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Jayce was dying.
There was no other explanation for it. He could feel his organs shutting down one by one. Gods, he still had so much life ahead of him. Even when he’d woken up in that upside down car with blood dripping in his eye, he’d still had more hope for survival than he did now.
“Viktor,” he whined.
“What?”
His boyfriend, seated purposefully far away from Jayce on the other end of the couch, sounded entirely unsympathetic. He didn’t even look up from the book he was reading, which Jayce took offense to. Weren’t you supposed to be nice to people in their final hours?
“I think I’m dying.”
“So you’ve said. Four times now, in fact.”
“Because it’s true!”
Viktor still didn’t glance away from his book. “You’re being dramatic.”
Jayce sniffled and burrowed deeper into the blankets. “No, I’m not. I’m dying, and you’re mocking me.”
“It’s a cold, Jayce,” Viktor said. “Not the plague.”
“How do you know? I can’t breathe, and I have chills, and—” He raised his palm to his forehead. “Oh, gods. I have a fever.”
Viktor sighed and set his book facedown on the coffee table, keeping it open to his page. Jayce was too preoccupied with his imminent demise to judge Viktor for his utterly unhinged treatment of his reading materials.
He scooted closer to Jayce and pressed the back of his hand against Jayce’s forehead. Jayce leaned into the contact. These could be his last moments, okay? He deserved to indulge.
“You don’t have a fever,” Viktor said. He pulled his hand away as he said it, much to Jayce’s displeasure.
“Are you sure?” Jayce asked. “Maybe we should go buy a thermometer or something.”
Viktor gave him a tired look. “It’s just a cold. You’re going to be fine.”
Jayce frowned. If this was a cold, it was, like, a super-mega cold. One so awful that it definitely justified all his whining and complaining. He tried desperately to breathe through his nose, but only managed to loudly move the snot around in it. Some of it got in his throat, and he coughed a few times.
This was all Maddie’s fault. She made his system dynamics class miserable on the best of days—never mind the fact that they were only a few weeks into the semester—and now she had the audacity to infect him with something that made his class-free time awful, too.
He was pretty sure he’d heard her sneeze once the other day in her technically unassigned (but very much cemented) seat next to him, which was surely what had gotten him sick.
“Stop that,” Viktor said.
“Stop what?”
“The sniffling,” Viktor said. “It’s irritating.”
“I’m just trying to breathe!”
“Well, do it quieter. At least until I leave for class.”
Jayce resigned himself to trying to inhale through his mouth. It felt gross and unnatural, but at least there was no more icky snot sound.
Viktor let out a relieved sigh. “Thank you.”
“Uh huh.”
He ended up migrating to his bed with the blanket wrapped around his shoulders when Viktor left for class. Now he could go back to sniffling in peace.
Technically, he was supposed to be in class, too. He knew most people still went when they were sick, but Jayce was raised to be courteous. He wouldn’t wish this mystery illness—the severity of which he totally wasn’t exaggerating—on anyone else.
Most of Jayce’s lectures were recorded, so it wasn’t that big of a deal to miss them. The labs were a different story, but Jayce was competent enough to be able to work on reports if his partners sent him their notes.
He must have dozed off at some point, because the next thing he knew, it was dark outside. He grabbed clumsily at the tissue box on his nightstand and blew his nose a few times in a futile attempt to unclog his nostrils.
He tossed the used tissues into the quickly overflowing trash can with a sigh. His entire body ached, and he was weirdly sweaty. He could really use a shower.
Viktor appeared to be messing around in the kitchen, and held back a hand to ward Jayce and his germs off when he made to approach.
“Fine,” Jayce said, already exasperated. “I’ll stay over here. Do you mind if I shower?”
“Go ahead.”
Jayce eagerly went into the bathroom and stripped his gross clothes off. The water always took a minute to heat up, and he was pretty sure his balls were trying to crawl back into his body.
It was worth it when he stepped under the spray, his achy body slumping with relief. He held onto one of the handrails to keep himself upright, and then decided he might as well try Viktor’s shower stool out.
