: Every Timeline Every Possibility :

[hexualhealing]

[ Forehead to forehead, and an explosion of light that fell around them in a symphony of time and space while the words reverberated within his mind, 'you are perfect the way that you are'. Their souls fused, in every timeline and every possibility there could only be them. Divine clarity, that was what it certainly was. Viktor was full of it, of the breath of Jayce's breath against his own and the certainty that they would find each other.

But gods, they could not be allowed to repeat their mistakes.

So many mistakes that could've been avoided if they had only known.

Wherever they went, whatever possibility they faced-- Viktor prayed that he would know, that he would be able to guide them away from the hubris of their own machinations, and the machinations of others. Especially for the man who braved hell so that he could be here at the end with him-- Jayce full of idealism and hope, who despite choices made could push all of it aside for the two of them, to give grace to the same man who could not understand that his own choices had been just as full of error.

Perhaps they could meet in the middle?

Underwater, Viktor had been underwater. He woke up in a start with the sun just peeking just above the horizon, trailing through his window with the first glimmers of morning. A deep breath like he had never breathed before in his entire life while air filled his gasping and aching lungs-- and that ache spread throughout his entire body.

Somewhere out there, Jayce was out there.

Waiting for him. "Every timeline, every possibility" he breathed as if it was a mantra.

There were memories of a life before this moment of wake-up, but it was coupled with the sudden infusion of life before, another era and another universe. Viktor had been given a second chance, and he would not squander it-- that is if he could find Jayce. Gods, Piltover was so big, and he was but one man; countless lives on the freeway of these souls, but he needed to find the exact one. Gods, what a challenge and with the limitations of his own body which he felt keenly.

But not weakness, never weakness as he forced himself out of bed and his body to cooperate with his own fragility. His cane was reached for and then he set about to go about his daily routine which came just as effortlessly as the time before all of this. ]

Comments

[hexpectations]

[There, floating in the nowhere and everywhere of the astral sea, Jayce was certain it was the end of everything for him, the precipice of oblivion. And it was all right. It was okay and would be okay because Viktor was there, his Viktor -- his partner -- and not the Herald. At the end, Viktor had been the same beautifully, perfectly flawed man that Jayce had come to know, with all the intent in that gentle heart to do what was right. Regardless of the cost.

He'd shut his eyes as the tempest of the wild rune's final throes settled around them, his forehead leaned to his partner's, holding on to that connection as everything faded to nothing.

And then he woke up, a startled jerk bringing him to sitting up in a lurch, like waking from a dream of falling. He sat there, memories at odds with memories, a life that was familiar and foreign and the lingering awareness of having been here before.

He lifted a hand to scrub at his face -- barely a day's growth of stubble, his hair short and neat. Younger. Years maybe. The pain in his leg gone. The pain in his heart though, that was a deeper ache, one not so easily healed. Every timeline, every possibility.

Viktor. Oh god he had to find Viktor.

It could be different this time, couldn't it? It had to be different this time. They could be better, could do better. They could be--

He had to find Viktor.

It was a frazzled and only half-put-together Jayce Talis that stumbled out into the busy streets of Piltover and then, well, he found himself stopping in the midst of the crowd. Where did he even begin?]

[hexualhealing]

[ The streets, they were both different and the same as the aligned with what he remembered.

He was not the fastest person, and his own advent to his favorite coffee shop was at best precarious but finally he made it through the door. All the while ruminating oh how he could find Jayce in this world; surely he existed, he had to exist. There was no world without him, and never would be.

There was his cellphone on him, a thing that existed in the previous world as it did now; but it had been shaped differently. He started to do a search on Jayce Talis to see if there was anything that existed about him, any lead that he could take. He briefly stumbled against the door frame as he focused more on the results then on his leg.

A result popped up, something involving engineering-- a science of sorts, the Talis family-- renowned wielders of steel, it was renowned throughout Piltover; ah yes-- he knew this well, he knew that Jayce's origins and pride was how his family name had built Piltover, a point of pride for the other man. Perhaps he could.. perhaps a visit to one of these steel manufacturers would do?

Viktor was only halfway in the door and halfway out of it, his eyes scanning words and assessing them. Abstracted to the outside world, but focused on the inner one that went lightspeed through his mind.

But Fate had them on a collision course, the coffee shop not very far from where Jayce was currently in this moment of clarity; where Viktor perused his phone with a single-minded focus. ]

[hexpectations]

[Jayce, brilliant scientific mind that he was, had not considered googling it. Nope. His plan had been run around in the streets and hope. This was, of course, entirely foolproof as plans went, as most of his plans usually were.]

