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Jayce wasn't sure if he'd ever been as ecstatic yet nervous as he was now, standing outside Brew Bistro in the heart of Piltover's shopping district. What he was sure of was that he'd arrived early, so early it was frankly embarrassing. He checked the time on his phone and came to find that he still had 20 minutes to kill before his scheduled meeting with… Viktor.
He'd cursed himself for suggesting such a late time for meeting up as soon as he'd gotten up after a fairly sleepless, anxiety-filled night and realized he would have to somehow manage to be a functioning person for the whole morning and most of the afternoon. It had been a difficult task, and he'd basically gotten nothing done apart from pacing around his apartment and glancing at the clock.
He was overthinking this, which he was a master at, but this was overkill even for him. He'd spent all of Thursday evening trying to pick an outfit and then scrapped the one he'd decided on Friday morning. A dress shirt and slacks had just seemed far too formal for a casual meetup at a coffee shop. He regretted it a little bit now that he stood there, picking on a loose thread on the sleeve of his sweater. At least he was comfortable in his favourite black jeans and warm blue jumper. He hoped Viktor wasn't about to show up donning anything fancier than that.
Another fifteen minutes passed. Jayce's legs were starting to grow tired, his left one especially, but he was determined to wait it out and greet his companion outside. He'd just pulled his phone out of his pocket again when he heard his name being called out.
"Jayce?"
He turned his head so fast he could've broken his neck from the whiplash, not needing to see the person to recognize the voice but eager nonetheless. And there he was. TheMachineHerald. Viktor. In the flesh walking towards him with a little wave and leaning on a crutch. "Hi."
Jayce immediately felt his heartbeat skyrocket and brain bluescreen for the few seconds it took for Viktor to close in and stop right in front of him. He looked more beautiful than ever before; the camera he used for his content truly did not do justice to any part of him. He was shorter than Jayce had expected — or perhaps he himself was just obscenely tall —, coming up to about Jayce's chin with his slightly slumped posture. He'd styled his hair in a half-up-half-down fashion that suited his features perfectly and was very familiar from most of his videos. The winter weather had made Viktor bundle himself into a soft burgundy scarf, one that the down-part of his hair was also tucked under.
"Hi!" Jayce got out, awkwardly late, and hoped his face wasn't as red as it felt.
Viktor pushed his glasses up his nose and sniffled. Cute. "Did I make you wait?" he asked, and Jayce just about collapsed hearing his voice at normal volume. It brought out his accent even more. "I thought I came early."
"Oh, no, no, you're just on time!" Jayce quickly replied, beaming, and clasped his hands in front of himself to stop them from trembling out of excitement. "Early, actually, it's 3.55. I just kinda got here… extra early."
"I see," Viktor said, but didn't seem weirded out by the prospect. He fixed the strap of his bag that had begun to slide off his shoulder and even offered a small smile.
"Yeah. You know how some people get time blindness and run late all the time? Well, I get whatever the opposite of that is. I think a task will take me an hour and then it's done in ten minutes and—" Jayce paused, suddenly aware of himself. "...I'm rambling, aren't I?"
The smile on Viktor's face turned into a lopsided grin as he looked up at Jayce through his eyelashes. "A little bit," he admitted, with a lilt of amusement to his voice. "Shall we go in?"
Now Jayce knew he was blushing. "Yes. That… yes. Good idea. I'm freezing."
He spun around and headed for the door of the coffee shop, a few feet away from their meeting spot. He caught a glimpse of himself in the window and could tell his face and ears were darker than normal. Viktor followed him, silent and swift, and muttered a quiet 'thank you' into his scarf when Jayce held the door open for him.
Brew Bistro was not a place Jayce frequented, only having visited twice with Mel years back. Viktor looked much more comfortable in the environment, immediately taking the lead and walking over to the counter while loosening his scarf. Jayce followed sheepishly as his companion greeted the woman operating one of the coffee machines behind the counter.
