her show it. She wants to see you happy."
"I am happy." A glare. "I know, I know. That's not the point." He leaned into Jayce's touch now. "I will admit, I enjoy seeing her. And... I will try. It's just, strange to have... a mother again."
Jayce squeezed his shoulder and kissed his temple, it felt reassuring. "She's happy to be one."
They sat like that for a while, quietly. It was difficult for Viktor to let others care for him, difficult to give away that power to someone else. He had, mostly, learned to trust Jayce. He wanted to trust his mother, too.
He decided he would try.
Jayce noticed Viktor fidgeting with his free hand as the two stood outside his mother's door. Jayce took it in his own. "Look at me." Viktor looked up from the ground, and Jayce reached his other hand out to the base of his neck, pressing their foreheads together. "She loves us, Viktor. Alright? She wants us to be happy."
Viktor breathed deeply, squeezing his partner's hand. "People just don't take too kindly to me getting very close."
"Okay." They were quiet for a long moment. "I can promise you, Viktor, without a single doubt, that she will love both of us just the same. But if you don't want to, we don't have to. We can go home right now."
He shook his head. "No, no, you're right. You're right."
Jayce kissed his cheek before pulling away and unlocking the door. His mother hadn't been expecting them. "Mama?" He called into the house.
"Oh, hello dear!" She sounded happy to hear him, just as she always did. She truly was the sweetest woman alive. "Come in, come in!"
"Viktor's here too, Mama, where do you want us?"
They had just turned into her line of sight when she turned around to greet them properly. "Oh, wherever you want." She hugged Jayce first, tightly, before pulling back, gripping his arms. "Oh, love, you look so tired. You too, Viktor, I hope the two of you aren't working too hard." She went to hug Viktor as well, just as tight and closely. "Come sit down, please. In the living room, I'm sure that will be more comfortable."
They obliged, Jayce helping Viktor to sit down next to the arm rest. He sat closer to him than he often had around his mother, giving his shoulder a gentle squeeze. Ximena sat across from them in her favorite padded rocking chair.
"Tell me, tell me, how is everything going?"
Jayce smiled, giving Viktor's shoulder a final pat before bringing his hands together. "The classes we took the last few years definitely helped, we have a much better understanding of why different energy sources work the way they do. Of course, we're doing what's never been done before so we can't exactly study how to make it safe... but we keep finding more and more ways to use it, so once it is safe we'll be well on our way to helpful tools. I mean, and Viktor has been the biggest help on what we need."
Viktor nodded, but wasn't completely there. He looked distracted, anxious. "Yes, yes. The workers down there work long and hard, many of us are unable to work at all with the jobs available in the Undercity. With all of this... I mean, there are endless possibilities."
His mother smiled so, so fondly at the pair. "I'm so proud of you two, you know. You're changing the world together, I just know it." There was silence for a moment, while the boys were a bit embarrassed to say anything. "You two didn't tell me you were coming, what's the occasion? I'm always happy to see you, of course. You're welcome invited or not."
Viktor coughed, but it seemed to be more out of shock than his condition. Jayce breathed deeply.
"Well... Viktor and I have been working together for five years now." Suddenly, Jayce felt so very small. He was terrified his mother wouldn't approve, as much as he had said that he always would, because why wouldn't she? "He means a lot to me, he has for a really long time." He took his boyfriend's hands in his own, partially to calm is own nerves and partially to stop Viktor's shaking. "But, well, we're dating. We have been for a few years now."
Arms were wrapped around the both of them almost immediately. "Is that what you've been so frightened to tell me? My sweet boys, I'm always happy for everything you two do. I'm so glad you're happy together." She pulled her face away, arms still around their shoulders. "I cannot believe you waited... how many years to tell me?"
Jayce laughed. "Uh, three?" She rolled her eyes in an exasperated manner and swatted at him. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"
At first, he thought Viktor was laughing. He wasn't. His hand covered his mouth, softly crying. The two immediately paid their attention to him.
