An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
It is an old saying in Zaun— If they’re mean, they want a fight. If they’re clever about it, they want to fuck. If they do both, you’re in for a good night.
His approach to attraction is a cultural habit, one Viktor has never given much thought to because it has always been true. No one in Zaun flirts openly. They play, they provoke, they get under the skin. And if a partner snaps back just as sharp—well. That’s interest.
Piltovans as a whole don’t seem to understand this. They flirt in ways that are too clean, too direct, too painfully earnest. They go soft first, then ask permission to go softer.
Jayce is a Piltie. He does not have the stomach for the game.
_
At the Piltover College of Fine Arts, the most prestigious and selective academy in the arts world, talent is everything.
After a disastrous first meeting, Jayce writes Viktor off as caustic, unimpressed, and apparently allergic to basic conversation.
In a twist of academic misfortune, they’re assigned to work together on a project that means months of high-stakes rehearsals and performances. Working together isn’t optional.
But music is built on tension, and dissonance isn’t always meant to be resolved.