"Hello, Sky," Viktor said and took off his glasses to wipe the fog that had started forming on them from the change of temperature.
The girl spun around, startled, but beamed at him as soon as she recognized him. "Viktor." She abandoned the drink she'd been working on and rushed to the cash register. "It's been a minute!"
"Yeah," the man replied and proceeded to not elaborate. "I'll have my regular, please."
"Hot chocolate sweet enough to rot your teeth, check," she hummed and scribbled something down on a notepad on the counter. She pushed her glasses up her nose and looked up at Jayce. "You brought a friend?"
Jayce gave him a smile. "Hi. I'll have a decaf espresso."
"Alright, Mr. Espresso," she said, amused, and wrote his order down. Jayce only then realized she had probably acknowledged him because she was curious about Viktor's friend's name, not Viktor's friend's coffee preferences.
"Why decaf?" Viktor asked before he could fix his mistake.
"Caffeine makes me sleepy," Jayce shrugged. "Just ADHD things, I guess."
Sky put the pen down and started tapping on the register, instead. "And will that be separate or paid together?"
"I'll pay." "My treat." The men spoke at the same time. Jayce felt his ears burn again when Viktor looked at him, a mixture of annoyance and amusement.
"I invited you. I should pay," he said.
"Yeah, but… I–" Jayce couldn't think of an argument and deflated. "Fine. But I'll also have one of those blueberry cupcakes, then. With my money," he decided and pointed towards the display shelf they were standing next to.
"Well, you need to use those Twitch donations on something," Viktor muttered and Jayce had to admit the jab made him feel like burying himself alive. At least he could see the other man's grin that he was trying to hide behind his scarf and made his mind more at ease.
They settled into a table by the window after getting their treats and shed their outerwear on the backs of the chairs and by their feet on the floor. Jayce could feel how staticky his hair was once he pulled his beanie off, and judging by the grossed out face Viktor made once he freed his locks from the scarf he was dealing with the same thing.
"Winter sucks so bad," Jayce sighed and threw his beanie on top of the backrest before slumping into the seat.
"Could not agree more," Viktor said, steadying his crutch to rest against the chair. Jayce's mind itched with questions but he wasn't sure if any of them could be asked without coming off as insensitive.
"Are you injured?" he finally chose to ask after seeing the way the other man limped getting into his chair. Viktor looked at him, puzzled, and Jayce glanced at the handle of the crutch to give him a hint.
"Oh." The knit of Viktor's brow eased. "No. I mean, yes. Perpetually. Rheumatoid arthritis and scoliosis."
"Oh! I see," Jayce nodded while starting to saw the cupcake in half with a knife. "I had no clue. You don't really talk about yourself in your videos. Sorry you have to deal with that."
"It is what it is." A fleeting smile grazed Viktor's lips. "You overshare," he said. "How's your leg?"
Jayce chuckled, embarrassed but unable to refute the claims. He did really like talking about his life. "It's worse whenever it's cold," he admitted and subconsciously readjusted the strap of his knee brace. "Plus I fucking hate the way the calf compress feels like under pants. But I'll live."
"Mm, I hear that. It's been thirty-two years and my joints still refuse to function when the temperature drops." Viktor rolled his eyes and started stirring the spoon in his hot chocolate. Jayce sipped his own drink and immediately relaxed when the taste hit his tongue and the hot liquid warmed him from the inside out.
"Thirty-two?" he repeated, eyebrows flying into his hairline. "You're older than me?"
Viktor shrugged. "How old did you think I was?"
"I dunno, like… twenty-five?" Jayce said. "You look young."
"You're the first person to say that."
Jayce couldn't tell whether that was a good thing or not, so he took his surprise and buried it, changing the subject, "I was expecting you to order some crazy quadruple ristretto or something. Hot chocolate is your drink of choice?"
Viktor squinted. "Don't judge."
"I'm not! It's…" Cute, Jayce wanted to say, but stopped himself, "...fine. Love a hot chocolate."