Get it together, Jayce.

[Muttered under his breath which didn't make him look crazy or anything. He ran a hand through short hair, setting it in more disarray than he had been wont to do in his better days. A breath. Okay.

He needed to think this through. Maybe something in his stomach, something caffeinated. That would help him focus and settle and maybe come up with some better idea, help him shake off the confusion of weaving together two lives when he was so fixated on one thing, on finding Viktor and --

What if there was no Viktor? That was impossible though. How could a world exist without Viktor in it? What if he didn't remember? The fact that Jayce was here at all with memories of two lives floating around in his head could be some strange anomaly, something to do with whatever the hell Ekko had managed to pull off at the end of things.

If Viktor didn't remember, would it be better to leave him to live his life without invading it? That thought wrapped cold fingers around something in his chest and dragged it down to the pit of his stomach.

Jayce only realized he'd started walking again when his foot caught the edge of something and sent it clattering away from the person who'd been holding it.]

Sorry, sorry. I am so sorry. I wasn't paying attention and I should have been. [He was already moving to scoop up what he'd kicked, finding himself holding a cane, strange and familiar and, he turned in what felt like painfully slow motion to return it to its owner.]

[hexualhealing]

[ The moment that his cane went clattering, he looked up sharply though he was more than ready with a very halting apology, spoken in an accent that Jayce would be familiar with. ] Oh, I am so sorry about that-- I did not mean for my third appendage to get in the way. Here let me...

[ He paused as the face turned toward him, and he managed to keep his head about him; he recognized that face and those light brown eyes that held so much passion and hope within it. Oh, how he managed to keep it together even though every cell within his body pulsed in recognition; they had disintegrated together therefore parts of Jayce still moved through him.

Far more intimate than it ever had a right to be. ]

To be fair, I was not paying attention either, so it appears that we are both at fault? It would be amiss of me not to recognize when I share responsibility as well.

[ And then Viktor offered a smile to Jayce, it did not convey that he recognized the other, but it was something, it was a crumb of offered pleasantries. It was a building block.

[hexpectations]

[Familiar voice. Familiar face. Familiar pull that made him want to wrap the other man into a relieved embrace. Viktor. Viktor was here and alive and god he'd never seen anything more beautiful in his life.

Except, as he kept his own expression carefully guarded, he didn't see any flash of recognition in those eyes. Then, Viktor didn't remember after all. Jayce tried to pretend that didn't twist that cold weight in his stomach into a new and fascinating knot of ache. Viktor was here, and he'd found him, and he'd figure out the rest of it was they went.

He just. He couldn't let him get away.

He held the cane out to hand it back to him, smiling in return.]

Really, I was the one who came lumbering through. I'd like to claim I'm usually more coordinated, but this isn't the first time my brain and my body decided they were doing different things without informing me.

[He was rambling. Another breath.] Will you let me buy you a coffee? To make up for it?

[hexualhealing]

[ Even though it was of cold comfort at this particular moment, Viktor was not inclined to let Jayce out of his sight especially considering that he needed to know about this man, about his life and the projectile it was taking; was he a shooting star trailblazing through the sky? He remembered how Jayce had taken all of the public spotlight to Hextech, the nausea he had faced at the very idea of getting in front of thousands of people.

Taking the cane with a grateful smile before he settled it back on the ground and then allowed his weight to fall upon it in a manner that was comfortable to him. ]

I will not turn down a coffee, I am pretty sure that the fluid runs through my veins by this point in time.

[ Jayce from a universe ago knew how he took his coffee, he knew how Jayce too his-- intimately. Their shared projects making such knowledge about each other a treasure that they had taken for granted. ] Black, a shot of hazelnut syrup, and that is it.

[ No cream whatsoever. ]

[hexpectations]

[There was a flicker of something downright wistful in hazel eyes before it was quickly brushed away by Jayce's better sense. Same Viktor. Same coffee order. This universe felt more like home. Jayce nodded.]

Got it. Won't forget it. Then... I'll be right back. Do you want to grab a table? I mean, not that we have to sit together if you've got other plans. Or you're meeting someone? Here?

[He was really nailing this, wasn't he? Yeah, time to save himself from himself. He turned to head to the counter but stopped and looked back and, despite himself, smiled at the sight of Viktor, so perfectly human and alive again.]

I'm Jayce, by the way.

[hexualhealing]

[ This was his Jayce, the one who had saved him when he'd been so close to throwing it away, he who had stopped Jayce before that penultimate moment. They had been each other's guard rails so long ago... up until the moment they had not been.

He'd been waiting here for Jayce, waiting for this one moment.

