Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Jayce had never thought he would discover anything that could make his heart race faster than this.

It just never got tiring. That noticeable change in the air, the increasing moisture and wind. The sky gradually growing darker, save for the distant yet quickly approaching flashes of lightning joined by ominous rumbles of thunder. Clouds stacking higher and higher, billowing thousands of feet up into the sky and rolling onward as one great atmospheric behemoth. The rustling of the trees and grass, the patter of raindrops beginning to fall, cool on exposed skin. 

Another spring thunderstorm ready to blow through. Another storm to observe and learn from. 

“It’s following every pattern we’ve predicted so far,” that now so familiar voice thoughtfully commented from Jayce's side. 

Jayce pulled his eyes off the incoming storm and turned his gaze to Viktor, who stood only a couple feet away as he was taking in the sight unraveling ahead of them. His tufted hair swished as the breeze continued to pick up. Small dark spots were blooming on his light vest as raindrops fell. His expression appeared calm, focused, but Jayce could see the bright anticipation in his eyes, the slight lift of his brows, and the way he eagerly squeezed the handle of his cane. 

He looked…

“It’s beautiful,” Jayce breathed, still no longer watching the roll of the clouds now creeping around them. 

Viktor looked back at Jayce once he spoke, and his mouth lifted into a small half-smile as he tilted his head a touch. “Yes. It is, isn’t it?” he agreed, and there was an almost knowing look in his eyes that snapped Jayce out of his brief near-trance. “But I think we really should get going now,” Viktor added with a chuckle as thunder made itself known again ever so loudly. 

“Shit, you’re probably right, huh?” Jayce managed a laugh, trying to remain casual, and nodded as he scooped his backpack off the damp ground and tossed it over his shoulder. The two of them made their way out of the park and back to where Caitlyn’s borrowed car waited nearby, parked alongside the curb. 

Once they got in and settled, tossing their bags into the backseats, the rain really began to pour, coming down in heavy sheets that slammed against the windshield. 

“Well then,” Viktor said simply, hands folded in his lap as Jayce started up the car, immediately switching the wipers on so that they could actually see the outside world again. 

“Well then!” Jayce grinned from ear to ear and ran a hand through his hair, pushing it out of his face before looking at Viktor. He tried to ignore the way his stomach fluttered when Viktor smiled back at him, this time wider than before. “How ‘bout Portillo’s?” 

With a snort, Viktor leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms. “Oh, wow, I never would have guessed. You just want the cake, don’t you?” He arched an accusatory eyebrow at Jayce. 

“But of course,” Jayce said with ease. “I feel like it’s earned after our work today. You don’t think so?” He pulled the car away from the curb and onto the road, driving extra slowly as the wipers worked hard against the continuous onslaught of rain.

“I just think there are many better places in the city for dessert,” Viktor began lightly, but then paused when Jayce shot him a quick, exaggerated look of sadness as he drove. “And we’re an hour out. But if that’s what you want, then I would be happy to go,” he finished with a joking roll of his eyes before looking out his window, a faint smile resting on his face. 

Jayce couldn’t help but feel giddy at this response, giving the steering wheel a subtle squeeze. 

It probably didn’t mean much of anything. After all, they were good friends now. Of course Viktor would be polite and agree if Jayce was so set on it. Viktor was nice. He was very nice. And so smart. And funny and handsome and so easy to be around and, fuck, Jayce had not anticipated any of these feelings months ago when first learning he was to be partnered up with a classmate for lab work in their meteorology studies. 

He could predict weather patterns with near-complete confidence, but he could not have predicted the way his emotions would come to change around Viktor. 

“Aw, V, you’re so sweet,” he replied with what he hoped was his most convincing chipper and, yet again, hopefully casual tone. “Just can’t say no to me, right?” He was only half-joking, carefully trying to test what exactly he could say to Viktor that wouldn’t be too much. 

“Mm,” Viktor hummed softly and gave a one-shouldered shrug, still looking out the window. “Something like that.” 

Jayce blinked, glancing at Viktor quickly as thunder cracked above them. That small smile was still noticeable, and Jayce could ever so slightly see the rest of Viktor’s warm expression in the window’s reflection. But only for a moment before he snapped his attention back to the road, feeling his face and ears heating up. 

Something like that? What did that mean? 

Well. At least he could agonize over it with a slice of cake soon enough. 

Chapter Text

The city was bustling in the early morning as Jayce hopped onto the train for his usual commute to campus, having to get back into the swing of things after winter break. Weather wise, it was a clear but very cold start to the day, the sun rising over the lake and reflecting almost blindingly off the skyline and snow, causing Jayce to squint whenever the train would pass between buildings and the light would strike his eyes. 

As a meteorology student, of course he was also interested in winter weather (he had a history with it, too, after all), but it was not his main fascination. For one thing, he wasn’t overly fond of the cold regardless of his past experience, especially at Chicago’s level of often absolutely frigid. 

What he had really grown into was thunderstorms and tornadoes, as was the case with most other meteorology students he had talked with. So, naturally, he was waiting as patiently as possible for the arrival of spring and the promise of storms that came with the season. 

As the train continued to loudly rattle forward on the tracks, Jayce pulled his headphones on to somewhat block the noise, turning his attention from out the windows to down at his phone as he put on a video by one of his favorite weather YouTubers. 

The rest of his commute was spent listening to yet another documentary about the Tuscaloosa EF4. 

Caitlyn was already waiting at their meetup point near one of the campus parking lots once Jayce arrived, face rosy as she adjusted her scarf and rubbed her hands together. Her eyebrows were furrowed as she looked around before finally noticing Jayce approaching, and he could see her breath hanging in the air when she let out a big sigh of relief. 

“Finally!” she exclaimed with exasperation, shoving her hands into her coat pockets now as she began to make her way down the sidewalk on their usual path, forcing Jayce into a brief jog to catch up. 

“You didn’t have to wait for me!” he insisted, wrapping an arm around her shoulders once he caught up and giving her a squeeze for warmth. “I really don’t expect you to when it’s this stupid cold out.” They headed towards the nearest building where most of Cait’s communications classes took place, their route always dropping her off first before Jayce continued on to natural sciences. 

“Yeah, well, maybe I just wanted to see your face after break. Make sure you haven't gotten any uglier,” Cait replied, taking one hand out of a pocket to reach up and squish Jayce’s cheeks as he gave her a phony wounded look. 