"My body cannot handle coffee," Viktor said and popped one of the marshmallows from the cup into his mouth. He exhaled through his nose, "Not that it can handle most things, to be honest."
Jayce decided they weren't at the stage of their relationship where he should start poking Viktor about his medical history and details, so he focused back on the cupcake and deposited one half of it onto the plate while leaving the other on top of the wrapping paper. He handed the plated half to Viktor who looked at it like it was a completely foreign object. "I thought you were having that cupcake. With your own money."
"Just eat it," Jayce insisted and took a bite out of his own half for emphasis. "Huck, 'his is hood," he got out, mouth full.
Viktor made a noise akin to a chuckle and took a much more conservative bite of his respective cupcake. "So," he said after emptying his mouth and smirked, "is my channel the only one you watch or was that an exaggeration?"
Oh boy, here we go, Jayce thought while weighing his options. Just how parasocial was he trying to come across here? Would Viktor freak out if he knew the extent of his… infatuation? "Nobody does it like you," he got out with a laugh and ruffled his hair as a nervous tick.
"Is that so?" Viktor asked and sipped his drink.
"Mm-hmm."
"Well, I'm flattered. It's not everyone's cup of tea."
"Yeah, your stuff is really unique," Jayce said and popped a blueberry into his mouth from the top of the cupcake. He tried to put his thoughts into words while chewing, "In a good way, of course! It's so… high-quality and still– Like, cozy and comforting? Doesn't feel manufactured like some bigger channels, even when your whole thing is machinery and tech and… Well, you know."
"What's your favorite?" Viktor tilted his head, basking in the compliments.
"Video?" A nod. Jayce scratched his neck and tried to stifle the awkward laugh he wanted to let out. "Probably the one I requested."
The confused furrow returned to Viktor's brows. "I've never gotten a request from you. I would remember that, surely."
"You have. You just… didn't know it was me." Jayce fidgeted with his sleeve and tried to figure out how to not come across as a weirdo. "I'm subscribed on an alt account. I hate it when a big creator comments on anything and the replies are all full of 'omg I love your stuff' and ignoring the actual content, plus, I– I don't need everyone to see what I'm doing at 4am on my phone."
Viktor stared at him, but didn't look angry, more-so amazed. "What did you request?"
Jayce bit his lip. "The… bedtime story thing," he mumbled.
"Seriously?"
"Yup."
Viktor pulled out his phone and started tapping away. With every passing second, Jayce could feel his face getting redder and redder. Finally, Viktor turned his phone around and showed a YouTube channel he'd pulled up. "This you?"
"You're really gonna ' this you' me?" Jayce whined and averted his gaze from the phone that displayed his account.
Clearly finding the situation funny, Viktor looked at his phone again and pretended to study the profile. "GoldenBoy, huh? A little, eh, egotistical, don't you think?"
"It's an inside joke!"
"Okay."
Jayce groaned and snatched the phone out of Viktor's hand, turning the screen off. Viktor smiled — what a blessed sight — and, much to Jayce's shock, put his hand on Jayce's instead of just taking the phone out of his grip. Jayce handed the device over without a fuss and felt like he'd gotten burnt. "I'm not ashamed of liking your stuff, if that's what you think."
"I don't," Viktor assured, though he had an air of unease underneath the cool, humoured facade. He seemed to notice Jayce had caught on, because he pocketed his phone and sighed. "You've left a lot of Super Thanks, is all."
"You deserve some compensation for your content," Jayce shrugged, not seeing the issue. "It's nothing I'd miss. I usually set out a little portion of my month's donations to pass on to other creators."
"I see."
Viktor focused on his drink again and Jayce couldn't help but feel like he'd upset the man. He wasn't really sure why, though it seemed that Viktor disliked discussing money in general if the way they'd bickered over the drinks was anything to go off of. That was reasonable; Jayce hated it too. While he was comfortable now thanks to his career it hadn't always been like that for him and his family, and the last thing he wanted to make Viktor feel was that he was getting coddled or some kind of charity job.