"What's wrong, dear?" Ximena placed a hand on his shoulder, and Jayce took the hand that wasn't covering his mouth.
"No, no." He was laughing a bit now. "I- I'm not upset. Not at all. I'm just... grateful." Jayce carefully wiped the few tears that had fallen from his eyes. "Thank you, both of you."
Jayce, currently, was busy with... something regarding their hextech project. He wouldn't tell Viktor what exactly he was doing, no matter how hard he pushed. He was sure it was a legitimate reason, to push hextech to greatness. After all, they were so close to it being usable. But it worried him that Jayce wouldn't say, he couldn't understand why he wouldn't. It was dangerous, perhaps.
It could have been the Undercity, but it wouldn't make sense to not tell him that. Viktor was from the Undercity, he didn't think it was particularly dangerous as long as you knew what you were doing. Which... he supposed Jayce did not. When he found out how much he had paid for his original, and quite shit, materials to put it all together he nearly fainted. Though the materials were probably quite hard to find in the Undercity, and they were nothing like what someone could find topside.
Regardless, he was worried. There also wasn't much point in Viktor working on the hextech alone. He was useless without someone to bounce ideas off of, at least when it came to something so foreign to science. They never would have stabilized the crystals enough to be anything more than explosives if they'd been working alone. Jayce would be dead, and Viktor would still be rotting away as nothing more than an assistant with side projects until he died, too.
All to say, he didn't have much to do until his partner returned. Today, he had spent it with Jayce's mother. Ximena. Of course, he'd chosen the day she needed the most help, a day where she had many errands to run.
He'd had a... frustrating day, to say the least. Piltover was by no means walkable. At least, not for him. God forbid someone in a wheelchair or with a bulky aid tried to navigate. Zaun had been awful, but at least they had disabled people. The people knew what they needed, and accommodated the best they could. Some of them did, anyway. It's was very, "survival of the fittest" down there, though it was like that up here as well. He was just better at it in Piltover.
He avoided the streets as often as possible, he had stayed pretty much exclusively in the Academy district, and only in their room and lab for the past 6 years or so, unless he was going out with Jayce. Which they almost never did. They were too busy, and often too tired, and Viktor hated the energy it took to walk in this city and find the accessible entrances if there were any.
That was the very issue he had today. The day had brought excessive walking. He would've been... okay if it had just been to the different locations. But he had also searched over and over at most of the locations for a way to get inside without the horribly steep stairs that were littered across the entire city to get anywhere. He was unsuccessful nearly every time. He wasn't sure it even existed for most of them, let alone how to get there. So, instead, he climbed the stairs. He appreciated Ximena's help, of course, but she wasn't used to him and his body the way Jayce was. Perhaps he'd grown too comfortable with having someone at his side all the time.
Ximena seemed to be fed up with it by the end of the day. Not Viktor, he didn't think she had ever gotten upset with him, but with how difficult it was for him to travel the city. He was upset, too, of course he was, but he never did anything about it. He was in the very, very small minority of people it affected, especially in Piltover. There was no point.
"It's alright, really." He wasn't really interested in a scene. He just wanted to return home as soon as possible. "I don't leave the house much, it's, ah, not really affecting me much."
"No, no." She removed her hands from his free hand and lower back as she finished helping him up the last few stairs. "Oh, look at you, you shouldn't have had to deal with all this. You're exhausted, dear."
"I came to help, besides I-" He cut himself off with a violent coughing fit, grabbing onto the nearest railing to steady himself. Today seemed to be a particular bad day for those, he thought, as he got the inevitable stares for the umpteenth time today. He felt like he didn't have any air in his lungs. Viktor was vaguely aware of Ximena rubbing his back in an attempt to comfort him.
When he was finished, he brought his hand to bridge of his nose. He'd had an awful headache all day, and that certainly didn't help.
"...bitch cripple shouldn't be up here," Came the grumblings of a passing man to his wife.