“You’re so mean to me when I’ve been nothing but nice to you,” he lamented dramatically, pulling his arm away with a somber shake of his head. “I’m starting to suspect transphobia.” He clicked his tongue and turned his hands up in a what-can-you-do manner. 

“Oh my god, Jayce,” Cait snorted and gave him a light shove while rolling her eyes as he only laughed playfully in response. “How was your break then?” she asked, moving on from the banter. “I imagine your mom was happy to have you back home for a bit.” 

Jayce nodded, a small smile remaining fixed on his face. “Oh, yeah, definitely. She had the place decorated all cute like usual. Plenty of homemade meals. I really missed her, so, y’know. It was good to go back for a little bit.” Cait hummed her acknowledgement. “She asked how you’re doing, too. And Vi, of course. I told her you’re both well.” 

“Mm, yes, we are. And we’ll have to go see her again sometime soon for sure,” Cait said as they paused for a moment before crossing another street. “I know you were just there, but whenever you plan on visiting again, let me know so we can try to come with you. If that’s okay, of course.” 

“Of course! She would love that.”

Cait’s faint smile lingered for a moment before growing into a more mischievous grin as she side-eyed Jayce and added, “She would probably also love it if you had someone new to introduce her to. If you get what I mean.” She bumped Jayce with her hip, biting back what was obviously a snicker. 

“Oh my god,” Jayce said with a huff through his nose, shaking his head with no real annoyance. “You know how I feel about that. I just don’t really think I could do the whole…actively dating thing. Going out with people I barely know over and over again.”

“That’s the point. You get to know them by doing that.”

“But it feels like so much pressure when you know you both have that underlying intention,” Jayce mumbled with an added shudder for the sake of emphasis, though he was already shivering anyway from the cold. “I just want-”

“I know, I know,” Cait cut in as they were walking up the main path to her building. “You want to be friends first and pine hopelessly and miserably. You need to actually make yourself a close friend to do that, you know. Don’t just go from school to home! Do you talk to anyone in your classes?” 

“Cait,” Jayce sighed, reaching to open the door for her. 

“Okay, okay! I’m sorry, I only tease,” Cait relented before reaching to tousle Jayce’s hair. “I just know how much love is in that big heart of yours, just waiting to come out. It’s sweet, Jayce.” She offered a genuine smile that he couldn’t help but return with a roll of his eyes before stepping inside. “Now hurry before you get frostbite. I’ll see you later, okay?” 

She truly did not have to tell him twice. 

Jayce arrived at the classroom early enough to secure his usual seat from before break, just a couple rows back from the front of the room. He preferred being closer to the board so that he could see more clearly, as well as participate whenever questions were asked, but he didn’t want to be too close, not right up front. 

He had gotten very used to his unofficially assigned spot, and fortunately everyone else had felt the same, familiar faces filling in their seats gradually as the start of class neared. A few others that Jayce did not recognize began showing up as well, and he idly wondered how many people had been taking their classes online before winter break. 

There had been an email that had gone out sometime during the break informing everybody that lab work would be starting up in this next semester, so Jayce figured that any previously online students were now showing up to be able to participate in that. His guess was confirmed once their professor finally arrived and made note of it on the board, writing LAB NEXT WEEK in large letters and underlining it as what seemed to be the last few students settled in.

“Alright, I’m glad to see my emails are in fact being read, because it looks like just about everybody is here now,” she began. “That being said, great to see the rest of you in person! I know it isn’t fun to have to come out to campus now when it’s so cold, for those of you who started online, but isn’t that just part of what we’re still here to learn about? The cold weather is just as important as anything else.” She flashed an apologetic smile to a few lighthearted groans of response before carrying on. “As you all know and can see, we will be starting with lab work next week, which means we’re going to be moving out of this room and going to the actual lab with the computers and everything else we’ll need. I’m going to be pairing you all up as well, though not everything needs to be done together. But I think a little analytical teamwork will be beneficial and fun throughout our time in the lab.”

Jayce raised his eyebrows slightly, absentmindedly fiddling with his pencil and glancing to his sides as he wondered who he might end up with. 

“I just threw all your names into some online name picker and had that decide for me, so it’s completely random. If there’s any reason that switching needs to be done, then just let me know when you can. It’s no problem. Alright, I’ll just go down my list here.”

She moved to sit at her desk, flipping open her laptop and starting to read paired names off it while also helping point students to one another if they looked like they didn’t recognize their partner.

Fortunately, it was only a class of twenty-four, so there were not too many people to worry about, and the pairs would be nice and even. Jayce was noticing that most of the people that he had any sort of acquaintance status with were already paired off with others, meaning he was probably going to end up with one of the unfamiliar faces around the room. 

“And Viktor, you’ll be partnered with Jayce,” their professor eventually said while nearing the last few pairs. Jayce blinked and turned back to look towards where she was gesturing. In the last row of seats, nearest to the door, sat a man Jayce had not seen before in class. One of the people who had to have been online then. 

He had fluffy dark hair, high cheekbones, thick brows, and was wearing a nice reddish button-up shirt that made him look rather sleek.  He met Jayce’s gaze for a brief moment before looking back at their professor, not in a way that made Jayce feel overlooked or dismissed at all, but just in a quick moment of minor acknowledgement before giving his attention back to their professor.

Hm, Jayce thought simply, objectively. He’s cute. 

He turned his own attention ahead again, still absentmindedly rolling his pencil between his fingers. 

“And that’s that! Again, like I said, let me know if changes need to be made, but other than that, I do hope we’ll all have plenty of fun and enjoy ourselves when we get started there. And of course we aren’t just going to be in there constantly from here on out; we’ll still have lectures in here too, which I will let you all know about through email so you end up in the right room.”

She then moved to turn on the projector and it whirred to life as her laptop connected and she tabbed over from the list of names to a slideshow.  

“For today, I wanted to do a little recap on some of the things we discussed last semester. Starting off simple, who can remind me of the four elements of a severe thunderstorm?”

Once class finished, Jayce immediately felt the urge to go greet Viktor and give a proper introduction. He didn’t entirely know why. He was happy enough to chat with people when someone initiated conversation with him, but he himself was often too focused on studies to be the one to go up to others first. 

Do you talk to anyone in your classes?

