Chapter Text
Cold weather in Piltover had always been hard on Viktor.
Being topside meant he felt the full force of the elements. Every chill wind that graced ‘terra’s surface and the ice that would cling to walkways made it hard for his cane to do its job keeping him upright. Ending in what was always a gnarly slip that would leave Viktor flat on his ass.
Not to mention how much his bones ached on any given day. Viktor spent hours in pain with his joints screaming from the temperature drops, wishing that Janna would take pity and kill him.
Growing up in Zaun in the wintertime hadn’t been this bad. Most of the time being beneath the surface shielded you from the harshness of the wintertide. Not to say that frost and snow didn’t slip through the skyline cracks but most of the time the warmth from the iron structures made it melt rather quickly.
Viktor missed when he could go outside and feel the warmth of the shops and marketplace around him and not having to worry about his fingertips getting so cold they hurt.
Not even the academy could shield him from the frigid weather. All the windows in the lab leak, bringing in the cold from outside.
Viktor took it upon himself to wear as many layers as he could when he was in the lab.
Sky usually was kind enough to bring him a blanket when she saw that his fingers were stiff and had a hard time moving when Jayce couldn’t get to it first.
She was always kind to him, and for years had been Viktor’s only friend. Right by his side since childhood.
From the fissures to the academy. They had seen it all.
She happen to be the only person in existence that knew of the romantic feelings Viktor harbored towards his lab partner.
“Someone is happy for six in the morning.” He teased when she came in that morning while Viktor was tempering with hex-crystals, happy even by her standards. Humming a song that if he had more energy he could place. The Zaunite often envied that she could be unaffected by the tiredness of the early hours. “I take it that your date with Councilor Medarda went well.”
It had been an interesting development considering that he was sure for the longest time that Councilor Medarda was after Jayce. But when Sky had come to him confessing that she and the councilor had really hit it off at one of the Gala’s that Jayce had taken her to in his place ‘cause he’d literally rather die than get dragged to one of those. And well, one thing spiraled into another.
“She didn’t exactly call it a date.” Flush rose to her cheeks as she fixed her glasses. “But yes, I like to think it did.”
“She said she wanted to do it again sometime.” she all but squealed. “And we’ve got plans for this weekend.”
“What did you end up doing?” Viktor the previous night before had stayed up with Sky to discuss her not date with the councilor, trying to figure out what the pair could do.
“I ended up showing her around the lower levels of Piltover. Turns out she’s never even seen the bridge area.”
figured. “Yeah?”
“You should have seen her, Vik. She wore the sweater I bought her the last time we went out,” she sighed dreamily. “Also a letter came for you this morning.”
Mail never piqued Viktor’s interest. It was mostly letters inviting him to work on useless ideas, that or just spam. Or the dreaded fan mail. However, the fan mail was almost exclusively for Jayce. “Don’t tell me it’s fan mail.”
“Doubt it, since they share your last name.”
Viktor’s head whipped around to Sky holding the envelope. “Let me see that.” Viktor’s eye caught on the bright green wax that sealed the paper, it had almost looked radioactive. No doubt his family.
Morenova Y. Go figure.
He quickly skimmed the letter.“It’s a wedding invitation. My cousin, she’s getting married,” Sky was looking over his shoulder, he could feel her curiosity from there. How the fuck did they get his lab address?
Her eyebrows raised as her smile grew, “That’s wonderful! Which one? When’s the date?”
Viktor scanned the invitation until he got to the date.
“Yev is, It is next Sunday, I will be gone for most of that week.” Viktor's shoulders sagged a little. This would mean he’d be gone from the lab… from Jayce. Viktor internally bowed his head.
“That’s great!” Sky’s voice boomed throughout the lab.
“You’re really fucking excited for this early in the morning.” The Zaunite said sarcastically, rubbing his temple. He was far too tired for this.
“Some of us have a reason to be.” She grinned, “Weddings are so much fun Viktor. Don’t you remember when we went to your brother’s wedding?”
Fun is not what Viktor would have described his older brother’s wedding. The whole thing had been one big mess that ended with his face being covered in cake.
“You and I remember things very differently.” He snorted.
“Oh! Is there a plus one? your family usually has plus one.”
She suddenly gasped and punched his arm.
“Ow! Why do you hurt me like this?”
“I’ve got the perfect idea!” She yelled completely ignoring Viktor’s question. “You should ask Jayce to go with you.”
“No. No!” He squawked, waving his arms. He could feel the blush rising up his face. “Out of the god damn question!”
Half a week with Jayce? Dream come true. Half a week with Jayce where his family could lock them in a closet together? Viktor was gonna kill himself.
He didn’t even know if his family actually wanted him there. If he were to go he did not put it past his siblings to simply leave him alone.
At that most inopportune time, Jayce entered the lab, nursing a cup of coffee. “What’s out of the question?”
Fuck, speak of the devil he shall appear.
Jayce wasn’t much of a devil.
Not really
Sky gave her childhood friend a devious smirk before throwing him under the bus. “Viktor’s Cousin is getting married!” kerchunk, kerchunk, kerchunk . He shot her the harshest glare he could muster once Jayce’s back was turned. If looks could kill, Sky would no doubt be dust.
“Oh, wow. Tell them my congratulations.” Jayce said honestly.
Fuck it . “There is actually a plus one,” he stated, twisting his hand on the handle of his cane. “Sky has plans this weekend and If you are available, are you doing anything next week?” the worst outcome is that he goes alone.
“Nothing but the lab stuff, why?” Jayce looked at him confused.
“Would you mind accompanying me to my cousin’s wedding?” Viktor quickly added, “It’ll be awkward if I have to go alone.” He could see from the corner of his eye Sky was giving a very enthusiastic thumbs up.
“Yeah, sure. I like weddings.”
“Thank you. It means a lot.” giving him a lopsided smile.
“No problem.” the other man beamed. “It’s the least I could do.”
Viktor knew this would be the death of him.