closed rp for [recursiveimpulse]

[boyofprogress]

...
in all timelines
in all possibilities
only you can show me this
...

closed rp for recursiveimpulse

Comments

There is magic in this room - I don't know if you can see it....

[recursiveimpulse]

Anything new is bound to be at least a little uncertain. That much Viktor knows for sure.

It had been a relatively sleepless night, anticipation and sore joints working in tandem to keep the tinkerer awake. He just couldn't stop thinking about all of it. Magic. REAL magic.

Sure, he had broken his cane. But in return, he had FLOWN. For one, glittering moment, the relentless drag of gravity against his ailing flesh had ceased. Maybe the pain did, too, if he cared to spare a thought about it.

There was the other man, too. Jayce. He kept coming to mind, with all those wild ideas and brilliant theories. In those big, amber eyes, Viktor found...something that he still can't place. Something familiar, or - perhaps just kindred spirits?

Whatever it was, whatever it is, now it's waiting on the other side of this door. Slender fingers pick the keyring from his vest pocket, and a moment later, the door to the lab swings open.

"Good morning," he calls, his arrival heralded by the tak-tak-tak of his cane on the floor.

[boyofprogress]

He'll buy Viktor a new cane. He'll buy Viktor a hundred new canes, in return for all Viktor had shown him.

Trust me, his partner had said. And so he did. And the result was... well. It was magic, wasn't it?

Mel had told them to go home and get some rest, and he'd tried, he really had, but his whole body was thrumming with that energy that had coursed through him when the runes had all locked into place and he and Viktor had lifted off the ground.

He'd eaten something, he's pretty sure, but he can't remember what it was. Mostly he'd paced his apartment or lain in bed, staring at the ceiling while he tried to force his brain to shut off. Finally, he'd given up and headed back to the lab.

He's at the chalkboard when Viktor walks in, and Jayce spares a glance over his shoulder. "Hey! Is it morning?" A look at the sun through the window confirms it, and he winces a little. Oops. Ah well, he can sleep later. "Oh, did you have a spare cane? I was going to get you a new one since you sacrificed yours for science, but I needed measurements."

[recursiveimpulse]

Oh, wow.

So the enthusiasm - that's an all the time thing, then.

Viktor chuckles a little, bemused, a crooked smile tugging at his lip. "I take it you did not do a lot of sleeping, Jayce."

He's approaching when attention is drawn to his cane - he holds it up, shrugging a little with one shoulder.

"Eh, this is an old one. It...will be fine for now." It looks older - a little rough around the edges. Fabricated by clever hands from carefully selected scrap.

(Viktor is still proud of it, even if it usually makes the people around him here uncomfortable.)

"I see you really hit the ground running."

[boyofprogress]

"Uh!" He gives Viktor a crooked, sheepish sort of smile, shrugging a shoulder. His hand goes to his face, thumb rubbing against the small cut the glass had left behind. A little self conscious at being caught out.

"I tried, anyway. But I just kept thinking -- I thought it wasn't going to hold. And then it did and -- god you're amazing, Viktor," he can't help but gush. How exciting, to have such an innovative partner. Someone who can use his ideas as a jumping off point and take them further, higher.

[recursiveimpulse]

"Ah-"

Viktor sputters a little, almost flinching under the sudden barrage of praise. Another thing he's going to have to get used to.

"Well. Thank you. But you are not giving yourself enough credit. I still have no idea how you figured out that sequence."

[boyofprogress]

"I was going off of what you had! I did have to turn the notebook upside down a few times but then something clicked when I was looking at it from a different angle.

But Viktor -- " He grasps the other man's shoulder with a firm grip, his whole body practically vibrating with excitement. "Viktor we did this. Together. And it was incredible."

[recursiveimpulse]

The size difference between the two men is palpable in that moment - Viktor is acutely aware of just how tiny and frail his shoulder must feel under that hand.

A faint pink rises into his cheeks, and he clears his throat, trying to save some face.

"We did - and it was. It really was, and I am eager to get working with you. We have barely begun."

Easing himself out from under Jayce's grip, he shuffles across the room to set his satchel down on one of the desks.