Those eyes softened in expression, those harsh angles for a moment in time looked welcoming. ] My only company is myself, and now it ia you. I will go find us a table to sit at.

[ He set off them, managing to curb the wonder in him at Jayce, it was hard not to look after him and perhaps he indulged in a look at a form he remembered, could even see the gap within teeth that made him appear far more boyish; everything about Jayce was hopeful and it was contagious, that surge of optimism that made him feel like better days could be made for all people.

He sat down and then leaned his cane against the arm of his chair, proceeding then to wait with much patience. Another glance upward at Jayce's back, the pieces were starting to settle. ]

[hexpectations]

[They'd saved each other, again and again. They'd brought out the best in each other, hadn't they? And sometimes the worst, but even that, Jayce was sure he'd been more himself with Viktor in his life, was sure that if they hadn't let their own stubbornness separate them at such a crucial time, maybe they wouldn't have stumbled so completely.

This time would be different. Even if it meant building that friendship from the foundations upward, Jayce had found him, the other half of his soul, and that would be more than enough.

So maybe he could feel his chest warm at the way Viktor's face softened, at that small glimpse of what they'd had, a universe away. He turned and went to order coffee-- Viktor's black and smelling deliciously sweet, his own full of milk and sugar and enough extra shots of espresso that the barista behind the counter gave him a vaguely concerned look before shrugging.

He also ordered pastries, ones that he know the Viktor he knew would have liked, and had some hope that preference carried here as well. It was an only slightly precarious balancing act as he came back and set down food and drinks before sliding himself into the empty chair across from the other man.]

I was feeling snackish. So I got us snacks. Help yourself.

[Seriously. The constant in the multiverse of Viktor being a bundle of skin and bones was clearly at play here. The man needed to eat.]

[hexualhealing]

[ Called out once again, Viktor was habitual about forgetting to eat. Coffee was a meal replacement right? But it ultimately did him no favors when it came down to it, and perhaps his continual survival over the seven years they had been partners had been the wrapped sandwich that would mysteriously find it's way at his elbow to linger there until he acknowledged that 1. he was hungry and 2. there was a sandwich very close.

This felt like it now.

His eyes rested on some shortbread cookies, sized perfectly for quick bites in between equations. He reached for one, those fingers as slender as they had ever been. ] Thank you. ] Trying not to feel inordinately pleased by this, he wondered if perhaps there was a deep part of Jayce that remembered, that was already slotting into the space that it remembered. ]

You may call me Viktor.

[ Offering his name because he had forgotten that Jayce did not know it. ] You are very kind to buy me coffee and even share your food with me. But I can assure you that you merely toppled my cane to the ground, not myself-- there was no true need to pay me back.

[hexpectations]

[Jayce was, somehow, a huge nerd in the body of a jock, and that body demanded sustenance and movement even through the laser focused fugues that took him over when he lost himself in research. So it was only natural that he provide the reminder that Viktor's biology seemed to lack entirely that he too was a human being who needed food.

You know, until he wasn't. That pain was still fresh, and Jayce mentally had to stomp it back down under a metaphoric rug before he got emotional and teared up just because the man across from him was taking a cookie.]

Viktor.

[He repeated the name, voice shaping the familiar syllables like they were a revelation.

But he was quick to shake his head at the next comment, one shoulder lifting in a shrug.] Maybe I have an ulterior motive. I mean, I was here to meet no one, and now I have company.

[hexualhealing]

Then I suppose it is happenstance then, or perhaps it is what is called 'serendipity' though I have very little of that in my life. [ Even though he knew that Jayce was the best thing that had ever happened to him, and before everything went to hell there had been such fond memories of their partnership and their lives in which they had shared a space together, living and breathing books and science as if it was the missing link for survival.

In every timeline, and every possibility.

He rubs his chin and picks up another cookie, feeling the familiar crumble as the shortbread melts on his mouth. Then with the other half he dunks it into his steaming coffee. ]

What do you do for a living, Jayce?

[ This was phrased nonchalantly, but he had ask that purposeful question. Was Jayce involved in things far over his head? Was he being used by power? These were valid questions; just as valid as any questions that may be running through Jayce's. ]

[hexpectations]

Serendipity sounds right. The company is quite good so far.

[The words were said with a smile bordering on playful, bordering perhaps on just a little too familiar. Or maybe it would be interpreted as flirting, which Jayce would be fine with as well -- a thought that was far more surprising to have so loudly in his mind than it probably ought to be.

He took a cautious sip of his own coffee, reassuring himself he wouldn't scald his tongue before committing to sipping at it proper.]