He furrowed his brows as he recalled Cait’s question. Sure, she had been asking in the context of wanting him to make a friend to eventually ask out, which he obviously wasn’t going to do here, but it felt relevant nonetheless. He still generally needed to put in some sort of effort, and, well, it wouldn’t hurt to hopefully strike up a good partnership with someone as soon as possible if they were going to be working together for quite some time, right? Plus, it would be fun to have someone to discuss the weather with. In a way that was more than just painful small talk, of course. 

He slid his notebook, pencil, and laptop into his backpack and hoisted it over his shoulder as the whole class shifted and moved together as everyone left their seats to head out. 

Jayce, unable to see through the crowd, realized that he may have already missed Viktor, as the other man had been closest to the door and probably left first thing. Would he need to hurry after him? Would that be weird? 

But as he made his own way back and into the line for the door, he noticed that Viktor in fact hadn’t left yet, and was still patiently sitting at his end seat, one hand resting loosely on the handle of a cane leaning against his desk. 

Jayce stopped a little too abruptly, someone bumping into him from behind whom he swiftly apologized to before scooting over to Viktor’s desk. 

Viktor had noticed him coming and, subsequently, had seen the little hold up with the line, which Jayce couldn’t help but feel a bit embarrassed about. But nothing was said about it, and Viktor only raised his eyebrows slightly as Jayce stopped in front of him and paused for a second before simply saying, “Hey.”

“Hello. It was Jayce, right?” He had an accent in which his words rolled right off his tongue, leaving Jayce feeling pulled in, albeit subconsciously. 

“Yeah! That’s me,” he replied quickly and held out a closed fist, hoping to give Viktor a fist bump. And hoping in the back of his mind that it wasn’t coming off as awkward or forced. But, to his relief, Viktor hummed and returned the greeting, their fists brushing together, and Jayce almost sensed a touch of amusement in the other’s expression. But maybe he was overanalyzing it. 

When Viktor then continued to look at him expectantly, for a second that lasted just a little too long, Jayce reminded himself that he was the one who had started this conversation and would be expected to continue it. 

“I just wanted to say hi and that I’m excited to work with you! I haven’t seen you in class before, so you were online, yeah?” 

Viktor was standing up now that nearly everyone else was out the door, seeing that their professor was probably waiting for them to go as well. He took his jacket off the back of his chair, calmly draping it over one arm as he nodded in response to Jayce before picking up his own backpack next. 

“Yes, I was online before. It is easier to work from home most of the time, but it does feel nice to come in person now too. It is beneficial in other ways to be in the room.” 

“Ah, right, yeah,” Jayce acknowledged, finding himself more curious about Viktor in a way he couldn’t quite explain. “Just can’t exactly look at models and projections and shit without being in the lab. But I’m eager to see what it’s like in there. I bet it’s pretty cool.” He was now walking alongside Viktor out of the classroom and into the hallway, where they went with the flow of the other students. 

“‘And shit,’” Viktor echoed, a noticeable grin tugging at the corner of his mouth.

“Huh?” Jayce paused before registering that Viktor was repeating what he had said. “Oh, yeah,” he laughed breathily, still a touch nervous, and shrugged one shoulder. “I should have you know that I’m quite articulate,” he tried to joke, hoping it would land.

“Mm, is that so…” Viktor mused, more so playing along than actually questioning it. His eyes flitted from the crowd around them to Jayce’s face, and Jayce couldn’t help but feel like he himself was being studied. Though not in a negative way. 

Nonetheless, he held himself a little straighter. 

“Definitely,” he affirmed with a single nod, putting on a serious face that made Viktor chuckle faintly. It felt like a win. 

“Then I suppose I am just as excited to work with you too,” Viktor said, and allowed his smile to grow some more, which, thankfully, only continued to reassure Jayce that he wasn’t being any sort of bother. “I would be interested in hearing what other articulate things you have to share when it comes to our studies. But for now, I believe we’ll have to talk later.” 

It was only then that Jayce realized the two of them had already come to a stop, something he hadn’t even registered, as he had been content to just settle into Viktor’s lead. 

“My next class is down this way,” Viktor elaborated when Jayce didn’t seem to process what he had said, pointing back over his shoulder with a thumb towards the hallway behind him, as they were standing at a split. “I only have a few more minutes before it starts.” 

“Oh! Right, right, of course.” Jayce nodded and then, feeling an impulsive urge to further push himself into attempting to kindle a friendship, asked, “Real quick, do you have anywhere I could add you on? Like a Discord or something?” 

“My Discord?” Viktor blinked at him, head tilted. It did not come off as if he didn’t know what Discord was, but rather that he did not understand why Jayce would be asking for it. 

“I just, well, it kind of feels too personal to just ask for someone’s actual phone number first, y’know?” Jayce tried explaining, fighting against visibly grimacing at himself. Was it weird to ask for someone’s socials so quickly? “I just thought it might be nice to be able to message each other about lab stuff, or whatever else. I mean, I know we haven’t started anything yet, but…” He trailed off and bit his lower lip, offering up a shrug. 

Viktor looked at him again in that specific way that made Jayce feel like he was being picked apart and studied from the inside out. Like he was something that Viktor was trying to piece together. 

He then reached into one of the pockets of his pants and dug out his phone, saying, “Mm, right. That could be convenient, I suppose.” There it was again too, that lighthearted lilt to his words, in his tone. He unlocked his phone and tapped a couple times before facing the screen to Jayce, showing him his Discord username. 

“Great!” Jayce cracked a big smile, very happy that Viktor hadn’t minded him asking, and swiftly pulled out his own phone to open the app and pop in Viktor’s username. “Machine Herald?” he then asked curiously after Viktor accepted the friend request and they both put their phones away. 

“Eh, just an inside reference with some friends,” Viktor said before adding with a hum, “But it was nice meeting you, Jayce. I will see you later.” 

“Yeah! Yeah, it was nice meeting you too, man! See ya later!” Jayce agreed, unable to fully mask his enthusiasm as Viktor smiled before turning and heading down the hallway. 

Now that Viktor was gone, Jayce found himself biting down on his lip again, but this time to try holding back another massive grin rather than from nervousness. He gripped one of his backpack’s straps and then headed down the other hall, the slightest of bounce in his steps as he internally reveled in how proud he was of himself for putting in the effort, and how happy he was that his assigned lab partner, so far at least, seemed to be a pretty chill guy. 

He’d have to let Cait know later. 

[caitlyn]: wow, really?? did you have some sort of epiphany after our talk? do tell me i can take some credit for the fact that you reached out to make a friend

[JAYCE!]: oh my god please haha, i just knew we would have to work together anyway!! so might as well make sure things get off to a good start, right? Do you think it was weird of me to ask right away..