"How do you like the space? Now that we are not using it in the dead of night, that is."

The spheres are in commotion - the elements in harmony....

[recursiveimpulse]

Getting to know Jayce has been - nice. Their friendship had been almost instantaneous, blazing like fire across oil, and Viktor isn't sure he's ever had this much fun. Something he didn't know he was missing.

Their work is coming along nicely - nicely enough that he was willing to put things down to go get some dinner and a celebratory drink.

Or two. Or three. Or five.

Now it's giggling madly that Viktor unlocks the laboratory doors very late at night, swaying against his cane. This is a great idea. They both have so much energy and motivation right now, they simply HAVE to get some of it down in their notes.

He teeters and nearly falls into his nearby partner, snorting a little bit - but the door swings open, at least. He grins up mischievously, his gaunt face flushed deep around his nose and cheeks.

"After you, MISTER Talis."

[boyofprogress]

Working with Viktor has honestly been kind of a dream. There's such a connection between them, it's almost like they're living in each other's brains, which is amazing. One can start an equation and the other can finish it.

Which is why, when Viktor suggests dinner, Jayce takes him to his favourite little hole in the wall spot. Amazing food and generously poured drinks. Maybe a little too generous, he's starting to realize as he leans against the door Viktor is unlocking.

But they have too many ideas to discuss! They can't stop now, certainly, and Jayce tumbles into the lab with a laugh, shushing himself quickly. "Happily, Mister... Viktor. You don't -- there's nothing after Viktor, right? Yeah, yes."

[recursiveimpulse]

This is definitely the drunkest he has been in someone else's company in...a long time. Perhaps ever. It makes him a little looser with his boundaries, using Jayce as a handrail without a second thought as he plows over to a fresh chalkboard.

"Yes! Yes. Just Viktor. I...hah, I am drunk, I think. But I feel good. Full of ideas. Don't you?"

Impulsively, he opens the front of his vest. Letting a little loose. FEELING a little loose, if he's honest.

[boyofprogress]

"Mister Viktor," Jayce affirms, laughing a little but holding still as Viktor steadies himself against him to make his way to the chalkboard. "Here! Here." He grabs a chair and rolls it over, so Viktor can sit, if he wants. Or lean on it, anyway.

"I am definitely both of those things. Also..." If there was an end to the sentence, he's forgotten it, because he's now trying to remember the last time he'd seen Viktor with his vest undone like that and rapidly realizing that the answer is perhaps never.

"Yes, good. For sure good. I could go all night," he assures his companion, but it's mostly true. A little wobbly, but in a very good mood.

[recursiveimpulse]

Viktor half-kneels on the offered chair in front of the board, scribbling some calculations in lopsided scrawl.

But that choice of words Jayce uses makes him stop in his tracks.

He looks over first in surprise and then in... something else. Jayce is looking and feeling so. Sturdy. His face flushes a little deeper as he realizes that his body is responding before he can shift away from the thought.

He hopes Jayce doesn't notice his thighs starting to quiver. This is a terrible idea.

"Hah. Could you really? Go all night?"

[boyofprogress]

Jayce squints a little to try to bring the equation more into focus, but his gaze wanders to the hand writing the equation instead. Viktor's hands are so damned delicate. Everything about him is slender and lovely, and he could watch his hands work for hours. It's really unfair, and Jayce keeps staring at the lean lines of his body, thinking --

"I bet I could get my hands around his waist."

Uh. Oh no. That was definitely meant to be in his head, still. Was it out loud? Maybe Viktor won't notice. "I mean, sure. I feel great right now. What's your idea? What're we -- what's the project."

i was broken from a young age, singing from heartache from the pain...

[boyofprogress]

It shouldn't bother him.

It's the middle of the summer, it's warm out. There's no chance of freezing. It's fine. But ever since that blizzard, storms of any kind had bothered him. He'd seen the dark clouds gathering this morning on the way into the lab, and things had only gotten darker and more foreboding from there.

A tension spreads across his shoulders at the first rumble of thunder, and he shakes his head. "Ridiculous," he mutters to himself, frustrated with his own mind, his own fears and tries to keep his focus on the numbers on the chalkboard.