Me? [Yes, Jayce, you.] I'm a scientist, a researcher, looking into new alternative energy sources.

[So yeah, still on the road to ruin, the road to trying to unlock the Arcane for mere mortals, just called a different name.]

Not very interesting, I know. [That comment was half teasing because if this Viktor was like the Viktor he'd known, well, they were a matched set of nerds.]

What about you?

[hexualhealing]

[ Eyes widening ever so slightly, if only because he had expected Jayce to be caught up in something completely scholarly, giving his all to it much like he did to everything that he did. But because he was a researcher as well, of course he was-- diving into the mind of this universe Viktor's mind, he could see that he was a researcher at the University, quietly working and researching though he did not have the charisma to be applied with grants. ]

I have to admit that I do have some interest in that study myself, though I work at the University on a special grant and so I am given the projects that do not interest most people. If I could be left alone to my own devices and without the heem and haw of the Professors, I suspect I would be able to do quite a bit more with my time.

[ Viktor realized that the road to their hubris had been at their split, perhaps if they had stayed together through all of it.. it may not have turned out the way it did. But that was merely retrospect and in the grand scheme of things? It was a penny a wish. ]

I would say that you do not look like a typical researcher but well, I can see the light of intelligence in your eyes. [ Yes Jayce, he'd been looking into those eyes-- those eyes that he knew could burn with excitement and the fire of progress. ]

[hexpectations]

Oh yeah? Looks like we have some things in common.

[This is the in, Jayce. This is the way to keep Viktor from leaving the cafe and walking out of his life without resorting to be a creepy stalker. The fact that the Jayce of this place had not yet met this Viktor was a tragedy that needed to be corrected.]

If you're interested, you should come take a look around my lab. I could show you what I'm working on. And maybe you could tell me about your research? Sort of a mini symposium. ...in the spirit of academic collaboration.

[And then he was too surprised by the words that Viktor had said to worry about making too big an invitation too soon. Instead he was fighting the way his face wanted to heat.] That might be the nicest thing anyone's ever said about my eyes.

[hexualhealing]

[ A lab invitation.

Both of them surreptitiously attempting to prevent the other from just walking out of their lives. It was that pull and tug, that need for things to turn out better then it had been. Perhaps they could still do good but only if they held each other accountable throughout whatever it was that they were researching. Hubris could be avoided, right? Viktor would like to believe that, so much that after a very thoughtful incline of his head (he did not want to appear too eager), he accepted. ]

I am very interested in talking to a fellow researcher, and as long this does not involve myself speaking in public, I do not mind attending this mini symposium.

[ Then after setting his cup back down on the table between them, he leaned forward with his forearms on his thighs and he peered at Jayce, into those eyes and saw the way that the cheeks flushed. ] It is not so much about your eyes but the light behind them, it is like flames.

[ And Viktor was the moth seeking warmth. ]

[hexpectations]

[They were better together, each acting as a ballast to the other, keeping them steady even when the waters of the sea around them -- astral or otherwise. Jayce knew this without doubt. He'd seen the way the world unraveled when they were apart.

He laughed, ducking his head at the reminder of Viktor's aversion to public speaking, to being the center of attention even when he deserved it, when it was something that his own brilliant mind had created.]

No public speaking required. I promise.

[Jayce was not prepared to be caught by the intensity that Viktor was so skilled at, the way those eyes could look straight into the heart of you. Neither that attention nor the words that followed did anything to help his attempts to not fully turn red.]

You're going to make me blush, Viktor. [...going to, already had, whatever it happened to be. Time was fake. Jayce knew that better now than ever.] Besides, here you are with eyes like gold and a clearly silver tongue.

[hexualhealing]

Oh I do not think so much as that.

[ Viktor said, wrapping his fingers around the coffee cup and lifting it to his mouth to take a sip-- a brew that could be both bitter and sweet, no cream to offer a buffer. It was a stinging sweetness that balanced and allowed the flavors to shine as they were.

Jayce was flirting with him.

He could recognize it more so then he had been able to when he'd been so focused on his work, where all he could think of and breath in was Hextech, not realizing his feelings for Jayce until it was too late. Or perhaps just in time, time enough to prevent a disaster. ] I am not attempting to sell you anything except perhaps that which you already own.

[ His silvery tongue, so to speak. ] Intuition.. but you strike me as the type to ignore your own merits as you lift others up around you,

[hexpectations]

[Jayce was flirting with him. He was as stupid as he was brilliant, honestly, and that stupidity had kept him from seeing something plain and bright and obvious right in front of him for years. They had both been so dazzled by the idea of Hextech, of their shared dream of changing the world and making it a better place.

