#reqyest

“Well I shall have to ask my dear husband,” you smiled cheekily, spluttering out a laugh as Jayce spat out his coffee, Viktor’s head whipped around wide eyed, nearly knocking his cane over beside him. 

Jayce wiped the back of his mouth with his hand, racing to dab the paperwork in front of him dry. “Have I missed something?” He choked out, “I didn’t even know you were seeing someone, yet you’re married?” 

You shrugged nonchalantly, turning with a grin to Viktor. Your smile quickly dropped when you caught him frowning at you, however, brow furrowed and lips down turned. You cleared your throat quickly, suddenly feeling awkward as you turned back to Jayce. 

“I was just joking,” you laughed uneasily, “wanted to see what you would say. But yes, I can make that work.” 

He huffed a laugh, and you pushed yourself away from your desk and crossed to help him with the spilled coffee, anything to avoid looking at your scowling boyfriend. 

“Vik you alright?” Jayce’s voice called over your head and your hands paused momentarily, not turning around as you waited for him to say something. 

He hummed lowly, and you heard the tapping of his cane as he pushed himself up from his stool. “I am fine. I just need a break.” He pushed out the room as you finished clearing up. You felt his eyes boring into you as he stepped past, only breathing out once you heard his cane growing quieter down the corridor. 

“What’s got into him?” Jayce’s brow creased as he turned back to you. You did your best to push down your anxiety, 

“I have no idea.” 

“I’ll go check on hi-“ 

“No it’s fine,” you rushed to stop him, pausing to swallow and calm yourself when he only looked more confused. “I’ll go. You crack on here.” You smiled softly, pushing past him and leaving him staring bewildered at the lab door. 

You pulled your jacket tight around you as you stepped around the large pendulums, sighing softly when you caught sight of him perched on the edge of the wall and staring out down the waterfall. 

“I thought I’d find you here,” you called softly, offering him a tentative smile as he turned around surprised, his shoulders sagging slightly when he saw it was you. He stayed silent, looking back out over his steel retreat. 

You closed the gap slowly, leaning against the wall opposite him and studying his stoic face, pulling your lips between your teeth. 

“I presume that was a joke?” His voice was rough, and he refused to look at you as he broke the silence. 

You felt your skin heat up, a lump forming in your throat when you realised he was entirely serious, his tone dripping with what you could only describe as contempt for the idea. 

You stuttered, shocked, “s-sorry. I just wanted to see how you would react to it. I didn’t mean to take anything too far.” 

He scoffed, a quiet sound as he shook his head, closing his eyes as if deep in thought. 

“I won’t say anything like it again…” you trailed off, trying to disguise the fact your heart was hammering anxiously in your chest. When you had come up with your little prank, you hadn’t expected to find out your boyfriend was physically repulsed by the thought of marrying you. 

He finally turned to you, hearing the crack in your voice. His eyes softened at the sight of you closed in on yourself, and he twisted to face you properly. “Oh my love,” his voice softened as you avoided his gaze, pushing off the wall to try and walk past him, only to be stopped by his hand reaching out and clasping your wrist gently, his fingers curling to press against your pulse point. Still you refused to meet his eye, focusing on the floor beside you instead, ignoring his doe eyes in your periphery. 

He huffed gently, lips pressing into a grim line. “Why did you say it?” His tone softened, the initial anger melting out of it. 

Your eyes fell on where he held your wrist tenderly, “I thought it would be fun to see how you reacted to the idea of being my husband. Test the word out a bit, that’s all. It was supposed to be harmless fun, but I didn’t know you didn’t like the idea of marriage—“ 

He stopped you with a scoff, “Well, you have never talked about marriage before. I presumed that it was not something you wanted, at least not with me…” 

Your brow creased and you finally looked at him, “What is that supposed to mean?”  

He hesitated for a moment, dropping your wrist and glancing at his cane. “Why would anyone choose to tie themselves to a cripple for the rest of their life?” You were stunned into silence, gawping at him. “We haven’t even told people we are together after nearly two years,” he chucked dryly, the sound devoid of any joy. 

You felt your mouth dry out as you floundered, before you crouched beside him, retaking his hands in yours. 