[caitlyn]: pssh nah, not if he didn’t seem bothered by it. I mean, he GAVE you his info, which he totally did not have to do if he wasn’t okay with it. I’m sure you’re fine, Jayce

[JAYCE!]: urghh okay, if you think so

[caitlyn]: I do!! 

[caitlyn]: sooooooooooo is this going to be the start of some crazy romantic courtship then like we had talked about you wanting? :-) 

[JAYCE!]: ohmhgod NO I WASNT THINKING OF THAT, i want to have friends anyway!! I j u s t met the guy cait, i dont know anything about him. 

[caitlyn]: but you will soon!!

Jayce groaned and set his phone aside on his desk, shaking his head and giving his attention back to his monitor in front of him, where he was reading an article about the Groundhog Day Blizzard of 2011. 

He and Cait had not been able to catch each other after classes, as their schedules had not aligned for it that day, so Jayce had just gone straight home to his apartment once he was done. Cait would still be on campus for just under another couple of hours or so, but she was keeping up relatively well with his texts as Jayce had decided to update her about the fact that he had maybe, just maybe, planted a seed for a potential friendship. 

It was already pretty dark out now, the still-winter sun having set early. Jayce’s room was awash in a soft warm glow from the lamp he had in the corner, him preferring this kind of lighting to using the harsh, bright overhead light. Through his window he could see the sparkle of lights from the surrounding buildings outside, which felt like his cue to get up and draw his curtains. He loved the twinkle of the city, but didn’t so much like the idea of people outside possibly being able to see him through the window. 

Once his curtains were shut, he went back to his desk and settled down again, clicking a link on the article that brought him to a short video clip showing the hundreds of cars abandoned along Lake Shore Drive during the blizzard. 

“Christ,” he mumbled to himself.  He was so focused on the video and finishing up the rest of the article that he barely noticed it ten minutes or so later when his phone vibrated and the screen lit up one more time with another message from Cait.

[caitlyn]: okay okay, i’ll really try to pipe it down with the jokes, i’m genuinely happy that you’re making a friend! <3 i hope it goes well when the lab stuff actually starts! keep me updated, okay? 

Jayce realized that he had left her hanging for just a moment there, which normally didn’t matter at all, but he did understand how maybe she had started to think her teasing had bothered him. He quickly picked his phone back up and opened their messages, shooting her a swift response as he leaned back in his chair. 

[JAYCE!]: haha you’re all good, i promise cait <3 i know it’s just jokes. but, yes, thank yoouu :’) i’m happy too so far, but we’ll definitely see what happens. will update you!!

He sent one of his favorite gifs of a hopping cat and then moved to put his phone down before pausing, having swiped out of his chat with Cait and noticing that Viktor’s status showed he was currently online. 

Jayce’s thumb hovered over the chat, and he tapped to open it before staring at the automatic “wave to Machine Herald” prompt with the accompanying default sticker. He pursed his lips and had an instant mental debate, hurriedly swiping out of the chat in the meantime so that he didn’t risk accidentally tapping on the wave option. 

Should he just wait until after their first lab together at least to actually utilize having Viktor’s Discord? But it wouldn’t hurt to just continue to be friendly, right? After all, Viktor hadn’t come off at all averse to Jayce’s chatting before. 

Jayce made up his mind. He popped back into the chat and, before he could continue to overthink it, sent a yellow smiley waving emote. It was goofy, but he kept it in his favorites and used it often. After Vi had used it with him for the first time, he had instantly joined the server it was from just so he could mooch off the emotes. He then couldn’t help but wonder immediately after if he should send anything else along with it. A ‘hello,’ a meme, a link to the video he had been watching that morning to see if Viktor would be just as interested in it?

No, that was too much. 

With a huff, Jayce swiped out of the app and then put his phone face down, deciding to switch gears from the blizzard to instead looking back at a saved tab he had of a nicer camera he very much wanted to buy for the purpose of storm photography. It was rather pricey, so he had been holding off time and time again, needing to prioritize many other things before that. But he always kept it in mind, hoping to get it eventually. Maybe there would be a sale. For now, he stuck with an older model that he had gotten off eBay years ago. 

His phone buzzed a couple of minutes later, this time instantly catching his attention and even startling him a bit. He looked to where it was on his desk, still face down, and hesitated for a beat before picking the phone up and turning it, tapping the screen on and seeing that it was, indeed, a notification from Viktor. Jayce quickly unlocked the phone to view the message and then found himself smiling widely. 

Viktor had sent back a simple colon and parenthesis smile. 

“Oh, wow. That’s a lot of screens.” 

It was the following week, and Jayce was walking beside Viktor as the two followed their classmates ahead of them into the lab. Naturally, obviously, there were plenty of computers and monitors lined up on long continuous desks that spanned most of the length of the room. Large windows took up the west facing wall, perfect for being able to watch the weather roll in, whether snow for now or thunderstorms come spring. On the southern wall, there were about a dozen different mounted screens displaying radar data, forecast outlooks, and other such information. Jayce felt a thrum of anticipation as he watched the movement across the screens, very eager to utilize them. 

Everyone found a place to sit and began to settle and get comfortable, each person seemingly having already matched up with their assigned partners so that they could be seated together from the start. Jayce had made his way to the back of the room by the windows, wanting to be able to enjoy the view while also having the end spot on the table so that he and Viktor could have a little more space and not be totally sandwiched by other classmates. 

He instinctively pulled both chairs out and stood back, offering a choice to Viktor. “Do you want to sit closer to the window or do you not care?” 

Viktor raised his eyebrows, looking apparently surprised that Jayce wasn’t snagging the end seat for himself. He held onto the handle of his cane with both hands and leaned forward on it lightly with a thoughtful hum. “I suppose I don’t really mind either way. You can have the window side. You looked excited about it.” 

Jayce’s ears felt a bit hot as he chuckled bashfully and shrugged, a little shy over his apparent obviousness. “I mean, they’re big windows, man. I can still look out them even if you take this spot. I really don’t care that much.” 

“Jayce,” Viktor said, moving forward and past Jayce to sit down in the seat farther from the window. “Please don’t worry too much about who sits where. I promise I am just happy to be here, as I’m sure you are too.” He propped his cane against the desk and ran his hands over the keyboard in front of him, tapping a few of the keys absentmindedly. 