It was quite possibly the greatest thing to ever exist. Jayce slouched gratefully onto it and just let the warm water wash over him until the hot water tank crapped out. Even after he shut the faucet off, he was content to sit and breathe in the steam from his own DIY sauna.
He heaved himself back up once most of the steam had dissipated; and after he dried off and put fresh clothes on, he almost felt like his usual self.
His nose was now unclogged enough to smell a hint of what Viktor was cooking, and his immediate takeaway was that it was good.
“Welcome back,” Viktor said.
“Thanks.”
Jayce slid into the seat on the far side of their small table. Viktor was stirring a large stockpot and carefully appraising its contents.
“What are you cooking?” Jayce asked.
“Chicken noodle soup,” Viktor replied. “At least, I’m trying to. Whoever posted this recipe is a little too dedicated to sharing the story about her food pilgrimage to Ixtal.”
“Why chicken noodle soup? I’ve never seen you make it before.”
Viktor looked at Jayce. “It’s what you make in Piltover when people are sick, is it not?”
“Yeah,” Jayce said, feeling incredibly touched. “I didn’t even realize we had the stuff to make it.”
“We didn’t,” Viktor replied. “I picked up the ingredients after my last class.”
Jayce’s insides felt like mush.
“I’m surprised you didn’t get česnečka.”
“The point of the soup is a placebo,” Viktor said. “It won’t help you if it’s not what you associate with wellness.”
“Have you had chicken noodle soup before?” Jayce asked. “Because I’m pretty sure it has healing powers.”
Viktor snorted. “If you say so.”
He ladled the soup into two bowls when he deemed it done, bringing them one by one to the table. Jayce had brought a water bottle in from his room, so Viktor only had to get a glass for himself.
Viktor didn’t pick up his spoon when he sat, instead watching Jayce expectantly as he tried a bite.“Well?”
“This is amazing, V,” Jayce said. “Seriously.”
What he could taste of the soup was warm and comforting, and it was soothing as it went down. He was incredibly lucky that Viktor made up for Jayce’s own lack of talent in the kitchen. (He did all the dishes, though, which they agreed was a fair enough trade-off.)
Viktor hummed thoughtfully as he blew on a spoonful and brought it to his mouth.
“Not bad,” he said after he swallowed. “I guess that woman’s food journey was worth it.”
Viktor brought a small box over to the table once they finished eating. He slid it across to Jayce, who barely managed to stop it from going over the side. The container was labeled as cold medicine, except…
“Ew. Is this the liquid one?”
Viktor shrugged. “It was cheaper.”
Jayce tried not to gag as he opened the box, poured out a dose and downed it, quickly washing away the nasty taste with water. Why did medicine always have to be grape flavored? It didn’t even taste like the actual fruit!
“Bleh.”
“I believe the proper response is ‘thank you.’”
Jayce sighed, unable to keep up his angry facade. Viktor really was being sweet.
“Thank you for taking care of me,” he said genuinely.
He leaned over to kiss Viktor, but his boyfriend held his hand up.
“Absolutely not. I won’t have you getting me sick, too.”
It was apparently too late, though; because the next afternoon, Viktor started to sniffle.
“I’m going to kill you,” Viktor seethed.
He washed out the tiny plastic cup for the cold medicine and then downed a dose like it could ward off the sickness. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t work.
Jayce felt about as shitty as he had the past few days when he woke up the following morning, but Viktor seemed to have sped directly towards the brink of death. Jayce had sent a text asking how he was feeling when he noticed Viktor hadn’t left his room, and had received a disgruntled-looking selfie. Only the top half of Viktor’s face was visible above the covers.
Jayce winced in sympathy and headed across the hall.
“Can I come in?” he asked.
“Fine,” Viktor grumbled. “You can’t infect me any more than you already have.”
“Sorry,” Jayce said as he stepped inside.
Viktor was buried under a mound of blankets. He looked absolutely miserable.
“This is all your fault,” he groaned.
“Technically, it’s Maddie’s fault,” Jayce said. “Since she got me sick.”
“Maddie isn’t sick,” Viktor replied. “I saw her in class yesterday.”
“Well, she’s a carrier, then.”