“Do you really think that’s why I suggested we stay private?” Your heart raced in panic as he looked away from you, refusing to meet his gaze. “Viktor, we both agreed it was better for our work if no one knew,” you brushed our thumb gently over his hand, “never for a moment did I consider any other motive. Janna knows I want nothing more than to stop hiding us.” He finally looked back to you, guilt welling in his chest when he saw the tears on your waterline. “I thought perhaps I was the one not good enough for you…” 

“Absolutely not!” He frowned, his hands clasping around yours, his legs parting so you could kneel between them more easily. He brought one of your hands to his lips and placed a reassuring kiss to the knuckles. “I–“

You both jumped when you heard approaching heavy footsteps, Viktor instinctively dropping your hands as you stood up, taking a few steps back, clearing your throat and dabbing your eyes. 

“There you both are,” Jayce’s voice echoed as he weaved around into the light. “Heimerdinger wants to see us,” he gestured back towards the door and Viktor nodded, clearing his throat as he stood. 

“I’ll be with you in a sec,” you smiled tight lipped and nodded for them to go ahead, smiling softly when Viktor mouthed ‘I love you’ as Jayce turned around, following him out. 

You sighed heavily as you closed your apartment door, leaning against it as you slung your bag to the floor and kicked off your shoes. 

“It’s rare that you end up home after me.” Viktor’s voice made you jump as he peeked his head around the kitchen door frame, chuckling as he moved to lean against it, instinctively opening his arms to let you fall into his chest with exhaustion. Your forehead collided with his shoulder with a huff, his arms closing around you tightly. 

“How can the Kiramman’s know so many people? That list of names is endless.” you groaned, arms still hanging limply by your sides as his hand trailed up your back comfortingly, huffing a laugh and letting you relax most of your weight against him. 

He let you stay there for a moment before his hands came to rest on your arms, pushing you away gently and holding you at arms reach. “I have something for you,” he spoke softly, his voice unsure as he picked up his cane from where it leaned against the kitchen counter and pushed off the door frame, heading to the bedroom.  

You frowned, pausing for a moment before following after him “Vik, if this is about earlier that was on me, you didn’t ha–” 

You froze in the bedroom doorway when you saw it. His back was to you, but he was picking something up from his dresser drawer, his hand hovering over a small velvet box. Your breath caught in your throat. 

He turned to you slowly, turning the box around in his long fingers and looking at it intently. “I have had this longer than I have known you,” he pondered, wetting his lips. “It is one of the few things I have left of my parents.”

Your heart hammered in your chest, the palms of your hands turning clammy as you stayed rooted to the spot. He started to cross to you slowly, still fiddling with the box, flicking the lid open as he stilled in front of you. His eyes were fixed on the band inside, but yours couldn’t leave his face. 

“Now, if you will have me, I want you to have it,” he let his cane rest against the bed so he could fish the ring out of the dusty cushion. “I never want you to doubt your importance to me again, nor do I want to hide what we have any longer.” He looked up at you expectantly, his tongue darting out to wet his lips again nervously. 

“Oh Vik…” you felt your eyes well up with hot tears as you grasped his hand in yours gently, sure he would be able to feel the tremble. “Yes, a thousand times yes.” 

His face split into a relieved smile, letting out a long breath as you nodded, letting him slip the old ring onto your finger. “It is nothing fancy, I know but–”

You shut him up with a kiss, your lips crushing against his as you swung your arms around his neck, nearly knocking him off balance. You muttered a quick sorry as you rebalanced you both again, letting him rest some of his weight on you as his hands landed on your hips. 

You pulled away gently, his face still hovering above yours. “Earlier… I thought you despised the idea of being called my husband,” you chuckled hesitantly, your eyes naturally falling on the ring as your fingers lay against his shoulder. 

“Not for one second,” he rushed to assure you, fingers gently tilting your chin to meet his eyes again. “Quite the contrary, actually,” he laughed uneasily, waiting for you to catch on and flushing as your eyes widened in realisation. 

His brow furrowed as you broke into a slow smile, “Well then, soon-to-be-husband, how about I do something about that,” you teased, trailing your fingers along the buttons of his uniform shirt slowly, pulling your lower lip between your teeth. 

He shuddered under your touch, eyes fluttering closed as your fingers trailed up the side of his neck and along his jaw.  You leaned into him, pressing slow kisses where your fingers had just ghosted over the skin, smirking when you heard his shuddering breath…