“Ah, right, sorry,” Jayce said, clearing his throat and pausing for a moment before finally sitting in the window seat. He put his backpack on the floor by his feet and let out a small breath, trying to let go of the slight tension he felt, forcing himself to let his shoulders drop. 

It wasn’t because of Viktor necessarily, but rather the combination of still hoping to make a good impression on his lab partner (and perhaps, hopefully, future friend) while also feeling out the new room and work situation they would now be in. He and Viktor had not talked since the first day Jayce had introduced himself. It had been that, the brief emote greetings on Discord, and then nothing else up to this point. 

Jayce had felt too unsure about messaging Viktor any more after that. 

He looked at his reflection in the black monitor in front of him, noting how his hair was growing out and how his light beard could maybe use a little tidying until he sensed eyes on him and turned to look back at Viktor. 

“I still appreciate that you offered me the first pick though,” Viktor said simply, softly, and smiled. “Quite the gentleman, hm?” 

Euphoria fluttered through Jayce, who would always be a sucker when referred to as a gentleman in such a way. 

He smiled back, feeling the rest of his nerves roll right off his shoulders as he did. “Mm, well,” he began, leaning back and propping one elbow up over the back of the chair to take on a jokingly cocky pose. “What can I say? Articulate and gentlemanly. You’re going to have to get used to all this.” He moved his hand up and down to gesture over himself.

Viktor made a pfft sound and bit his lip to hold back some more snickers. Jayce briefly noticed his sharp canines before one of Viktor’s hands came up and covered his mouth, hiding them away. Jayce could not entirely process nor even acknowledge a deep subconscious sense of disappointment upon seeing such a charming grin be covered up. 

“I think I’ll manage just fine,” Viktor responded with ease before their professor clapped her hands together once to get everyone’s attention as she entered the room. Viktor looked her way. 

Jayce kept his attention on Viktor for an extra heartbeat before also lifting his gaze to their professor where she now stood in front of the wall of screens. 

“And here we are! Who’s ready to learn about all this hullabaloo behind me?” she cheerily asked. 

Jayce could hardly wait. 

Class had gone well. 

They had all been introduced to the systems they’d be using, along with covering some basic rules and etiquette and the like for when working in the lab. They got to take a look at a fascinating research and forecasting model, which had had both Jayce and Viktor leaning farther towards their monitors to admire closer. 

Jayce couldn’t help but glance at Viktor out of the corner of his eye, observing how Viktor also seemed to come to life just like Jayce did when faced with such meteorological data. There was a clear look of motivation set in his set, focused expression, and Jayce wanted to ask him all about it. What had made Viktor choose to pursue this? What did he hope to do? 

“That was so cool,” Jayce groaned, running his hands down his face as they left the lab together, Viktor eyeing him sidelong with another one of his usual considering looks. Jayce met his eyes and tilted his head. “You thought so too, didn’t you? You looked pretty glued to the screen.” He lightly nudged Viktor’s shoulder, wanting to be friendly and teasing without pushing it. 

Viktor still seemed pretty laid back to him, though. They had chatted easily throughout the lab when talking amongst each other was allowed, but it had mostly been simple things like Viktor helping Jayce get his computer working when it was being stubborn or Jayce eagerly pointing something out on Viktor’s screen that he hadn’t noticed on his own. Jayce hadn’t had the chance yet to ask Viktor any of the things he had been wondering earlier, but maybe those were questions he could message about later. 

Viktor hummed, smiling faintly while offering up a shrug in return. “I may or may not have thought that it was the most interesting and exciting class I’ve ever had in my life thus far,” he quipped, getting a laugh out of Jayce. “Cool is an understatement.” 

“Oh, I’m sorry. Are my descriptors not enough for you?” Jayce joked, pressing a hand to his chest. 

“You were the one who claimed to be articulate,” Viktor retorted, lifting his cane for a moment and using it to tap the side of Jayce’s leg as they continued down the hall. 

Jayce let out a tch before the two of them found themselves both fighting back bigger smiles as they looked at each other, not paying any mind to the rest of the moving crowd that they were part of. 

“Okay, you got me. I guess you win,” Jayce then conceded with a defeated shake of his head. He couldn’t help but notice the way Viktor seemed to stand a little straighter, as if proud of himself for being the champion of their little interaction. 

It was cute. 

“You’ll have to get used to that,” Viktor told him, echoing Jayce’s tone from the start of class. “Me winning.” He was facing forward now with a lifted chin, the ghost of his smile from moments before still lingering on his lips. 

“Wowww,” Jayce drawled, crossing his arms over his chest as he only continued to grin himself, still giving Viktor all of his attention. “Okay, dude. If that’s how it’s gonna be.” 

“Mhm. This is exactly how it’s going to be.”

“Oh, you’re funny, y’know that?” 

Viktor arched an eyebrow, looking at Jayce again. “Did you not expect me to be?” 

Jayce blinked, mildly taken aback before hurriedly saying, “No, I’m not saying you didn’t seem funny or anything! I just, I mean, I didn’t really know what to expect at all?” He had uncrossed his arms and was now gesturing with his hands as he tried to explain himself. “I just mean that I’m already feeling glad to have you as my partner! Like I’m happy that we’re getting along.” He then paused again before adding, “We are getting along, aren’t we?”

Now it was Viktor who blinked in response, mouth slightly open as if he had wanted to say something while Jayce was talking. “Yes, Jayce, we are getting along,” he then confirmed and reassured him. “I was only messing with you. Don’t stress yourself out. I am also glad to have you as my partner, for whatever that’s worth.” He remained soft spoken, no judgement in his words over Jayce’s worry. 

Jayce felt a confusing, faint flutter in his stomach, but ignored it. He let out a relieved sigh and came to a stop, this time being the one who needed to break off down a separate hallway. Viktor stopped too, watching Jayce with a maintained calmness. 

Jayce thought of how put together Viktor seemed compared to him, both in and out. He was already starting to feel like a grounding presence. “Okay, then I’m also glad that you feel the same way.” 

“Mm.” Viktor nodded and then gestured down the hall. “You’re headed off this way then?” 

“Ah, yeah,” Jayce said with a nod. “I’ve got a little break now, so I was going to grab lunch with a friend before my next class. I think she might already be waiting for me.” 

“I see. I will see you later then,” Viktor said politely with a smile, and Jayce met it with his own, which was proving to be a very easy thing to do with Viktor. 

