I Love You

[Took place on 2/10/26]

The abandoned house is dark and unsettlingly quiet after the chaos.

Viktor had to pick a new one on blind faith and a good feeling, and it lands them somewhere in the middle of nowhere that is so peaceful, it feels disrespectful to their pain.

Minutes into their stay and it’s already a bad host.

Viktor wraps a bandage around Jayce’s forearm. He has been quiet for a while now and refuses to look Jayce in the eye. Even in the dim light, Jayce can see that his eyes are shiny. He doesn’t talk because then the quiver of Viktor’s lip would turn into the crack of a voice.

“Hey…” Jayce says softly. The attack had left him dazed, but the gentle blue glow of Viktor’s healing magic is bringing him back to his senses with each stitched vein. “Don’t look like that. The mission isn’t lost yet. You can heal me up and we can head right back out.”

“Gods, Jayce—” Viktor suddenly snaps, “ty naprostý pitomče—do you really think I give a damn about the mission?”

Jayce frowns. His training kicks in, and PILT speaks through him.

“Its source is back in that cave. We can get it settled tonight if we just lock in and take a little risk,” he says.

“Are you joki—?” Viktor sputters. “Jayce, we are not going back there tonight! I—I—you have got to be joking—‘little risk’—já se zblázním—you almost died!”

“I always almost die,” Jayce shoots back. “That’s the job we’re doing! How many people has that thing killed already? What will it do tonight?”

“You would have died if I had not—!” Viktor chokes. “If I had not found—!”

Viktor’s grip tightens around Jayce’s arm, hard enough to hurt, and Jayce can feel him trembling.

“What would you sacrificing yourself tonight have accomplished?” Viktor demands. “What about the countless others you are going to save if you stay alive?!”

Jayce sets his jaw, stubborn on principle alone. “If this thing reaches the ocean, there’s no one left to save, Viktor. I wanted to stop it before it got to you,” he says, placing his hand over Viktor’s.

Viktor lets out a bitter laugh, one that sounds more like he is coming apart at the seams. “So, sacrificing yourself for me, then? And then what, if you had succeeded?” His body shakes badly, eyes distant. “You w-would have left me all alone—I w-would have—I cannot do that again. N-not… not if it is you—”

“And I would—!” Jayce blurts, then stops short at that word. Again. He would be leaving Viktor alone again. All his fight is gone, leaving behind the bitter aftertaste of knowing he had badly fucked up. He sits up abruptly. “I… I would do differently now if I could,”

The sentence is barely not a lie by the time it finishes leaving Jayce’s mouth, and Viktor hears it. There’s very little comfort in that. He stares at Jayce accusatorily, but can’t find the words behind a sob.

“Hey,” Jayce says quickly. “Hey, hey, shh, it’s okay.” Jayce puts his hand on Viktor’s back and hauls him into his arms, not minding if Viktor’s grip leaves nail marks in his skin as long as he can hold him close.

Viktor’s tremors lessen, but his grip is so tight it feels like he fears he will disappear if he lets go. “T-there was s-so much blood—Jayce, I—please do not leave me alone—”

“I’m right here,” Jayce murmurs. He runs his fingers through Viktor’s hair as he rests his cheek on top of his head. He absently played with the curled hairs at the base of his skull, distracting them both with the affectionate touch. “I’m right here, Viktor. I’m okay. I’m in one piece. Dying is never the plan,” he says quietly. “I had it in my head that if I was dying, I could at least give you a better chance of survival… but that isn’t really thinking like a partner, is it?” His hold tightens. “I’m sorry. I won’t think like that again. Ever. I promise.”

His voice, the touch, the words, and the promises have the desired effect. Viktor’s shaking eases slowly, dissipating somewhere around when Viktor remembers how to breathe. He lets out a slow breath, then gradually lifts his head to look up at Jayce, reaching up to trace along his jawbone.

“When I… thought I had lost you,” Viktor says softly, “it felt as though a piece of my soul had died. It… puts some things in perspective for me, I think.”

Jayce pulls back just enough to look him in the eyes. He traces Viktor’s cheekbones with his thumb, wiping away the tear that still lingers there.

“Why do you think I wanted to end that entity so badly?” Jayce asks.

“What do you mean…?” Viktor asks.

