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After the final battle and all has been resolved, Jayce was left on top of that building alone. Hextech almost destroyed the world and Viktor was gone. He sank into himself just sobbing after everything. He hadn’t noticed Ekko lingering close by. “Jayce?” his voice pipes up. Jayce looks up trying to pull himself together, wiping his tears away “Ekko. Um hi…” he’s unsure what else to say and Ekko can tell he’s feeling overwhelmed. He stretches out his arm “why don’t I get you down from here?” he offers, voice and expression gentle with concern. Jayce takes his hand as Ekko brings them back to the ground with his hoverboard.
Jayce stumbles as his feet meet the ground, heavy with emotion. You see him and rush towards him pulling him into your arms with a big hug. “Hey” he says quietly, trying to push his feelings to the side for now. You look up at him worried and caressing his face “are you okay?” He remains silent for a moment before deflecting “let’s go home”.
As you guide Jayce back into his room, you gently press him to his bed wanting him to rest and sit down. You study his face and caress his cheek gently. “It’s over now” you say reassuring that he can finally take a break. “It isn’t over. It doesn’t feel over. I have to live with this. With the fact that I failed with hextech and I left Viktor and now…- ugh” he buries his head into his hands. Your eyebrows furrow as you worry about him so you stroke his hair, causing him to meet your gaze. “Please stop blaming yourself Jayce-“ “how can I not?! It is my fault! I wanted to make hextech! I pushed for it and I didn’t destroy it when Viktor told me too and I promised him! All my life’s work ended in tragedy and I lost everything!” his voice cracks as he thinks about how his dream turned into a nightmare and that in the end he lost his partner.
You take his hands “well you fixed it and all you wanted was to help people in the first place. Mistakes happen-“. Jayce scoffs “mistakes? No. No I did so much more than that. I just caused so many problems. They may be resolved but all the suffering and deaths can’t be undone. And it’s all because of me” his voice breaks off sadly. You feel even more worried about him, unsure of how to comfort him. “You’re still human. And every trouble that came up you worked on resolving. Every problem, you looked for a solution. And in the end it worked.” You sigh “Look I know you’re struggling with guilt, but you aren’t a bad person. That is true. You have a good heart and a gentle soul” you place kisses around his face and chin but he pulls back. “It’s just that…if it weren’t for me, we wouldn’t have been in this mess to begin with”. You don’t know what to say to that. Part of you knows that’s somewhat true. He knows it too.
“Look Jayce can we just-“ whatever calming suggestion you were about to make he shuts down speaking firmly “no! No…I want to be alone right now.” His face hangs, eyes zoning out into the space ahead of him, not looking at you. “Jayce-“ “I need some time” he interrupts, emotionally pushing you away as he stands up.
But before he can walk away you grab his hand stepping up behind him “please. At least let me take care of you”. He huffs “I don’t need to be taken care of”. You look him up and down knowing that’s not true. He had been gone for about 6 months and no one knows where he was or what happened to him but something clearly did. He won’t tell anyone. Not even you. “Jayce. Please. If not for your own sake then for mine” you know that may sound a bit selfish but you know it’s the only way to possibly convince him. If he feels he doesn’t deserve to be taken care of, yet he still feels the need to take care of others then it may convince him.
He sighs “fine. For you”. You kiss his shoulder lightly. “Do you want to take a bath? It may help you feel better” plus he needs it to take care of himself and could do with warm water relaxing his muscles. He stands there contemplating for a moment; after being in the ravine his body has changed a lot, weakened, skin became more scarred and callused. He’s unsure whether he wants you to see him like that, whether he wants anyone to see him like that. As you wrap your arms around his stomach, pressing your face to his back he succumbs to your touch. “Fine” his voice is softer and more affectionate. This is you after all, even though he’s struggling he’ll always have a soft spot for you. You kiss his shoulder once more before pulling away, slipping your hand into his “great”. You look back at him with a gentle twinkle in your eye as you walk him to the bathroom.