But in those last fleeting seconds of their life that had stretched out past eternity, all Jayce had really wanted was to hold onto Viktor and never let him go again, and it was funny how that certain clarity had come only at the very end.]

Don't give me too much credit. I'm stubborn and sometimes my own ambition gets in the way of my remembering that unintended consequences are still consequences.

[A tilt of his head.] You strike me as the type to worry more about the good of others than yourself. [He smiled and added, coyly,] ...Intuition, of course.

[hexualhealing]

[ That was...?

Those words made Viktor smile, it was not a bright smile. No it was slow-acting and like a flower unfolding, if one glanced away within it's process it was usually gone. It was the way that he had been a bit of a dork when they first met, and that burgeoning seriousness that had taken over as life and those aches and pains hand gotten away. In this reality he remembered the pills held in a bottle behind the mirror in his bathroom, it kept the pain away and his regenerative disease from hastening at a rapid pace.

Such as he had never had access in another universe.

More could be done but he had time in this life. He was not racing against a clock that spun too fast-- though it was a clock and it did tick-tock a bit quicker than Jayce's would. ]

Intuition is indeed a wonderous thing, those gut feelings that tell you that perhaps this is where you are supposed to be?

[ Viktor was flirting, in his own way. He was no good at it, could not see feelings right in front of him and knew very little on how to act on them, but he could try perhaps. ]

When should we set this Symposium?

[hexpectations]

[How the fuck had he missed for so long how stupidly in love he was with Viktor? The other man smiled that soft little smile at him, and Jayce Talis could feel himself falling to pieces.

This was a second chance to do the right thing, to stop the horrible fate their mistakes could lead to. Could it be a second chance for them too? Was that a selfish thought? After all, he didn't even know if Viktor felt the same way.

For a smart man, Jayce was an idiot.

There was something though, a tension that was not at all unpleasant, like the thrum of energy in the air. He managed to mostly not sound entirely breathless.]

Exactly, yes. Like something has led you to...

[To what you wanted, what you needed more than anything.]

Well. When are you free?

[hexualhealing]

[ Viktor removed from the breast-pocket of his waistcoat a little black schedule book which he flips open with those long slender fingers, flipping until he gets to this particular month. He knew that he did not have to do this, he had no real life. Viktor of this universe was by-large a loner who preferred his own company to anyone elses, but he knew.. knew that an exception could be made for this man.

His eyes alighted on a date and then he glanced upward at Jayce over the book, his smile turning into something only a little wry. ]

It appears, after carefully looking over my schedule.. that I happen to have this evening free.

[ Did it occur to him that it may be too soon? Well now it did, and that wry smile turned full of chagrin as he waited for either an acceptance or a decline; after all his schedule was mostly open save for a few slots where he was supposed to meet Powder (oh god) for some sort of cross-collaboration. ] If that is too soon, I completely understand as it is a fully reasonable expectation that you--.."

[hexpectations]

Six o'clock okay?

[Blurted out a bit quickly, before Viktor could talk himself out of agreeing to seeing him tonight. Jayce was certain it was too soon, but he didn't want to let Viktor far from his side at all right now. That wasn't entirely realistic, of course, but at least if he only had to wait until tonight to see him again, maybe he'd go a little less insane in the meantime.

A sheepish smile of his own as he cleared his throat and took a sip of his coffee.]

I can meet you on campus? It should be a nice evening for a walk. My lab space isn't far.

[hexualhealing]

[ Surprise, and then the hint of a smile flickering in those eyes; a feeling like it used to be. That surprise and yet also that rush of affection as Jayce's excitement knew no bounds. He was always surprised by it no matter what, even when he knew that he should not be. That it should be so commonplace, and yet it was not, still a treasure even after any and every moment. ]

Yes, I can meet you in front of the Statue of the Great Archivist?

[ It was a reasonably warm day, would be a similar sort of evening. Good thing since Viktor intensely hated being cold and would bundle up almost unreasonably.. if he had to go out in it. ] If you do not mind my being slow, then a walk would be quite nice.

[ A self-depreciating smile at his hobble, though he did not expect any concessions to be made for him. He was not the type. ]

[hexpectations]

Perfect.

[Jayce was well aware of Viktor's overall distaste to the cold -- something he was quite sure had at least something to do with the skin and bones state of the other man -- so the warmth of the day and evening were for the best. Still, he'd be happy to lend Viktor his jacket.]

I don't anticipate being in a hurry. Nothing wrong with a nice evening stroll.

[In good company. It was almost romantic, wasn't it?]