“Yeah! I’ll see you later!”

But before Jayce could completely walk away, Viktor suddenly pointed at his backpack and asked, “Where did you get that?”

Jayce stopped, brows furrowing slightly. “Get what?” he asked as he slid his backpack down his shoulder to look at it. “My backpack?” 

“The pin.” 

On Jayce’s backpack was a circular pin of the trans flag, with four pink stars in the middle of the white band in a representation of the Chicago flag. His heart stuttered nervously for a second, unsure what Viktor might be thinking about it. One could never really be too sure.

“Oh,” he began, absentmindedly adjusting the pin before shrugging and lifting the backpack back over his shoulder, trying to act a whole lot less nervous than he felt. “I can’t remember the name of the place, but it was a cute little shop somewhere, I think, on the west side? Yeah.” 

Viktor pursed his lips and nodded, not saying anything for a moment that Jayce felt was just a breath too long before Viktor smiled at last and said, “You’ll have to let me know if you remember the place. I would like to get one for myself.”

What.

Viktor turned and began heading back down the main hall. “See you later, Jayce,” he called, that teasing tone returning as he waved back over his shoulder. 

Jayce watched him go, eyes widened and eyebrows raised as he stood there processing.

What. 

Jayce had been pretty restless for the remainder of that day. 

He had indeed gotten lunch with Cait, and, as excited as he was over the realization, kept his mouth shut about it and instead blabbed to Cait more about the lab itself, the models and whatnot. Viktor had told him and nobody else (well, heavily implied and hinted at it), and there was obviously no way in hell he would share that kind of information without any sort of permission. 

But, fuck, was he excited about it. 

What were the odds of them having been paired up for lab? Of course one could not know just by looking at another; it was just that Jayce had yet to at least officially meet any other trans person in any of his meteorology courses. If there had been others, they hadn’t made it known. And, well, Jayce hadn’t exactly been reaching out anyway, so how could he have gotten close enough as friends to know even if there had been? 

Sometimes it felt a little isolating, so, really, he was just shocked by the coincidence of it all. 

Later on, he had to meet up with a few other students that he tutored for on occasion, an on-campus job that gave him some extra money. He was very grateful that he had qualified for some scholarships that were helping with both his schooling and even his off-campus apartment, but he definitely still needed to be working when possible. 

A majority of the time, he was one hundred percent focused on the subject in front of him, but during these tutoring sessions he had found himself rather distracted, his mind drifting instead to trying to remember the name of the place he had gotten his pin from so that he would have a reason to message Viktor later. 

On the train ride back towards his apartment, Chicago’s lights flashing past outside as the sun had set, Jayce dug around on Google for a solid ten minutes or so before finally finding the shop’s information. He took a screenshot right away and switched over to the Discord app. Viktor was not currently online, but that was fine. Jayce sent the screenshot, watching it load beneath the smile that Viktor had sent before, and then thought for a moment before adding a message with it. 

[JAYCE!]: hey man!! I managed to remember the place haha, you’ll have to let me know if you check it out 

There was no reply until Jayce was settling into bed a few hours later. 

[Machine Herald]: It looks very nice, I will let you know 

[JAYCE!]: cool!!

And that was that. 

The next lab took place a couple of days later, and Jayce arrived before Viktor this time, going to his seat and looking around at their other classmates as everyone once again got situated. 

He almost began to wonder if Viktor was not going to make it that day, as most of the class were already there save for two or three including Viktor, and their professor looked about ready to start instruction. 

He felt a faint touch of disappointment at the thought, eager to see Viktor again.

The clock above the door was seconds away from the official start of class (not that it really mattered if one was exactly on time, as it was college after all) when Viktor finally arrived, the tap of his cane against the floor getting Jayce to look away from the window and towards him as he made his way between the desks before sliding into his seat. 

“Good morning, Jayce,” he said, and then arched an eyebrow at the way Jayce beamed at him. “You are extra bright today.” 

“Am I? Maybe I’m just excited to track a cold front or something,” Jayce said and wiggled his fingers at his monitor, inwardly excited about Viktor’s arrival. “Gonna hunt the next mega blizzard.” 

“I do hope you won’t speak that into reality. I would prefer not to make my way back home in any more snow than what we already have,” Viktor chuckled, starting up his computer. 

“Do you live off campus too?” Jayce asked curiously, dropping the act in favor of learning more about Viktor. 

“Yes, I do. It is about, eh, a forty minute or so commute for me, depending,” Viktor answered, tilting a hand side to side, and added when Jayce let out a whew, “I start on the Metra and ride a bus the rest of the way.” 

“Ooh, okay,” Jayce said with a slow couple of nods, and was about to continue until their professor spoke up, getting Jayce and Viktor, along with everyone else, to look her way.  

“Alright, good morning, everyone!” she greeted, organizing some stacks of paper on her desk as she spoke. “If you haven’t already, please boot up your computers. To start today, I’ll be going over surface and upper-air charts with you, exactly how to read them and how they’re made using pressure coordinates. I also have packets that can be worked on between the paired groups, so one packet per two of you.” She moved out from behind the desk and began going along the rows, handing each pairing their packet. “There is a program in the system that you can follow along with too. It mostly aligns with this packet, so you shouldn’t get too lost between my instructions and that.” 

She went around the end of Jayce and Viktor’s table, sliding the packet in front of Jayce with a smile before continuing on. Jayce pushed the packet closer to Viktor so that it sat equal between them, and they both leaned in together to look over the first page. 

“Mm. Cold fronts, gradients, millibars and the like,” Viktor murmured as he read over the questions and examples. 

Jayce liked the way the terms sounded coming from him. 

“Good stuff,” he said, looking forward to getting started. He reached to grab a pencil from a cup of writing utensils that sat between their monitors, writing his name onto the packet before holding the pencil out towards Viktor. Viktor reached, their fingers brushing slightly as he took the pencil from Jayce and added his own name. Jayce noted that it was spelled with a k. 

Jayce, Viktor. 

“Let’s get started,” their professor declared, and Jayce and Viktor smiled at each other. 

Some time later, the lab was filled with a consistent yet calm chatter as the groups carried on amongst themselves, as their professor had finished giving her part of the instructions. They clicked through the system the rest of the way, looking over how their projected charts changed depending on input, the lines bending and warping this way and that over a map of the States. 

