Work Text:
The sky was a soft blue, shedding a damp glow through the glass windows. Jayce and Viktor had been hunched over their desks for a better part of the day, materials strewn about and entirely in their own minds. The atmosphere was as familiar as it was comfortably serene, like children too occupied with their toys to recognise their surroundings. The humming of the energy through the building might have lulled any other to sleep by now.
Viktor had broken the silence a few times with his coughing, which had become part of the peace the way a ticking clock was unintrusive. But a particular choked wheeze jolted his body in such a way that a shot of pain lanced through his bad leg from hip to knee to ankle. An electric agony burned through his joints like the explosive Orion constellation, catching him off-guard.
Viktor gasped and cursed in his native tongue, gripping his thigh.
Jayce perked up from his work, “Everything alright?”
“Fine.” Viktor gritted in as normal a voice he could muster through his tensed jaw.
“Viktor, people don’t swear when they’re fine.” Jayce stood up from his desk.
The slimmer scientist muttered to himself, “I knew I’d regret telling you what that meant.”
A hand landed on Viktor’s shoulder and he startled, he opened his eyes, having screwed them shut at some point.
At this distance, Jayce could see one of Viktor’s hands clenched white on the table, the other on his leg. “Viktor.” He hesitantly pried.
Viktor gave in. “It’s just a muscle spasm, it’ll pass.”
“Anything you can do to help?” Jayce needed to remind Viktor often that taking care of himself wasn’t a bad thing, and wasn't distracting himself from a bigger cause.
Viktor huffed a laugh. “You’d think after dealing with this all my life I’d have figured it out, but it’s just a lot of time and, eh, pain.”
Viktor didn’t make eye contact with Jayce, keeping his gaze somewhere in the middle distance and under furrowed brows.
Jayce rephrased the question, eyes curving with sympathy, “Is there anything I can do for you?”
Viktor turned the request over in his mind. He grasped his cane with pale fingers, “could you help me up?”
Jayce jumped to his aid, putting an arm under his shoulders and helping him to walk. It was concerning him how much weight Viktor was putting on him, considering he didn’t have much to begin with. Viktor tried to step onto his right, and the effect was instant. Pain ignited his entire right side and he hissed, deciding not to move or even jostle the leg again.
“Where are we going?” Jayce asked.
Viktor was looking down at his feet, “the couch. My chair was, uhm, stiff? It was making me stiffen.”
“Do you mean jarring?” Jayce laughed.
Viktor huffed. “I suppose so … jarring.”
“Here we are.” Jayce lowered his partner onto the sofa, gentle as he could. Viktor sighed as he was met with a more forgiving surface. Jayce smiled, noticing a footrest he could pull over for him.
“Thank you, Jayce.” Viktor smiled smally, breaking into a grimace as he moved his leg onto the rest. The elevation eased the pain slightly, but it still felt like there was a metal splint under the surface of his skin.
Jayce watched him, hands twitching to help but unsure if or how he could. He perched on the edge of the sofa next to his partner, watching him shut his eyes and grip his leg just above the knee brace that enveloped it. He slipped his finger tip underneath and rubbed bruisingly.
“Do you…” Jayce began. Viktor looked up inquisitively. “Can I give you a massage? I mean, would it help, because I used to do it for my parents, when they spent too long in the shop.”
“Well aren’t you a loving son?” Viktor teased.
Jayce sighed, “I’m serious.”
Viktor glanced between them, “Ehhh, yeah okay.”
Jayce leaned forward, reaching, “Can this come off?”
His fingertips brushed the leather of Viktor’s brace.
“I suppose; I won’t be using my leg for now anyway.” Viktor doubled over to unlatch the part closest to him. His spine was starting to seize now, and he flinched when he reached further. “Sorry, could you undo that buckle and pull it over my foot?”
If Jayce felt any pity, he didn’t let it show, and pulled the strap. In his periphery, Viktor rubbed a circle into the small of his back.
Having unlaced his shoe, undone the buckles, and carefully pulled the brace off, Jayce sat back.
“Where does it hurt?”
Viktor scoffed. “Just start with my knee?”
Jayce nodded, warm hands encircling the joint. He paused in seriousness, “Tell me if it hurts.”
Viktor was vaguely aware of his nervousness, having never been this close to Jayce for so long before. He’d never had anyone offer to do something like this for him either. The burning agony withheld his mind from the thoughts. Jayce began pushing the pads of his fingers along the grain of Viktor’s knee, spreading warmth into the edges of the joint. His motions made Viktor’s skin hum, sending ripples of static across the surface as the tension melted. Viktor let out a breath of content and leaned back against the sofa. Jayce found himself also lost in the repetitive motions. It wasn’t often Viktor allowed him to help him, and the idea that he was easing Viktor’s pain spread a warmth in his heart. He began to move slowly down the leg, pressing his calf, and gave a glance up to Viktor’s face. Viktor had his eyes shut, his small mouth turned up ever so slightly.