Viktor sighed and burrowed further under the covers. “I’m never getting out of bed again.”
“How are you gonna try to show me up in Heimerdinger’s class, then?”
“I resent your use of the word ‘try.’”
They were both missing the once-weekly class today. It was their only Friday class, even if it was nearly three hours long. Heimerdinger got really into the ethics of everything, probably because he was approximately a million years old.
The course was a weird combination of a seminar and lab focused on the “future of engineering,” whatever that meant. (So far, Jayce had intuited it to be a plea for students to both be creative and not blow up the world in the process.)
It was an adjustment to be taking a class with Viktor again. He knew his boyfriend was a genius, even if he sometimes wished he was a little less smart for the sake of Jayce’s pride. Their one-upping of each other in front of the professor was teasing so far, and the stability of their relationship depended on it staying that way.
(At least now, unlike the first semester they met, they had much more effective ways of handling their frustration with each other.)
(Sex. He meant sex.)
“If I die,” Viktor said dramatically, “it’s your fault.”
“I thought you were the one who said it wasn’t that serious.”
“Well, clearly I have a worse case.”
Jayce rolled his eyes. “Stay here. I’ll go get the medicine.”
“Don’t bother.”
“What? Too good for the liquid now?”
“Well, yes. But I also can’t take it with the painkillers, and I need those more.”
Jayce belatedly noted the open plastic bag labeled tramadol in Viktor’s spiky handwriting on the nightstand. His own body had been aching ever since he came down with the cold; how bad must it be for Viktor?
“What about some tea?”
“I wouldn’t say no to that.”
Jayce went to the kitchen and filled the electric kettle with water. Viktor had chastised Jayce like there was no tomorrow when he learned that Jayce would heat water for tea in the microwave, and had insisted that they share the kettle going forward. (In hindsight, perhaps the signs that Viktor liked him were there all along.)
He took his morning shot of cold medicine while he waited for the water to boil. He found that if he threw it back like liquor it was slightly more tolerable, even if it somehow tasted worse than straight vodka.
Viktor was still almost entirely under the blankets when Jayce returned with two mugs of honey-filled tea. He reached for Viktor’s tissues as soon as he set them down, wiping at his ever-runny nose and then tossing the tissue into the already tissue-filled trash can. Man, were they pathetic.
Viktor appeared to be summoning the wills of an untold number of gods as he peeled back the covers and shuffled so that he was somewhat propped up on the pillows.
“You good?” Jayce asked.
“It’s my joints,” Viktor said. “They do this whenever I’m sick.”
Jayce winced. “That sucks.”
“Yes,” Viktor said. “It does, doesn’t it? Now, pass me my tea.”
They laid in Viktor’s bed passing the box of tissues back and forth until Jayce’s hunger made itself known even through the fog of sickness.
He helped Viktor put on his braces and limp to the kitchen, depositing him in a chair and heating up the leftover soup. Viktor looked even worse in the bright light of the window, his nose red and hair mussed. He’d brought the tissues with him, and let out an annoyed groan every time he blew his nose.
There was only enough chicken noodle soup left for them each to have a bowl, so Jayce texted Mel to see if she would pick them up some more—plus česnečka for Viktor. Placebo or not, what else was one supposed to eat when they were sick besides soup?
They spent the rest of the day on the couch or in bed. Jayce took his cold medicine, and Viktor took his tramadol. They were quite possibly the two most pathetic people on the planet, and Jayce honestly found great comfort in it.
He couldn’t remember the last time he shaved, and he was probably going to have a full-blown beard by the time he recovered. Even Viktor, who didn’t really grow much facial hair, was starting to get the wispy beginnings of a mustache. It was honestly kind of endearing.
Jayce didn’t notice the worst of the cold had passed until he realized he was actually breathing through his nose. Sure, he still ached; but it seemed a weekend loafing around the apartment was enough to get him past the worst of it.
Viktor appeared to be in a similar, albeit more painful, boat. He agreed with Jayce that they could reasonably go to class without getting anyone sick, but opted to stay home and watch his lectures online.