Jayce was writing down an answer that Viktor was reading off to him from the screen, the two going back and forth between who wrote and who read. Once Jayce finished up, he rolled the pencil between his fingers and looked from Viktor’s screen to his face. He was seeing it again, the way Viktor’s expression mirrored how Jayce felt, and it drew him in. Someone like him, in more ways than one. 

They were well on track for finishing their packet before the end of the class, so Jayce figured he could chat a little bit. 

“Hey, Viktor,” he said, and then, when Viktor didn’t seem to process that he was talking, his attention so locked into the system, “Earth to Viktor?” 

Viktor blinked a few times, seemingly coming back to himself before facing Jayce. “Yes, Jayce?” he asked, “Do I need to repeat something?” He glanced down at the packet, checking where they were at. 

“Nah, nah.” Jayce shook his head and proudly showed Viktor how he had kept up with him. When Viktor’s eyes flitted back up and he tilted his head in question, Jayce continued, “I was just wondering why you’re in meteorology. Any particular reason other than just being a general bigass weather nerd?” He grinned when Viktor gave him a lighthearted really? look over the nerd comment, one eyebrow raised just a touch. “Hey, that isn’t a dig! That’s me, too, y’know.” 

“Hm…I suppose it is,” Viktor mused, putting a hand on his chin in a playfully thoughtful manner as he looked Jayce up and down.

“Oh, come on, man,” Jayce laughed and knocked a foot against one of the legs of Viktor’s chair. 

Viktor snickered, and then a more serious look came over his face again as he seemed to remember what Jayce had asked him originally. He pursed his lips, and Jayce furrowed his brows in apt attention, suddenly getting the feeling that there was a lot going on beneath Viktor’s surface that he was either going to divulge or not. 

“To help people,” Viktor then said, short and simple, and left it at that as he picked up the packet and flipped to the next page. “Would you like me to write for this part?”

Jayce stared at him for a second before handing over the pencil. “Yeah, sure. I was starting to miss punching in numbers myself if I must say so.” He straightened in his seat and got his own program caught up to where Viktor’s had left off. 

Viktor only hummed.

Jayce couldn’t help but feel a little nervous for the rest of lab that day, even though he knew he hadn’t asked anything wrong. It was completely normal for one to ask another the reasonings for their major and career choices, but the way Viktor had changed the topic so quickly made Jayce worry that he had unintentionally tread into a touchy zone somehow. Whatever it was, Viktor had remained his normal, pleasant self until dismissal, still cracking a few light jokes here and there with Jayce that had reassured him Viktor wasn’t upset in any way (even though he really would have no reason to be; Jayce’s brain simply liked to stress sometimes). 

The next couple of weeks carried on pretty much the same, Jayce and Viktor continuing their work together in class and keeping it at that for the most part. 

One night Jayce sent a meme related to another new inside joke of theirs, and Viktor had reacted with a laughing emote, no text. This didn’t bother Jayce, as he had come to understand that Viktor was simply not much of a texter, even when it came to discussing homework (which had been Jayce’s initial reason for getting Viktor’s Discord, but he wasn’t complaining), and that his charm and conversation were really best enjoyed in person (though Jayce enjoyed their brief online chats too). 

At the start of their fifth lab, Viktor had arrived just after Jayce again, and had placed his backpack on the floor between them in a way that subtly allowed for Jayce to glance down and see a pin on it that matched his own. 

“Oh, you got it!” he excitedly said, pointing. 

“I did,” Viktor replied with a smile. 

Jayce didn’t notice until the end of that lab how much closer than usual they had been sitting, their chairs seemingly having inched more and more together as they had continuously leaned into each other’s spaces to point things out on the monitors or their papers or whatnot. 

At the start of that class, there had been a decent bit of room between them, and by the end, their shoulders were brushing every so often, their knees bumping on occasion too. 

Jayce’s face heated when he realized it, but he found that he didn’t mind. And it would seem Viktor didn’t either, as he hadn’t made any sort of point about pulling away or moving back. He hadn’t said anything about it at all, as a matter of fact. Jayce wondered if he had even noticed. 

So things were going really well. 

Jayce hadn’t felt this energized and motivated in months. He was pretty confident now that he could call Viktor a friend after many hours side by side in the lab, and he was quite grateful for the random site their professor had used to pair everyone. 

Viktor was cool. He was very cool, and very funny, and- 

Chapter Text

“-he’s super smart too!” 

Jayce was at Cait and Vi’s place, sitting next to Cait on the couch and blabbing away as the other two gamed, Vi sitting on the floor just off to his other side. 

The girls glanced across at one another in a way Jayce didn’t miss. 

“What?” he asked, suddenly conscious that maybe he had been talking a little too long or loudly. Or both. He had been told before that he sometimes got that way when he was excited. 

A slow grin spread across Vi’s face as Cait shot her another quick look of some kind, gave a one-shouldered shrug, and said, “Nothing! It’s just nice to know you two have only gotten closer since the first time you told me about him.”

“Real close, it sounds,” Vi added, and then hissed a quick yesss as she won the current round in their game right after. 

Jayce’s face heated when he processed what Vi was saying, and he hurried to brush it off. “It isn’t like that! He’s just cool! I don’t just like any guy I become friends with.” The last part came out as more of a mumble, and he began to fidget with a loose thread on his pants, not even realizing it. 

“Well, it doesn’t seem like he’s just any guy,” Vi answered, giving Jayce’s leg a nudge. “But also, I can’t even remember the last time you had a guy friend. Come to think of it, have you hung out with anyone other than us within the last, say, six months? The past year?” 

Jayce rolled his eyes. “Ha ha,” he grumbled with no real annoyance and leaned to give Vi’s shoulder a light push, to which she just snickered in response and batted back at his hand. 

“Maybe you should ask him if he wants to hang out sometime,” Cait then said, getting back in on the conversation after having paused the start of the game’s next round and setting her controller aside. She turned in place to face Jayce better and gave him a simple, encouraging smile. “Outside of class.”

Jayce paused. He would absolutely love to hang out with Viktor and spend time together outside of the lab too, it was just…

“Do you think he’d even want to hang out with me if it wasn’t for something required like the lab?” he asked, now running a hand over his beard as he thought about it, feeling a little unsure about the quality of his own company. “I mean, we’re friends, but…” He didn’t know why he was feeling this way now, as he liked to think he was a pretty confident guy, especially after he had started transitioning medically years ago and acting more freely and naturally like himself. But himself, he sometimes worried, was a little much at times. 