"What about you?" he tried to get the ball rolling again. "What's your favorite from me?"
Viktor hummed in thought and pushed his glasses up his nose before a straight up wicked grin formed on his face. "The hot tub stream."
Jayce almost choked on his drink and emerged from the cup beet red. "Not that shit!"
"Why not? I thought it was very entertaining."
"Okay, first of all, it wasn't a hot tub," Jayce said, wiping the coffee out of his beard. "It was a lukewarm kiddie pool and I almost flooded my apartment trying to get out of it."
"I remember that," Viktor snickered, "You falling off the edge and spilling water everywhere."
"So much content in the past four years and that is where you think I peaked?"
Viktor held eye contact for a couple silent seconds before breaking away with a laugh. "I'm fucking with you," he admitted. "I like your DIY project series. That's how I found you."
"Right, you mentioned," Jayce nodded, unable to hide his relief from the revelation that Viktor didn't just watch him when he was shirtless. "Makes sense. You like tinkering with stuff too."
"There's this stream archive where you just spent like three hours muttering to yourself and working on a project. I put it on as background noise when working on some freelance work and ended up falling asleep at the desk. It inspired my whole content style."
There was a softness to Viktor's smile Jayce hadn't seen yet, one that made him feel strangely gooey inside. "I put you to sleep?" he asked. "Never been told I'm 'relaxing'."
Viktor exhaled through his nose. "Well, you were, for about fifteen minutes. Then you dropped something on your foot and screamed and woke me up. The memory of that lingers prominently whenever I consider streaming instead of filming a video."
"You should do it!" Jayce immediately said, maybe too enthusiastically. "I mean– You'd be good at it. Better than I am, I reckon. You don't seem as clumsy."
"Eh, my neighbourhood isn't the quietest." Viktor ran the tip of his finger around the rim of his mug and Jayce had a hard time not getting hypnotized by the motion. "I doubt a biker gang outside my window would be the most soothing of sounds."
"What's your filming process like, anyway?" Jayce asked, tearing his eyes away from the other man's long fingers. Pianist's hands, his mother would say.
"Not particularly exciting," Viktor shrugged.
Jayce took another bite of his cupcake and leaned on his elbow, ready to intently listen. "Tell me anyway."
So, Viktor did. Jayce felt bad to admit most of the words coming out of the man's mouth went in through one ear and right out the other, but not for the reason Viktor had said. It was genuinely interesting to hear how other people did things, and Viktor's niche wasn't something Jayce had any experience in so it was a nice change of pace from the eternal discussion about GPUs and capture cards he always got to with Vi.
Still, Viktor's voice was doing things to him. Sleepy things. Jayce could only fake concentration for so long before his eyes started to feel heavy. He was very aware of the fact that he wasn't even looking at Viktor's eyes anymore, gaze fallen to his mouth as it twisted around syllables. He had such a unique way of speaking, of moving his facial muscles. In his videos he always seemed very cool, cold, even, but he was so animated in real life from the way his lips curled to how he cocked his eyebrows in thought or furrowed them in ire. His teeth were cute. Was that a strange thing to say?
Jayce could not help himself, catching himself when it was already too late; his whole body sprung up from the strength of the yawn he let out, arms straining to the ceiling. The movement startled Viktor judging by the jolt, which was a bigger concern to Jayce than the fact that his back had let out the loudest pop in the history of the world at the peak of his stretch.
"So—orry," Jayce got out through a second, smaller yawn and wiped a tear from the corner of his eye.
Viktor got over his shock quickly, calmly grabbing his cup and taking a sip. "Am I boring you, Jayce?" he asked and glanced at him over the mug and the rim of his glasses.
"No no, not at all!" Jayce practically yelled, gaining a look from the couple sitting at a nearby booth. "I'm just so used to falling asleep to your voice, I'm sorry, please continue!"
He didn't get further in his pleading before Viktor already snorted and kicked him in the shin — thankfully the right one — under the table. "You were serious about that?" he asked, clearly amused.