For almost an hour they stayed like that. Viktor might have been sleeping. Jayce had moved down to his foot and back up again. At his hip his fingertip met with something solid, another leather wrapping through Viktor’s shirt. He pulled away silently, looking around for a blanket, but Viktor came back around.
“Hi.” Jayce looked Viktor in the eye.
Viktor returned the look through a half-lidded gaze. “Hi. Thanks.”
Jayce nodded. Then he found himself asking, “Does your back still hurt, I could…”
Viktor shook his head, accent thick when he spoke, “You’ve done more than enough, and an excellent job I might add. A back massage isn’t worth the pain of taking off the brace though.”
Jayce formed an ‘o’ with his mouth. He helped Viktor get the leg brace back on, and watched him tighten it so much he winced for his partner's sake. Viktor slumped back, absently tracing the buckles of his back brace through his shirt. “It seems I’m being held together these days.”
Viktor laughed weakly, something else beyond the surface. Jayce stared. He didn’t know whether Viktor needed disagreement or a share in the joke, but he wanted to know whether the brace hurt him as much as the one on his leg must.
“Can I?” Jayce spoke without thinking, “Can I see?”
Viktor seemed mildly alarmed, but untucked his shirt and rolled it up anyway. Stretched over him like a second skin, a piece of leather and metal started at his hips and disappeared under his shirt. It was as tight as a corset, and Jayce wouldn’t be surprised if it gave Viktor less space to breathe than one. It cinched his narrow waist in a distracting way, making his sharp hip bones stand out in the gap between his brace and trousers.
Viktor looked down at Jayce. “I’m surprised you haven’t seen it before. Although I suppose I haven’t been wearing it for as long as the leg brace.”
Jayce was silent. He raised a hand and traced the metal latches. They were cold, just like Viktor, and unforgiving. Jayce laid his hand flat against Viktor’s chest, searching for a heartbeat. The leather didn’t let one through.
Jayce realised the position he was in, hand splayed on his partner’s chest and leaning over him. Viktor was watching Jayce’s hand, and slowly raised his head. Jayce’s heart did skip.
Viktor’s lip twitched and his breath shook. “Jayce?”
Jayce watched Viktor’s mouth form the word, and his cheeks flushed. “Yeah?”
“… May I?”
Jayce swooped in and pressed his lips to Viktor’s, slanting his mouth to capture the others. Viktor gasped against him, pushing against his mouth with a desperation that shocked Jayce. He gripped Jayce’s lapel and pulled him towards him, so that Jayce had to brace himself with a hand on Viktor’s other side. His other hand came up to brush the strip of skin between Viktor’s trousers and back brace, stroking his hip bone. A heat struck his chest and moved downwards. Viktor pulled on the short strands at the nape of Jayce’s neck.
Jayce let out a moan, “Vik…”
Viktor smiled against his mouth. He took a breath, and put the flat of his hand on Jayce’s chest, “We should get back to work.”
“Yeah we should.” Jayce hummed against the other’s lips.
Viktor laughed and looked up at Jayce fondly. “I’m serious.”
Jayce opened his eyes, cheeks red and smiling. He stood and held out a hand for Viktor. Viktor was pulled to his feet, and stretched his right leg, remarking the lack of pain.
“You’ve got to let me do that again.” Jayce was still holding Viktor’s hand.
Viktor smirked, “The massage or the kiss?”
Jayce laughed. “Seriously? Both.”
Viktor twisted his crutch in his hand nervously.
Jayce persisted. “Honestly, next time you’re hurt, I want to help. It looks like it did.”
“It did.” Viktor nodded. “I’ll let you know.”
Jayce pecked Viktor on the lips and turned back towards the desks. Viktor coughed and made his way to his. They both sat and resumed their comfortable silence, but neither mind was on their work.
After a long peace, Viktor spoke up. “Vitya.”
Jayce hummed in question.
Viktor repeated himself, “You called me Vik earlier. The shortened version of my name in my language is Vitya.”
Jayce grinned. “Vitya.”
Viktor furrowed his brows and grimaced, “Never mind. Your accent makes it sound funny.”
Jayce barked a laugh, “Well now I like it even more, Vitya.”
Viktor shook his head, finger playing absentmindedly with the edge of his leg brace. He could still feel the warmth of Jayce’s fingers.