[recursiveimpulse]

Eh. Rain. Snow. Whatever. It doesn't matter much to Viktor, beyond how navigable the walkways are with his cane.

It's that indifference that makes it difficult for him to clock what might be wrong when he spots Jayce tensing up.

"...What is? Your numbers....actually look sound this time."

[boyofprogress]

"Ha, ha," he says with an eyeroll at the actually sound. There's another slow rumble of thunder, and his shoulders hunch up around his shoulders a bit.

"No, the numbers are fine. I just, uh. There's a storm headed in. It's giving me a bit of a headache, that's all." It's a half-truth, not a complete lie. He does get headaches in bad weather. But it goes deeper than that, unfortunately.

[recursiveimpulse]

"Oh."

Light, almost dismissive - but Viktor's expression is one of suspicion.

"...That does not sound ridiculous, Jayce. That is a headache." Without missing a further beat, he's moving to his satchel, rooting around inside it.

"I have painkiller. I have - well, I have a few painkillers. It's still mild, you said?"

[boyofprogress]

The light in the lab dims as the clouds fully cover the sun. He's starting to regret the fact that they have such large windows, and he turns his chair to face away from them, rubbing at his face.

"Hmm? Um -- yes, sorry. Still mild. Just sort of... creeping. It's annoying, that's all."

[recursiveimpulse]

The glance up towards Jayce to seek an answer has him watching the other man moving around, turning away from the windows, and...Viktor is sharp-eyed as ever, watching that tension building in his partner.

He pulls a little white pill out of his stash, then makes his way over to Jayce, offering it out with a little frown and a look of scrutiny.

"...Jayce, is something wrong? You are...eh, not as pale as I am, but giving me a run for my money."

i was just guessing at numbers and figures...

[boyofprogress]

Jayce can't remember the last time he'd been quite this nervous. It had taken a week of making and scrapping sketches based off of Viktor's old cane. The one he'd forged for himself, back in Zaun. He wanted to keep the same basic design but improve the length so that it fits Viktor better.

He'd also added, on a whim, a small compartment for storage. Nothing that upset the structural integrity, but he felt it was neat and a bit of a challenge for himself. But he worries, now, that Viktor will think it's silly. Maybe he won't tell him.

He spent all night in the Forge finishing it, running home only briefly to shower, change, and grab his thermos before popping back into the lab. Hoping to get there a little early to surprise Viktor when he arrives.

[recursiveimpulse]

And right on cue, Viktor arrives like clockwork - the tell-tale TAK-TAK-TAK of his old cane rapping against the floor heralds his arrival, just as always. He is not, however, expecting Jayce to already be present.

So he stands in the door for a moment, blinking in confusion before closing it behind him.

"...Good morning, Jayce. You're - did you skip sleep again?"

[boyofprogress]

"Just the one night, I promise," he says cheerfully, leaning against his usual spot at his desk. The cane sits on the desk behind him, and he's draped his coat over it to obscure it from view.

His stomach flutters in anticipation; gods, he's nervous, but excited, too. Hopeful that Viktor will approve of his design. Of his gift.

"It's not very often I beat you into the lab."

[recursiveimpulse]

"Eh, I couldn't stop you anyway, could I? When you are determined."

He has no idea that anything is happening - only that this kind of buzzy overexcitement usually means new work and new ideas. He sets his bag down, turning to Jayce with a little sigh.

"Slow start this morning. Some mornings are...a little harder than others."

[boyofprogress]

"I... actually might have something to help with that. Or at least hopefully make things not quite so hard by the end of the day? Um -- "

He gives Viktor a nervous smile, stepping aside to whip his jacket off the desk with a bit of a flourish. "Tadaaa! Back to your usual measurements, I hope. A-and if not, I can adjust it, of course. But I wanted to get it put together as quickly as possible, so you weren't using something too short for you."

[recursiveimpulse]

It's a bit of a whirlwind - Viktor stands watching in mild bewilderment until the reveal, and -

Oh.

He walks closer, slowly, looking down at the cane in quiet awe. As soon as he's close enough, he reaches out to brush his fingers over the handle.

"...You...you made me a cane?"