"Yes," Jayce sighed, not even having the energy to be embarrassed. "I've fallen asleep to your talking for the past six months, give me a break."
"Mmm. Nap break?"
"Oh, shut it," Jayce hissed and hid his face behind his coffee mug. "It should be a compliment? Right? That's like your job, to make people sleepy."
"I guess so?" Viktor tilted his head, looking up in thought. "Huh. Never gave that much thought. How bizarre."
"Speaking of jobs, what'd you do before YouTube?" Jayce asked after taking a sip of coffee. "You mentioned freelance work?"
Viktor nodded. "As you can probably guess, I'm not exactly made for working outside of my home. When the pandemic started my health took a really, really bad hit," he revealed. "RA is an autoimmune disease, and my immune system happens to be like the worst one in the world. I got the virus and I got it bad, which then caused the worst flare-up I've ever had. Bedridden for months. Before that I would do virtual personal assistant work for clients but had to quit everything in 2020."
Now Jayce was listening, rather shocked by the story. He hadn't expected Viktor to want to share such private things so soon.
"It's a very long, sad, boring story but in a nutshell, I spent a year completely alone inside my apartment," Viktor continued, fidgeting with a blueberry he'd picked from the cupcake. "I never had many friends but in that time even the little I had stopped keeping in touch. All I could do during those months was lay in bed and explore the world through technology. That's when I found you."
He looked up from his hand, looking almost scared to see Jayce's reaction. All Jayce could offer him was a tight nod; he wasn't sure if his voice would fail him. He had a lump in his throat that no amount of coffee was getting rid of.
"You had around a year's worth of content at that point, I think? I watched through all of it in two months. I…" Viktor paused, the corner of his mouth twitching like he wanted to smile and frown at the same time. "I got a bit obsessed, if I'm honest. I don't know why. There was just something about you that made me feel less shit. It felt like I had a friend there with me. You were so authentic in the way you communicated with the audience, and just genuinely funny and charming and kind." He squashed the blueberry and adjusted his glasses anxiously. "Fucking hell, that's making me sound like such a creep…"
Jayce swallowed, hard. His mouth felt like sandpaper. The coffee didn't help. "It doesn't," he tested his voice and found it rough from holding back tears. "Thank you for telling me. I– I have no idea why you did. We just met. But I'm glad you did."
Viktor shrugged, seemingly ready to drop the emotionality and fall back into his cool, collected persona. "I told you because of what I just said. Because I feel like I've known you for ages. Even if we never talked." His expression failed his tone a bit. "Is that creepy?"
"No! It's exactly how I feel," Jayce quickly said and leaned forward, almost knocking over his now-empty coffee cup in his haste to grab Viktor's forearm. "Whenever I hear your voice I feel safe. You have no idea how many panic attacks you've saved me from in these past few months. I put your video on and suddenly everything's just– gonna be okay."
Viktor stared at Jayce's hand on the crook of his elbow. His face had flushed slightly. "That's– good," he said, calculating his approach. "If I can help even one person then I've done my job."
Jayce smiled and brushed his thumb back and forth on the other man's arm. "Trust me, you've helped more than one. And please don't worry about… coming off as weird or a creep." He let out an awkward chuckle, "I'm probably way more parasocial about you than you are about me."
"That so?" Viktor had some of the sassiness back in his tone now. Jayce deemed that as a good thing.
"Yes," he said with a laugh. "You think I just agree to meet every single person that slides into my DMs?"
"Hopefully not. That's how you get murdered."
"That's funny. My girlfriends said the exact same thing."
Viktor's arm stiffened under his grip. "You… have a girlfriend? Multiple?"
"Wait, no– Not like that!" Jayce rushed to correct himself, cheeks burning. "Girlfriends as in friends who are women! They're lesbians!"
"...Good for them," Viktor slowly replied, a smirk forming on his face. "So, you're single, then?"
