Chapter Text
Vi liked Caitlyn's friend Jayce. She'd never admit it out loud, but he was fun.
Vi loved Jayce's friend Viktor. He'd been the one to propose that Powder should enter rehabilitation rather than sending her off to Stillwater. Caitlyn had been the one to help Vi with the conservatorship, but she knew her girlfriend got the idea from Jayce, who got the idea from Viktor. It was because of him that her sister actually had a future. She owed the man a debt and there was little she wouldn't do if he asked.
So, when a gala for new inventors got a little crazy and several attendees ended up in lockup for public intoxication, Vi was shocked to see that one of them was Viktor.
"What are you doing here?" Vi was already reaching for her keys as she asked the question.
Viktor looked incredibly disgruntled. His hair was mused and the bags under his eyes were deeper than normal. More importantly, he seemed pissed.
Vi had only seen Viktor angry once before and it was at Powder's trial when someone had said that "monsters deserve to meet their victim's fate." He'd gone off at them before she even had the chance to and lectured the whole room on what trauma can do to the mind. He'd explained how rare mental breaks were and how much awful shit someone had to go through to hit that breaking point, especially for a kid as young as Powder. She still thinks that was the moment he convinced the Council that her sister was worth saving.
Vi slid the cell door open and beckoned him out, giving a hard glare to the others as a warning to stay put. They grumbled but obeyed.
Viktor lurched forward, using the wall as support, and Vi startled when she realized that he didn't have his cane. She shut and locked the door, then grabbed Viktor's arm to support his weight as they walked to the waiting area. It was telling that he didn't protest at the assistance.
"Jayce was supposed to give a speech at the gala tonight, but he was visiting his mother before and got stuck in traffic, so Mel asked if I could step in. I agreed, the event took a turn, and now I'm here with this group of drunkards." Viktor was still scowling when he finished speaking and Vi deposited him onto one of the hard wooden chairs.
"I thought you couldn't drink?" She asked with a frown.
"I can't."
Ah. He got stuck babysitting the students and when they got rowdy, he got arrested with them. That explains why he was so grumpy.
"Well, let's just get your paperwork settled and then you can get out of here. Want me to call someone?" Vi rounded the desk to grab the appropriate forms.
"No," Viktor stated.
Oh, he was mad mad.
"Alright then." She grabbed a pen and started filling out the discharge sheet. "Full name, Viktor..." She paused and looked up. "I actually don't know your last name."
"It's Talis."
Wait, what? "As in, House Talis?"
"Yes."
"Did they sponsor you or something when you moved from the Undercity? You're not secretly related to Jayce, are you?"
Viktor looked at her like she had grown a second head. "Violet, Jayce and I are married."
Vi blue screened. "Huh?"
"I know we don't go parading it around, but it's not exactly a well-kept secret. Did Caitlyn not tell you?"
"...no."
"How odd. No matter, can we finish this up please?"
Vi blinked a few times and shook her head. "Sure, yeah. Uh, age?"
They got the rest of the form done quickly and Vi was trying to convince Viktor to let her take him home when Jayce burst through the door.
"You got arrested?" He blurted out immediately upon laying eyes on Viktor.
Viktor pointed his cane - which Vi had found earlier - at Jayce angrily, forcing him to keep his distance. "This is why I don't give speeches."
"Speeches shouldn't lead to jail time!"
"Tell that to your little group of fanboys," Viktor swung his cane around to gesture at the drunk people leaning between the cell bars. They were waving wildly at Jayce and calling out questions that made him grow red with embarrassment.
"I'm sorry, okay? I didn't know Mel would ask you to do the speech in my stead." Now that Jayce's adrenaline was starting to settle, Vi noted that he bore a striking resemblance to a kicked puppy. Viktor was not swayed.
"You are not off the hook," he smacked Jayce's leg with his cane and started walking out the door. "Goodbye, Violet. Thank you for your help."
"No problem, have a nice night guys." She watched as Jayce trailed after his partner and pleaded for forgiveness.
Later that night, when Vi got home and confronted Caitlyn about not telling her the two men were married, she saw what must have been a perfect recreation of her earlier shock on her girlfriend's face.
Not a well-kept secret, her ass.