When you enter, you pull out some fresh towels for him and start running the water. He stands there unmoving, guarded, his walls up. You step forward placing your hands on his chest and lean forward. You don’t want to scare him off by asking how he’s feeling and what he’s thinking since you can tell he will just push you away again if you do. When you look into his eyes you can see that fragility of someone hurt who actually longs to be taken care of, even if he doesn’t know that himself.
You kiss his cheek and step away slightly “do you want me to help you take your clothes off?” There’s a look on Jayce’s face that you can’t quite place your finger on, yet it seems to be a mixture of self-consciousness and uncertainty. Jayce doesn’t want the changes of his body to be pointed out or pitied. Part of him even feels ashamed at the state of his body even though it was out of his control. Your thumb gently rubs on the back of his hand showing reassurance and your support. Perhaps not having you watch him take his clothes off himself would make this easier, so perhaps letting you undress him would feel more comfortable. Plus maybe part of him does crave your soft touch and to be cared for.
“Okay” he accepts and lets you slowly undo his buttons before shrugging off his shirt. He tenses a little at his torso being on display: the scar on his back not having healed properly, wounds on his arms that look abnormal due to the effects of the hextech corruption, his build having shrunk due to a lack of food accessibility in the ravine.
Yet you don’t look at him like he’s a lost cause. All you do is show a brief glimpse of worry and empathy before gently caressing his cheek. You don’t utter words of pity nor compliments. Neither would make him feel better. Instead you nudge your face against his, pressing your foreheads together and caressing his hair. Your lips meet his gently, feeling him soften at the touch, your arms wrapped loosely around his torso as to not cause any discomfort, especially since you’re unaware of how much exactly he is injured. As your lips part you hum happily with a smile showing that you’re glad he’s in your arms safe.
As you open your eyes, leaving your foreheads pressed together you whisper “I love you”. His emotions soften, nervousness melting away as he responds with “I love you too” lips meeting your again, hand resting on the side of your neck. You continue kissing for a moment, hands pressing warmly against each other’s skin, feeling the comfort and safety you create for each other. You can feel himself softening too, letting you in, at least through physical touch and affection anyhow even if he isn’t ready to open up and talk about what happened.
Your hands leave him as you remove your own top and trousers too. You look down at him still wearing his trousers and the new brace. Your eyes meet his, confirmation that he’d rather take care of this himself so you step back and give him space to do so.
You check the water for its temperature before slipping off your socks and underwear. You slip in feeling the warm water soothe your body. When you look back at Jayce he’s about ready to come in too. You press your back against the bath and open your legs, giving him the space to sit between them and lean back onto you. After all, you wish to take care of him and hold him.
He carefully steps in, your hand held out in case he needs to hold onto you yet he doesn’t and just sinks down into the water.
Your eyes trail down looking at the large scar across his back. It hadn’t been long since he was wounded before he disappeared so the wound had barely any time to heal before he ended up in whatever situation it was. Clearly, you can see the wound struggled to heal correctly. Fortunately, the stitches were the dissolvable type; you can’t imagine how hard it would’ve been having to remove the stitches himself if that were the case. “I can feel you staring you know?” “Sorry” you say before pressing an apologetic kiss to his neck. “It’s okay. I know my body isn’t exactly in top shape. And I guess I know that you’re worried about me too” he says sinking back against your chest. Your arms wrap around him, hands pressing against his stomach and shoulder. The silence lingers between you a little uncomfortably long.
“Can I wash you?” you offer. He nods with a confirming hum. You squeeze the body wash into your palms before rubbing them together creating bubbles as you gently place them against his shoulders. You decide that this would be a good chance to slip in a massage too since he hasn’t had the time to rest his tense muscles.
Your fingers work gently against his neck and shoulders, squeezing at the skin and pressing into it to release the tension in his muscles. “Ah. Mmh” he hums contently as you continue. As the massage trails down, your lips follow in their path, leaving gentle kisses on every inch of freshly cleaned and softened skin, showing him affection along the way. After doing his arms you look down at his back once more, this time contemplating whether touching his back may be painful at all or uncomfortable. “You can wash my back if you want. Just please do so smoothly and I’d prefer if you don’t massage or kiss me there” he says softly. You nod “okay” before flatly rubbing your hands against his back to press the soap bubbles into it, washing him gently as not to harm or disturb him. Although the cut has healed, it is possible that some pain could come every now and then as scars tend to be susceptible to growing sore and sensitive sometimes. You respect his wishes and don’t massage or kiss over his back.