He was on the couch looking at something on his phone when Jayce returned from his morning of back-to-back classes. Jayce was slightly out of breath and, seeing Viktor was spread out horizontally across all the cushions, sank onto the floor with a sigh.
“Welcome back,” Viktor said.
Jayce just groaned. “Everything hurts.”
Viktor snorted. “Join the club.”
Jayce turned his head and pressed a light kiss to Viktor’s right calf. He could feel the metal of the brace under Viktor’s pajama pants.
“You know what I would kill for?” Jayce said before he could feel embarrassed by the sappiness.
“What?”
“A hot bath.”
Viktor let out a frankly pornographic moan. “God, yes.”
“There isn’t a hot tub at the gym,” Jayce said. “And I don’t know anyone with a legit bath.”
The thought of trying to bathe where someone usually stood to shower kind of grossed him out for some reason, even if he knew it was probably clean.
Viktor hummed thoughtfully. “You know, I may have an idea.”
“This feels illegal.”
“We’re not breaking and entering,” Viktor said.
Jayce pulled his jacket tighter around himself, both for comfort and to ward off the night’s chill. “Really? Because it kind of feels like we are.”
“If the code doesn’t work, then we won’t go in,” Viktor said. “Easy.”
Jayce glanced around at the empty street. He half-expected a random neighbor to come out and interrogate them, or an enforcer car to suddenly round the corner. But the area remained quiet and empty—which made sense, given the fact that it was a late night in a fairly residential area.
If their Uber driver was suspicious as to why she was driving two college students to the home of some well-off Piltovan way past the time the buses stopped running, she didn’t mention it.
Apparently, the place they were currently outside belonged to a guy who Viktor had been hooking up with during his first semester at the Academy. He was quite a few years older, and Jayce remained convinced that he was a sugar daddy, even if Viktor vehemently said otherwise.
Viktor’s body count was…substantial. Jayce knew his boyfriend had an above-average libido, and it wasn’t like he cared how many people Viktor had had sex with in the past. (He did sometimes wonder if Viktor had used sex as a coping mechanism, but there had never been a good time to ask. Viktor probably would deny it, anyways.)
Hook-ups with this particular man—whose name Jayce had already forgotten—always occurred at his place. He had one of those fancy doors that unlocked with a code instead of a key, and he’d given the numbers to Viktor so that he could come inside if he happened to arrive before the other man got home.
The guy was currently at a weeklong work conference in Ionia, according to his social media, so his very nice house should hypothetically be empty.
Jayce had pointed out that there could be someone living with him, but Viktor had just laughed.
“Trust me when I say that man was not one for serious relationships,” he’d chuckled.
So here they were, about to try to enter the home of a man who Viktor hadn’t seen in over a year, all because his fancy-ass place had a jacuzzi.
Jayce held his breath as Viktor inputted the four-digit code. What if the guy had changed it, and the wrong combo set off an alarm? This was definitely the kind of area to have enforcers on standby in case someone looked at its wealthy inhabitants the wrong way.
The keypad glowed green once Viktor pressed the last number, and the door unlocked with a loud, mechanical click.
Viktor grinned and pushed it open. “Come on.”
The inside of the townhouse was just as nice as Jayce imagined. Marble countertops, shiny kitchen appliances, a massive flat-screen TV…this guy certainly liked to flaunt his wealth.
Viktor wasted no time with any hemming and hawing over the interior decor. He left Jayce to lock the door behind him as he made his way past the open floor-plan living room and down a hall. Jayce readjusted the gym bag on his shoulder and followed him.
The walls were decorated in art that probably cost more than a year of Jayce’s tuition, and the bedroom that Viktor led him into had quite possibly the largest bed that Jayce had ever seen.
(Images of Viktor spread out on the dark grey bedspread rose to Jayce’s mind without his permission. He hurriedly shoved them away.)
Then they reached it: the jacuzzi. The reason they were here doing what Viktor maintained was not breaking and entering.
The massive tub took up a solid fourth of the large bathroom. It was practically the size of a hot tub, built into raised black stone.
Viktor all but collapsed onto the marble framing the tub, taking a minute to simply catch his breath. If Jayce felt achy from the trek through the house, he could only imagine how bad it must be for Viktor.