Viktor turned to grab Ximena before she could say anything, but groaned when he was too late.
"No one says that about my boy." She hissed. "He deserves the quality of life as any one of you!"
The man looked shocked that someone even considered contesting him. But he didn't talk to her, instead turning to Viktor to turn his harsh words to him directly this time. "Your kind don't belong up here, boy." He spat out the words, how could anyone be so angry about another man simply being alive? "And anyone who believes otherwise-" He gave a pointed look to Ximena. "-are just as bad."
"Sir." Viktor's voice was steady and cold. "I think you should go." He noticed his wife grabbing his arm and trying to drag him along, looking apologetically at Viktor for a moment.
Somehow, the man looked even angrier. People were beginning to pause to watch what was going on. Unlike Viktor, he seemed to revel in it instead of shrink in on himself from it.
He hadn't payed attention to what was happening until he was already stumbling to the ground, the back of his head catching on the railing he had just clung to a moment before. Ximena was immediately in front of him, shouting something he wasn't quite sure of at the man. His wife managed to pull him away before anyone else got hurt. And just like that, people went about their day. The show was over.
She came and crouched at his side, checking the back of his head for blood. There was none. He couldn't quite make out what she was saying.
"We should go." He mumbled, searching the ground for his crutch. Ximena placed it in his hands, helping him stand up. As careful as she was, getting up from the ground after being struck was not a pleasant experience. "I can, ah, head home."
"No, no darling." She placed a hand on his back to help guide him. "Come home with me, dear, I don't want you by yourself like this."
Before he could answer, a woman came up to the pair. "You're very kind." She said to Ximena. "Looking after a son like... that." She glanced at Viktor in a way that would usually make him incredibly uncomfortable, like he was below human, but at the moment he wasn't processing anything well enough to be upset. "I don't think I ever could."
Ximena seemed furious, but Viktor stumbled on purpose to change her attention, and the woman had run off by the time she stood up from catching him. "I'm sorry, dear, we have some more stairs."
She tried to make conversation on the way back to her home, but he gave very stiff answers. He didn't go out because of people like that man. It never ended well for him or Jayce or anyone he was around.
It was near torture to force his body up the two steep flights of stairs to Ximena's home. His bones ached, his leg seared with pain at every step. He couldn't help the quiet, pained noises that escaped every few steps. Ximena tried, she really did, but no amount of support from anyone could help him in a state like this.
"You should sleep here, love. You can have Jayce's old room, he won't mind at all." Viktor was unresponsive. "I'll get you some pain medication and a glass of water. Can you make it to the bed on your own?"
He took a deep breath and nodded slowly. He did make it, sitting on the edge of the bed. As horrible as he felt, the smell of the room was familiar and comforting. Jayce. It calmed him a bit, though nothing could calm the fire in every fiber of his body.
He wasn't sure when the last time he was in this much pain had been. He never walked that much in a day, never got shoved around the way he had. He spent his days sitting, working. For hours, yes, but he had kept from physical activity for years. God, walking was physical activity? He was pathetic.
He didn't notice how upset he had gotten until he felt a tear escape his eyes. Viktor hardly every cried from sadness. But frustration, anger, helplessness, those things got him every time. He placed his face in his hands, shaking.
"Oh, honey." He felt her weight next to him, gently pulling his body to lean onto her. "I'm so sorry, dear." He tried to hold back his sobs, only causing himself to choke on it. "Come on, I have some medication for you, alright?"
He knew it wouldn't help. The horrible, screaming pain was never helped by simple drugs. But he took it anyway to appease her.
Ximena sat beside him, a hand on his back, quietly trying to comfort him for the rest of the night, and well into the next morning. He teetered between cold, emotionless expressions and openly sobbing for hours on end. But she stayed. She rocked him back and forth, kissing the side of his head, coaxing him to eat something every now and then, to drink water.
She stayed, and Viktor wondered if this was what it was like to have a mother.