“Do you want me to wash your front too?” you ponder out loud. “Maybe yeah. If that’s okay” Jayce has grown more comfortable to your touch as you haven’t shown any judgement or displayed any true pity or called him beautiful or similar which would only make him uncomfortable with his body. “Alright” you lay back and let him shift to face you as he sits in front of you. He winced slightly at the movement. “You okay?” your hand rests against his arm checking in. “Yeah it’s just a bit harder to shift around in a bath with my leg”. Your eyes widen in understanding “oh right. Sorry. Are you uncomfortable?” “I’ll be fine” he brushes it off. “Jayce-“ you try to argue “Don’t. Please. I just” he sighs clearly emotionally drained and exhausted “I don’t want to be treated differently. Like I’m fragile.”
Your eyes soften which comes across as sympathy but really it’s just care. You take his hand caressing it lightly “I just care about you, that’s all. And I want you to feel good because you’re important to me and I don’t want you to be in pain”. He rests his head against your shoulder so you wrap your arms around him. You place a comforting kiss to his head “I just want to take care of you because I love you and you’re important to me and you deserve the best”. “But I’ve already messed up so much” he says quietly, emotion raw in his tone. “That doesn’t mean that you don’t deserve love and care Jayce. Plus all you’ve ever wanted was to help people. You’re such a selfless and kind person and I just wish you’d let people take care of you for a change” you utter, voice full of affection and reassurance.
His head comes away from your shoulder, instead pressing against yours as he kisses you tenderly with passion. The two of you keep kissing for several minutes, arms wrapped around each other. You can feel his hand fondle the side of your lower back. “I love you” he mutters “you deserve so much”. “If you’re going to say that-“ he interrupts knowing you think he’s going to say that you deserve better than him “no, I know better than to argue with you”. You chuckle cracking a smile as he does so too. His lips meet yours again as he presses you back, his chest pressing against yours. His lips meet your neck pressing firmly against it. Your hand caresses the back of his head as you gasp quietly “ah Jayce”. He pulls back and places one final gentle kiss to your lips “can I wash you too?” You blush with a warm smile “okay”.
You let his hands run along your back as he washes the skin there while leaving kisses on your cheeks. “Stop I’m going to drown in cuteness” you argue with a blush and smile. “You started it” he replies with a cocky grin, face lingering close to yours. “Oh shush you” you complain blush deepening. “Your annoyance is not very convincing” he teases before kissing you on the lips again. Your hands cling onto each other as you kiss, finding yourself slipping onto his lap (you can totally blame the water). When you pull away he keeps the tip of his nose pressed against yours, feeling your hot breaths bouncing off one another. “Um anyway” you interrupt flustered “shall I wash your chest too?” He presses another kiss to your cheek before agreeing. He hums comfortingly as your hands run along his chest, washing him, taking care of him. He returns the favour willingly.
You run your fingers through his hair. “Want me to wash it?” “Alright.” You get to work massaging the shampoo into his hair giving it a deep clean since it’s very much needed. You press a few kisses against his neck as you do so being rewarded with content appreciative hums. You grab the hand held shower hose and rinse the shampoo off, running your hands soothingly against his hair, him laying back against you peacefully.
Once you’re both cleaned up, you finally step out of the bath holding Jayce’s hands for stability before he steps out. You wipe yourselves down and get dressed.
As you slip back into bed, Jayce is much more outwardly affectionate, no longer trying to push you away or hold back as much. You press yourself into his chest as he wraps his arms around you. After a moment he nudges his head under yours, wanting to rest his head against your chest instead. You oblige letting him indulge in the comfort.
