#viktor arcane

“You alright over there?” 

Speak of the devil, Viktor smiled to himself. 

“Fine. I just needed to stretch.” he replied, rolling out his shoulders as well. Jayce pushed back from his bench, letting his rolly chair take him towards Viktor. 

“How have the reports been going?” he asked, leaning over to eyeball the pile of notes in front of Viktor. Viktor grimaced, crossing his arms. 

“Eh, our notes are a mess. I am making progress, but it is slow and frankly enraging.”

Jayce laughed. “Come on, pass some over to me. I’m sure I can read your chicken scratch.”

“Chicken scratch? You know my handwriting is carefully crafted every time.” Viktor jabbed, handing over a nearly unintelligible page of scribbling, notably signed with his name. Jayce rolled his eyes at him.

“Of course, Mr Perfect. Just like the rest of your apartment.” 

Viktor couldn’t help but stick his tongue out at him, juvenile as it was. In return, he got Jayce’s hand sinking into his curls to mess up his hair. 

“Oh come on, I just got that out of my face!”

“Cut it then.” Jayce shrugged easily. “Or commit to growing it out.” 

“Asshole.” 

Jayce just gave him a wry grin in return, before scooting himself back over to his bench. Their work continued, mostly in silence interrupted by a rustle of paper or a dropped pencil. Viktor found it a nice escape from the noisy streets of Piltover. It was nothing compared to the undercity, but there are only so many automobile horns he can handle in a day. He felt affection stir up in his chest as he snuck a look at Jayce, bent over his own papers and worrying the end of his pencil with his teeth. How lucky he was to have him at his side. 

Viktor had no idea how much time had passed when he was jolted out of his work by Jayce’s hand coming to rest on his shoulder. 

“It’s past dark, Vik, we should head home.” Jayce said, and Viktor cast a glance out of their huge lab window. Sure enough, twilight had arrived and the streetlamps of Piltover were starting to flicker to life. 

“Ah. I didn’t even notice.” 

“You never do. Are you coming?” Jayce asked, and Viktor bit his lip. 

He had gotten into a good groove with these reports, and they needed to be done before the progress meeting the following afternoon. If he could just finish them up tonight, he could spend the next morning on the practical experiments rather than sitting essentially filing bureaucracy at his desk. 

“I should keep going. Time lost, and all that.” Viktor excused himself, turning his head back to his work. 

“Viktor.” Jayce continued, an edge of warning in his voice. “Didn’t you expressly tell me a few weeks ago to drag you from your desk if you tried to spend the night here again?” 

“Did I?” Viktor bluffs. He did say that, and now he is kicking himself in the ass for it. “Besides, I’m not staying the night. Only an hour or two.” 

“Yes, and an hour or two inevitably turns into till morning. I know you, Vik.”

Viktor hated to admit it, but Jayce was right. Still, he couldn’t let this go that easily. 

“It’s fine. Go home, I will follow later.” he said, and heard Jayce sigh behind him. He grinned, satisfied that his stubbornness had won out again, until he felt hands settle at either side of his ribs, just under his arms. Suddenly, he was stock still with posture held and pencil hovering over his page. 

“Still want to stay?” Jayce practically purred, and Viktor cursed the blush that rose to his cheeks. He couldn’t give in that easily, even though Jayce’s hands were hovering right there, ready to strike. 

“Yes, Jayce. I have things to do- hmmg!” Viktor interrupted himself with a choked noise as he felt Jayce’s fingers move suddenly against his ribs. Steeling himself, he obstinately put his pencil to paper and began to write. Or he tried to, as Jayce was now tracing spirals over his upper ribs and it was really hard to focus when he was doing that and it was-

“Something wrong?” Jayce teased, and Viktor cringed away from the feeling of Jayce’s breath on his neck. 

“N-not at all.” he managed, shifting slightly in his seat. 

“Are you sure?” Jayce continued, his fingers going from tracing to slow scribbles. Viktor’s arms shook from where they were braced against his desk. He had been determined to act like nothing was wrong, but that was becoming near impossible as Jayce’s fingers started to speed up and suddenly Viktor is holding back laughter because Janna, it tickles. 

“Positively.” Viktor says, and that was the last coherent word that came out of his mouth as Jayce dug in. Viktor’s arms suddenly shot to his sides with a yelp as he tipped back to lean on the chair, panicked giggles streaming from his mouth. Jayce spidered his fingers up to stroke under Viktor’s arms and he kicked out, squirming like mad. There was no holding back now, not with Jayce tickling him like he owed him money. 

“Are we reconsidering yet?” Jayce asked, kneading over the very tops of Viktor’s ribs to make him buck. 

“N-nohoho!” Viktor protested, and then slid further down his chair as Jayce tickled harder. He went from kneading to dancing his hands all the way down Viktor’s ribs, interspersed with quick and precise pinches that made him cackle. Now that, if you asked Viktor, was entirely unfair. Especially when he tilted his hands back so he could dig his fingers into the sensitive backs of his ribs, sending Viktor into near hysterics with how badly it tickled. 

“Pahaha- plehehehease! Jahayce!” Viktor wailed through laughter, kicking at the floor. His voice had gone high pitched and he was nearly wheezing. 

“Giving in?” 

Oh, Viktor wanted to give in. But he could not abide by the fact that if he did he would have to admit that his partner had successfully tickled him into leaving the lab. The only other option was to wait Jayce out. 

“Nehever!” Viktor cried, hammering the final nail in his coffin. 

“Alright then.” Jayce said, pulling a hand away from Viktor’s side to grab his wrist and raise his arm over his head. 

“Oho, nooononono-” 

“What? You asked for this.”

“Naha, Jayce dohon’t nohot thehere- ahahaha!” Viktor shrieked when Jayce used his free hand to mercilessly tickle up and down his exposed side, paying special attention to the spot near the middle of his ribs where the bastard knew he was most ticklish. He writhed in his seat, nearly slipping onto the floor but Jayce pulled him back onto the chair and kept tickling. Viktor was nearly crying but he was holding it together, really! Or he was, until Jayce finally honed in on that awful spot and the dam broke.

“AAAaa! Alriihihight! ALRIHIGHT, I’ll goho hohohome, plehehase!” Viktor begged, and Jayce finally stopped. Viktor hugged his arms to his sides, heaving for breath and sending Jayce a look that could kill. 

“Shall I get your coat?” Jayce offered, and Viktor just glared at him again. 

“You… you evil shit…” 

“I’ll take that as a yes.” 

Viktor watched him walk over to the coat rack, still catching his breath. He let a half smile come to his face - that man knew him far too well. He should do something about that. 

“There you go.”Jayce said as he passed over Viktor’s favourite jacket. “Now. Home?’’

Viktor shrugged the jacket over his shoulders and stood, leaning slightly against Jayce’s side.