His boyfriend eventually leaned over towards the taps, sealing the drain and switching the hot water on all the way. Then, leaving the tub to fill—and gods, who knew how long that would take given the size of the thing—he began to strip.
Jayce took a moment to psych himself up before following suit. He folded his clothes in a neat pile, perfectly ready to grab if they needed to make a run for it. Their shoes were by the front door, but Jayce had been smart enough to wear slides for a potentially speedy break.
He paused his undressing to unload the bag they’d packed. He’d brought their towels from the apartment, and a pair of swim trunks for himself. There was no way he was getting naked in some stranger’s tub, no matter how much Viktor teased him.
He was changed and ready to go by the time Viktor was undoing his leg brace. It was the larger one that spanned his entire calf and part of his thigh, and Jayce knew from experience how carefully it had to be removed.
Then the brace was off, and the tub was full, and Viktor—Viktor was naked. Jayce dipped his toes in the water and stared down at the ripples to distract himself. He wasn’t some sort of weirdo who sexualized his boyfriend any time he was nude, okay? He was just a man with eyes and a very attractive partner.
The loud sigh that Viktor let out as he lowered himself into the tub definitely didn’t help matters. Jayce followed suit, slowly sinking in and adjusting to the temperature. He wasn’t normally one for too-hot water—or baths, for that matter—but he was willing to make an exception.
The jacuzzi was large enough that his and Viktor’s legs barely brushed when they sat opposite each other. The heat felt heavenly on Jayce’s achy muscles, and he gratefully sunk deeper into it. The water lightly splashed as Viktor reached an arm out to turn a dial set into the porcelain. The jets hummed to life, and Jayce moved so that he was centered in front of one. Shit, that felt good.
“So,” Jayce said, never one to sit well with silence. “You seem to know your way around the tub.”
“It’s not exactly complex machinery,” Viktor replied. “And I did make a point to try to use it every time I came over.”
“Tell me the truth,” Jayce said. “Were you just fucking this guy for his jacuzzi?”
“No,” Viktor said a bit too defensively.
“I wouldn’t blame you if you were,” Jayce said. “This is really nice.”
Viktor grinned. “I told you this was a good idea.”
“I’m still not totally convinced we’re not going to get arrested.”
“Just relax,” Viktor said. “We can always resort to blackmail if we need to.”
Jayce blinked. “Excuse me?”
“Darius is the host of a rather conservative podcast,” Viktor said. “I’m sure his listeners would not be thrilled to learn he likes to be fucked by other men.”
Oh, great. Now Jayce had a mental image of Viktor fucking some faceless, imaginary approximation of a man Jayce had never seen or met. There were more important issues at hand, though.
“Why the hell would you want to sleep with someone like that?”
“I didn’t know at first,” Viktor said. “It wasn’t like he was advertising it. I broke it off when I found out.”
“Huh. You know, that makes me feel way better about this whole thing.”
Viktor snorted. “I’m glad I could assuage your guilt."
They lapsed back into a peaceful silence, Jayce sinking further into the warmth and letting the jet massage the tension out of his aching back.
“Did you guys ever fuck in the tub?”
Wow. Jayce was even worse at being quiet than he thought.
Viktor’s eyebrows raised nearly to his hairline. “Excuse me?”
Jayce’s face went red. “Sorry. I don’t know why I asked that.”
Viktor sighed. “If you must know, he gave me a hand job in here once.”
Jayce gaped at him.
“What?” Viktor said. “Don’t ask questions if you don’t want the answers to them.”
Viktor had a point with that one. Jayce just had the unfortunate condition of being way too curious for his own good.
“I can hear you getting jealous over there. Again.”
“Then maybe you need to get your hearing checked,” Jayce said. “Because I’m not.”
He wasn’t. Seriously. He was just imagining someone else with their hand on Viktor’s dick in the exact same tub they were currently sitting in. No biggie.
“Possessive, then,” Viktor threw out.
“That’s rich, coming from the most possessive guy I know.”
Viktor just shrugged. “Either way, I’m far too sore for any of the things you’re probably fantasizing about right now.”