“I went through a lot” he starts and you listen “I broke my leg which well, everyone can see. I had to eat newts and drink weird hextech infected water. It only made my wounds harder to heal but there was no alternative. These patterns” he gestures to the blossoming faded colourful pattern on his arm “this is what healing with corrupted hextech looks like.” He sits up against the headboard glancing at you for a moment before looking ahead. You sit up to join him. “I was sent to another dimension. A version of this world were it to fall into the corruption of hextech. The destruction of humanity. What we just witnessed recently if it had been successful. And I was stuck in this hole with my injured leg trying to climb out. I-…it was much more than I could bear. For months. Just stuck in that hole all alone in a world destroyed by hextech.” You can tell by the way his voice grows angrier and more pained that he blames himself so your fingers intertwine with his as you hold his hand. It helps him calm down a little “anyway. I guess you should know the truth so there. That’s what happened. And after that I did everything I could to stop the catastrophe. And I did…but Viktor…” he looks down eyes softening weakly. “I know. I’m sorry.” you wrap your arms around his neck, and he pulls you onto his lap to be closer to you.
“It’s just really hard. I abandoned him y/n and I can barely stand it” his voice is shaky with sadness. Your hand caresses his cheek tilting his face up to look at you. As a tear leaves his eye you gently wipe it away, kissing the spot afterwards. “You know he wanted you to live on” you remind him. “I know but…I didn’t want him to die alone…we’ve been in this together since day one and…I wanted to stick with him till the end…” his voice trails off, feeling down and exhausted. “Well I’m glad that you’re here. And I wish that you didn’t have to lose Viktor…” your eyes soften meeting his, you know how much Viktor meant to him. You lean in kissing him gently, him pressing into you desperately seeking comfort through kisses. His hand even tugs at your hair as he kisses you with need. His body lays above yours, head nuzzling against your neck, arms wrapped around your waist as he seeks for more support and comfort.
“I just really miss him” he sighs feeling distraught. Your hand runs through his hair keeping him close and safe. “I know. I wish things could’ve turned out differently. You’re allowed to grieve”. You continuously kiss his head keeping him close in your arms. “Is there anything I can do to help?” “Just stay with me. Don’t leave me. Please” he sounds so desperate and hurt, it makes your heart ache for him. He was alone for a long time in the ravine too. Fear is probably ingrained into him ever since. “I’m not going anywhere. I promise. Now get some rest alright? It’s been a long day”. He hums in acknowledgment, arms tightening around your waist as he keeps his torso pressed up against yours.
You want to cheer him up before you fall asleep yet you’re not sure how to do that when he’s dealing with the death of his partner. But maybe that is what he needs. To let himself be sad. It just hurts to see. You gently rock him back and forth trying to soothe him and fortunately it’s effective. “Is there anything else I can do for you? I’m not exactly sure how to help and maybe what you need is just to let yourself feel but if not then I want to make you feel better” you quietly mumble against the top of his head. “Could you maybe sing to me? Or hum? It just soothes me. Your voice. It’s calming to me”. You smile not letting him go.
A familiar song comes to mind as you start humming to him. It’s a song you’ve heard him listening to a lot as he showers, including when you shower together. Sometimes he’d hum along too and it seems to have a calming effect on him whenever he does even when he’s stressed. Maybe humming this tune will remind him of those times, maybe memories of you holding him under the shower water, hands running over his skin as you cleanse it. It feels a little bitter sweet. Back then was such a different time. Yet the bath today was very much needed for a reconnection and to help him open up to you again. You’re glad that it worked; it would’ve been difficult if he kept himself away from you.
“You’re the best y/n…and I’m sorry…for pushing you away…and for just being a mess” he scoffs a laugh at himself yet it isn’t humorous. “We’re all a mess sometimes Jayce and I know you’d do the same for me. You never let me push you away. Plus you’re worth everything to me. I’ll always fight for you. For us” your hand keeps smoothing down his hair. He presses his lips to yours and rubs his thumb over your cheek as he holds it “thank you. I love you so much”. “I love you too.” He continues kissing you softly, arms resting on the sides of your head. “I missed you so much” his voice shudders quietly. “I missed you too” you blush before his lips meet yours again, this time with more passion.
He settles his forehead against yours, body still laying on yours. “I’m tired” he sighs. “You should get some rest” you pull him in, his head pressing into the side of your neck with a tired hum. His arms wrap around you again, yours tightening around him comfortably “Goodnight my love”. “Goodnight honey. Whatever you need, I’ll be right there with you”.