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The quiet of the lab was infuriating, a deafening declaration that absolutely nothing was getting done in there. Viktor pushed himself back from the table, grabbing the lab goggles from his face rather dramatically. His head fell back over the chair, eyes closed, and he tried for the thousandth time to figure out where he was going wrong. The student's latest project glowed and bobbed in front of him, the blue light threatening to shine through his eyelids. His brain reminded him that he knew someone who would be likely to help, or at the least, give some valuable insight. That is, if Viktor had the stomach to call.
It’d been eons since Viktor had last spoken to Jayce- that’s how it felt, anyway. Maybe a week had passed since their somewhat explosive falling out, with no communication between the two. Mel hadn’t taken either side. She’d refused to hear their grievances at all, actually. It seemed she believed that, like the rest of their disputes, one of them would come to some sort of breakthrough and they’d immediately reconcile.
Viktor had believed her in some capacity, even if he told himself that wasn’t the reason he’d spent a few more nights than usual in his makeshift little lab away from Jayce, approaching his newest problem from every angle. This time, though, he wasn’t making any progress. His perspective was methodical and well structured, but it was still only his perspective. He needed a second opinion. One he trusted.
His phone was in his hand before he could think. Then it was ringing. He found himself counting the rings - One… two… three… what if he doesn’t pick up. Do I leave a message?
“Hello?”
Viktor jolted, sitting straight up in his flimsy office chair, grabbing the desk to roll himself closer. “Hi,” he started, clearing his throat in a way he hoped was casual. “Jayce.”
A short silence, in which Viktor could almost see Jayce’s impatient eye-roll, and if the circumstances weren’t so awkward, maybe his amused smile. “Viktor,” the phone crackled at him, and Viktor swallowed his pride.
“I’m… I have a new project.” A breath. “I think I could use some help. If you’re up for it.”
Hours passed, and Viktor found himself sprawled out in the same shitty chair- but this time, Jayce was on the floor next to him, leaning back on his hands, papers and blueprints spread out around him. Viktor had been surprised when the other had only hesitated slightly. It ate at him a little, knowing that Mel was wrong, that a project could get them together but it couldn’t get them to reconcile. The feeling, however, of one of them snapping his fingers at a revelation and the other being on the same page almost before he spoke was one he’d missed, and it made up for the tension that’d filled his head during the phone call.
They’d made progress. Viktor still wasn’t sure what they’d done- he could barely make sense of his own notes- but he felt a sense of accomplishment. Usually, after a long couple of hours like this, Jayce would talk him into a cup of tea, or, rarely, whatever shitty, strong alcohol he’d managed to get his hands on. They’d collapse in their chairs, spending the night in the lab, waking up and getting right back to work.
Viktor was pulled out of his memories as Jayce rustled on the floor in front of him, getting up and putting their various notes in a neat pile. The pile went on his desk, and Jayce stretched decisively. “I’ll, um, get going.” The tension had returned, and Viktor reminded himself that the air wasn’t actually thick, that he could still breathe, that he shouldn’t be light-headed over a dispute he’d failed to overcome.
“Oh,” he said lamely, quickly averting his eyes to the stack of papers on his desk, the scribbles of his own handwriting annotated by Jayce’s ideas and additions. The sight, something he should be used to by now, made his stomach dance. “Okay.”
He could feel Jayce’s frown from the side, could feel it mirrored on his own face, as he struggled with the decision of whether this was a battle he wanted to fight. He listened to Jayce make his own decision, listened to him collect his coat and his textbooks, listened as he walked toward the door. Viktor thought about how often he’d been the one to try and pick things up between them. He didn’t come up with many examples.
Jayce’s hand was reaching for the door, and Viktor called out to him, grabbing his crutch and getting to his feet. He made his way over, watching Jayce turn around and look at him in confusion. “Yeah?” He asked, and Viktor let himself watch the way the moonlight hit Jayce’s hair when his head tilted. “You figured something out?”
Viktor shook his head. “Well- not about our project, but-” his words stumbled, and he took a moment to think carefully. He licked his lips, tilted his head forward just a bit. “If I’m honest, I can’t remember what I said to you that caused… this. But I’m sorry. Really.” He cleared his throat, unused to the remorse in his chest. Jayce was just staring at him, eyebrows both raised now in a look he didn’t understand, and it took almost more than he had for Viktor to keep looking him in the eye. He stuck out his right hand and waited, hoping he looked more sincere than awkward.
Jayce’s mouth quirked into a smile, and he ignored Viktor’s hand, going in to give him a hug instead. Viktor stood there for a moment, his face smushed against Jayce’s shoulder, his arm now dangling uselessly at his side. Eventually, slowly, he lifted one arm and wrapped it around Jayce’s torso, his hand clutching at his friend’s jacket, his eyes closed. He wasn’t sure when he’d started smiling, and he wasn’t sure when he’d stop. Vaguely, he registered Jayce calling him an awkward idiot, and he laughed with him, heart aching just a little- but in a good way.
Viktor felt his stomach dance again, his head light. In the back of his mind, he worried that something might be wrong, or that he had something entirely new to unpack- but Jayce was laughing again, still holding on to him, apologizing but saying something about needing an extra minute right there, and Viktor decided whatever was going on, it could wait. Everything could wait. For the moment, Jayce’s apologetic chuckle and tight embrace, his smile pressed against Viktor’s shoulder, was enough.