That was enough to get Jayce’s libido to calm down. Not entirely, but like. Most of the way.
“I’m gonna be quiet now,” Jayce said before he could embarrass himself further.
“Really? I didn’t know that was something you were capable of.”
“Ha, ha,” Jayce said mockingly. “Very funny.”
“It is.”
Jayce sighed. How was it that Viktor always had the energy to tease him, regardless of how tired or achy he was?
The jets eventually came to a stop, and Viktor immediately turned them back on. He also added more hot water from the tap, keeping the temperature somewhere in the range of boiling and scalding. (Aside from the physical logistics, there was a reason they never showered together.)
Jayce shifted every once in a while so that the jet could target a different achy muscle. He’d never gotten a professional massage before, but he imagined it felt something like this.
Much to Jayce’s internal satisfaction, Viktor was the one to speak next.
“We should probably leave soon,” he said. “I have class in the morning.”
“Do you think you’ll be up to going?”
“I should be. This bath helped, even if I am rather…pruney.” He raised one hand out of the water and wiggled his wrinkly fingertips.
Jayce snorted and, after taking a final moment of luxurious soaking, hauled himself to his feet. He held out his hand to Viktor before he consciously considered how his boyfriend may interpret the offer.
Viktor, after a moment of hesitation, took it.
They took their time toweling off and getting dressed once they were out. Everything felt soft and warm, and Jayce burrowed happily into his hoodie as the tub drained behind them.
It took Viktor longer to get himself back to rights, and Jayce managed to get all their stuff packed up (and anxiously check the room for any trace of their presence) by the time he finished tightening his leg brace.
That was when they heard the rustling sound.
“What was that?” Jayce hissed.
“I don’t know,” Viktor whispered back, his eyes wide. “I didn’t hear the door open, did you?”
Jayce shook his head.
There was a jingling noise getting louder; someone carrying their keys, maybe? Gods, Viktor didn’t even have his pants on yet.
The source of the highly anxiety-inducing sounds came to a stop in the bathroom doorway.
It was a cat.
Jayce nearly staggered under the sudden, overwhelming relief. “Oh, thank fuck.”
The tabby approached with a cautious mrow, sizing Jayce and Viktor up with wide, green eyes. She stopped in front of Jayce, who kept completely still. Then, slowly, she bunted her head against his shin.
Jayce smiled and lowered his hand for her to sniff. She seemed to deem him acceptable, and allowed him to scratch behind her ears.
“You could’ve mentioned he had a cat,” Jayce said.
“He didn’t when I knew him,” Viktor said defensively. He scooted a bit closer, peering curiously at the animal. “Does it have a name?”
The cat had a nice collar on, and Jayce felt along underneath it until he could slide the metal tag up and around.
“It says her name is Crypto.”
“Like the flying dog?”
“Like the currency.”
Viktor’s face twisted with disgust. “Ugh.”
“Hey, you’re the one who fucked the guy.”
“Nobody is perfect.”
Jayce chuckled and pet Crypto while Viktor finished getting dressed.
“Can we take her home?” Jayce asked.
Crypto’s sweet little nose was pressed into his hand, and Jayce didn’t think he could ever live without her.
“You were afraid to use a man’s jacuzzi,” Viktor said. “Now you want to steal a cat?”
“You don’t want to stay with that loser,” Jayce cooed at Crypto. “Do you?”
“It is cute,” Viktor allowed.
When Jayce glanced over at Viktor, he found his eyes were on Jayce, not the cat.
“I love you,” Jayce blurted.
Since he’d learned Viktor felt the same way, those three words slipped out often and freely.
The corner of Viktor’s mouth quirked up. “If you think that will change my mind about pet theft,” he teased, “you’re wrong.”
Jayce sighed and gave Crypto a final few pats. “Be good, okay?”
The cat purred, which Jayce interpreted as a message of agreement.
Viktor took the hand grip of his crutch and heaved himself to his feet. He looked much looser than he had when he arrived, and his hair was adorably fluffy from the vigorous toweling off.
“Ready to go home?” Jayce said.
Viktor smiled. “Ready.”