Jayce bit the inside of his cheek and felt like he was going to spontaneously combust at any second. "I am," he said, trying to keep his tone inconspicuous. "Haven't had anyone since the break-up with Mel. You probably saw that."
"Mm-hmm."
"What about you?" Jayce couldn't help but ask, even if it made him come across as desperate. "Got a boyfriend?" He immediately failed in the suaveness department. "Or– Or girlfriend!"
Viktor looked at him like he was fighting a laugh before turning his arm palm-down and essentially cupping Jayce's own arm. "'Boyfriend' would be correct. And, no. Not many dating options when you're stuck indoors," he said.
Jayce grimaced. "I feel like I'm too autistic to get any hints you're potentially sending my way," he whispered, strained. "Are you? Sending them?"
The smile Viktor offered him was the prettiest thing Jayce had ever seen. "Let's speak plainly, then" he said and straightened up, arm slipping out of Jayce's grip as he readjusted himself on the seat. Jayce immediately missed the contact. "I messaged you because I had a feeling we could get along. I'll admit I may have had… ulterior motives, depending on how this meeting went."
Jayce pretended his heart wasn't about to jump out of his mouth and nodded. "I wasn't sure if the whole 'it's a date' thing was just a joke," he smiled sheepishly and fidgeted with the collar of his sweater.
"Sorry," Viktor said and genuinely sounded it, too. "It could go either way. Do you want this to be a date?"
"God, yes," Jayce answered instantly, almost falling off his chair from how far on the edge he was sitting on.
Viktor looked at him, slightly awestruck, before composing himself and picking up his cooled off hot chocolate. "Then, how about we get seconds and turn this into one?"
Jayce was out of his seat in a flash, coffee cup in hand. "Yes, please."
They ended up sitting in the coffee shop for over two hours after that, chatting about anything and everything under the sun. The vibe hadn't changed that much after the revelation, though there was a certain charge in the air now, one that made Jayce jittery in a good way. He soaked in any bit of information about Viktor like he was a sponge, pretending to text on his phone while in reality he jotted down everything for later. When they finally emerged from the building, his Notes app was housed quite the novel:
Viktor's favorites (if someone finds this I'm burying myself alive)
• music: eastern european industrial metal. likes new wave, too.
• mentioned KMFDM: i know that one!
• movies: THE IRON GIANT?? HES A CARTOON GUY???????? i thought hed be into like pretentious art deco shit.
• food: goulash (look into this)
• didnt ask about drink but he ordered hot chocolate twice. cant stomach coffee
• color: purple. same as mel… do i have a type? said he likes most deep muted colors tho.
• animal: axolotl?? i have never heard someone say that, made my cat answer seem real lame
• his birthday is december 29th. DONT FORGET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! capricorn suits him if zodiacs are anything to believe in
• look into capricorn and cancer compatibility
• i think im in love with him. shit
"I'm going to try to catch the next bus," Viktor said, startling Jayce out of his thoughts. They'd been walking along the street for a bit and Jayce honestly had no clue where they were heading, just blindly following the other man while staring at his phone.
"Oh! Yes." He shoved his phone into his pocket and stuffed his hands in, too. "I seriously had so much fun today," he said as they slowed to a halt, and meant every word. He couldn't remember the last time he'd gotten along this well with another person.
"Mmm, likewise," Viktor nodded and adjusted the strap of his messenger bag. He looked up at Jayce in a way that Jayce was already quickly becoming obsessed with. "So. Same time next week?" he asked with a knowing smirk.
Jayce felt like his face would split in two from how widely he smiled in return. "Yes! Please."
Viktor seemed caught off guard by the enthusiasm and ducked his face into his scarf with a hum. "See you, then."
"Yep. Get home safe," Jayce offered, fixing his face and giving the other man's shoulder a soft squeeze. He could've sword Viktor leaned into the touch, but the moment didn't last long enough for him to be sure. He chose to believe that was the case when he watched Viktor walk briskly out of his sight.