“If it was taking me out, I thought you’d be soon to follow, unless I got rid of it first. I couldn’t live with myself if it killed you, and I thought I wasn’t going to live anyway, and…” His words start to tumble out as he keeps going, unable to stop himself. And he can’t, as if there were any arguing against the apparent recklessness of a dead man’s final acts. “Viktor, I wouldn’t be able to keep going without you. I wouldn’t be able to, even if I wanted to. Every mission or file, or anything—I’d have to move, or burn my house down. I wouldn’t be able to look at Rio. I’d throw Hextech into the bottom of the sea if I could make it there!”

His voice goes hoarse as the thought lands, and his own echo bounces back to him, reminding Jayce that he is in a house that stands like still water, almost shouting at a trembling man. Shame fills him twice over. He breathes in deep through his nose, forcing it to a hush again.

“If I was the idiot who got you killed when you’re barely into your—what—second month? That would kill me, and it would be a lot more painful.” Jayce says. He drags in a shaky breath, forcing himself onward. “What I wanted to do was selfish and stupid, because I’d convinced myself losing you… it would be like dying twice. Once when you—” He swallows thickly. “And twice, at whatever I threw myself at after I lost you, whether it was some monster or some far-off concrete.

“This is everything PILT warns against when they talk about professional entanglements. Years of work at PILT, comfortable in my tunnel vision and working alone, and then you come along—and within weeks, weeks, Viktor, you’ve become so, so important to me. I can’t stop it.” His voice softens, steadies. “I don’t want to.”

Viktor listens to it all, and Jayce can see the recognition in his eyes, the way the words echo something deep and unspoken in him.

When you find something the cosmos itself has decided belongs with you, what else is there to say?

“Neither do I,” Viktor whispers.

And then Viktor surges forward, pressing his mouth to Jayce’s in an impassioned kiss. Jayce reacts on instinct, grabbing the back of Viktor’s neck and pulling him close, enveloping him in his arms, desperate and unthinking. Viktor wraps his arms around Jayce’s neck, kissing him with everything he has, letting all his emotions pour into it.

Jayce holds him against himself, one hand splayed over his back, sliding from cupping his head to resting against his cheek, his thumb brushing over the mole beneath it. He knows so many little things about Viktor, obvious and hidden alike, and there’s nothing he doesn’t adore. His tongue laps across Viktor’s bottom lip, hunger spilling out after being held back for every moment they’ve been together, pouring into the kiss without restraint.

Viktor breaks the kiss for a moment, breathless, a thin trail of saliva stretching between them as he meets Jayce’s eyes.

“I know we both know this is a bad idea,” Viktor says softly, threading his fingers through Jayce’s hair. “But I do not care right now. I want you, Jayce. I want… everything.”

And it’s all just too much for Jayce to handle.

“I love you,” he blurts.

Viktor’s eyes go wide.

The words hang in the air.

Viktor goes quiet, and his smile is fading.

A cold, sobering panic washes over Jayce, killing the heat of the moment along with the entirety of his pride.

“Fuck,” Jayce sputters, “That— that’s way too soon to— Shit. Viktor… I—I got carried away.”

“I… Jayce—”

“No, please, don’t,” Jayce runs a hand down his face. The ground feels like it’s falling from under him. His face burns against his hands. “Fuck. I knew I’d say that. I knew I would say that if I opened my mouth. Why did I open my mouth?”

“I… do you really… you have felt that way…?” Viktor asks quietly.

“I—I, yes?” Jayce sputters, “You were, you were just, talking about your soul, and me being a part of it, and losing me—when losing you—! I couldn’t handle it! Viktor, I was dying!” he shouts, desperation in every fiber of his being, “I thought about saying it to you, but I’m not dying. I made this weird.”

“I… it is just that…” Viktor hesitates. “I do not… know the words for what I am feeling. Is it… love? I… have never… I just do not know if I am ready to say it back.”

“Right—no,” Jayce rushes. “I—I don’t. Please don’t say it. Don’t say it if you don’t mean it.” And he laughs weakly, because he’s afraid of what else he’ll hear if he doesn’t fill the air first. But he can think of nothing else. Jayce Talis has been well and truly defeated.

“Haha—ahh,” Jayce laughs, feeling delirious. His forehead drops to Viktor’s chest as embarrassment finally catches up with him. “...I lost a lot of blood.”

He can feel Viktor’s heart hammering like a frantic rabbit, yet the fingers threading through his hair are soothing. “Let us get you to bed,” the man says softly. “You need to rest. We are going to take care of that entity tomorrow.” He cups Jayce’s head in his hands and lifts it so their eyes meet. “Together.”

“…Okay,” Jayce whispers. “I’d like that.”