“Dude. You’re awesome. Don’t even worry about that,” Vi quickly cut in, not leaving any room for Jayce to question it. 

“What she said,” Cait agreed easily, giving Jayce’s shoulder a couple pats to which he couldn’t help but smile softly to, grateful for his friends’ support. “From what you’ve told us, you two obviously have a really strong connection going. All that positive banter and whatnot, am I right?” 

Jayce nodded, lips pursed as he thought over her words. 

“Then, with all of the love in my heart, Jayce-” Cait continued, putting on a sweeter tone. Vi seemed to predict where she was going with this and finished the sentence for her. 

“You’re overthinking it,” she deadpanned with a blank face, holding out a hand with the palm forward as if telling him STOP.

Cait sighed, clearly having been searching for a way to say it more delicately before Vi had gone ahead and cut to the chase. But, “Yeah. That. Overthinking it a little bit, perhaps.” 

Jayce groaned and dragged both hands down his face, sliding down the couch at the same time. He pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut for a moment before saying, “Okay. I’ll ask him. Ow!” Vi had immediately clapped a heavy hand down on his shoulder and given him a shake the moment the words left his mouth.

“That’s what we like to hear!” she approved with a massive smile, seemingly pretending to not notice the way Jayce whined as he rubbed at his now stinging shoulder. 

“Okay, Vi, don’t kill him before he gets the chance to ask,” Cait said, ruffling Jayce’s hair affectionately herself before she stood up and headed into the kitchen nearby. “It’ll be fine, Jayce,” she called back over her shoulder as she opened the fridge and pulled out a couple of sodas before returning to offer them up.

Jayce held his on his shoulder for a moment before cracking it open and taking a sip, letting out a little sigh after. 

Vi cranked hers open and gave it a chug. Cait only rolled her eyes at this and continued, “Be confident. He likes you. He’ll say yes.” 

Jayce peered up at her wearily for a moment, nerves still not totally convinced but trying their best. “Right. He likes me,” he repeated in a mumble, attempting to drill it into his brain. He knew Viktor enjoyed working with him, but would that enjoyment really extend beyond the work?

“And you like him,” Vi cooed, swaying side to side in her place on the floor, looking like she had not a care in the world. 

Jayce narrowed his eyes. “Not like that!” he insisted, grabbing the blanket hanging over the back of the couch and tossing it over Vi’s head, unable to feign seriousness after and snorting at the sight of a lumpy blanketed Vi. 

“Gah-! Jayce, my drink!”

“Oh my god, Vi, don’t spill it! Jayce!”

“She started it!” 

“Oh, you’re both incorrigible!” 

The next time Jayce arrived at the lab, the following week after hanging out with Cait and Vi, Viktor was there before him. And surrounded by little floating hearts. And clouds, though those hadn’t caught Jayce’s eye first. 

Huh.

He blinked before processing that hanging throughout the room were cut out paper hearts and clouds, strung from the ceiling and swinging side to side ever so slightly with the air each time the door opened or people passed by. Jayce raised his eyebrows when he also noticed, as he walked towards his seat, the bright pink paper words taped up on the windows that read THE LOVE OF WEATHER with red hearts on each side. It had slipped his mind that this was, indeed, the week of Valentine’s Day. He just hadn’t exactly expected his meteorology professor to deck out and theme their lab over it. 

He sat down after having to dodge a few of the hearts and clouds and met Viktor’s amused gaze, Viktor now having his elbow propped on the desk and his chin resting in his palm as he watched Jayce. 

“It’s kinda cheesy, right?” Jayce asked with a light laugh, glancing up at the cloud a few feet above Viktor’s head. 

“Eh, a little bit.”

“Still cute, though.” 

Viktor smiled. “Yes, still cute,” he agreed simply. His attention was still on Jayce, and Jayce furrowed his brows slightly, instinctively reaching up and brushing his fingers over his beard. 

“What? Is there something on my face?” he asked before glancing at the dark monitor in front of him to try checking his reflection. 

“Hm? Oh.” Viktor blinked and then looked away, clearing his throat. “No, nothing on your face. I was just thinking. Lost in thought.” He moved to turn on his computer before then digging into his backpack to pull out some needed papers from their last class. 

Now Jayce was the one staring, slightly registering the way Viktor’s pale skin looked almost a touch pink across his cheeks and ears. But maybe it was just all the pink and red decorations around the room messing with Jayce’s perception. He didn’t think anything of it. He instead opened his own backpack to get out the papers he had as well. 

“Thinking about dew points?” he teased, referencing their assignment. “Dew you want to go over my notes about it?” 

Viktor gave him a sidelong look. He then snorted and asked in retort, “Dew you think you’re funny?” He leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest and arching an eyebrow at Jayce. 

“You laughed!” Jayce pointed out swiftly in defense of himself, his smile growing. 

“It was hardly a laugh,” Viktor denied with a frivolous wave of a hand. But when Jayce gave him a skeptical look, he paused before sighing and conceding, “Alright. Maybe it was a little amusing. In an annoyingly, eh, endearing sort of way.” 

“Endearing?” 

Jayce felt it again, that flutter. Something about it made him nervous. He didn’t want to acknowledge what it could mean, in fear of messing up something he was still, in his eyes, carefully trying to cultivate. Just a closer friendship with Viktor. 

Jayce couldn’t read the micro-expression that crossed Viktor’s face after that, and didn’t get a chance to hear whatever Viktor might have replied as their professor spoke up from behind her desk, starting to summarize what they had gone over the previous week and how it would continue into this one, briefly mentioning too how she hoped everyone liked the decorations because she thought they could be a cute mood booster, and requesting back one of their past assignments. 

The room was a cacophony of backpacks unzipping, papers shuffling, and people murmuring after that as everyone got out their work and began handing it along to be collected at the ends of each desk. 

“Your papers, Jayce,” Viktor requested, holding out a hand to get Jayce’s work. 

“Ah, right. Here,” Jayce mumbled, handing a few papers over and watching as Viktor passed them to the person on his left so that they could make their way to the front of the room. “Viktor,” Jayce then said, starting to speak without really thinking. 

Viktor looked back at him. “Hm?” 

“Do you want to hang out sometime?” Jayce asked, speaking a little too fast for such a simple question. He felt the tension in his body and tried not to fidget over it, forcing himself to keep his hands perfectly still. “Like, outside of here?” 

Viktor’s eyebrows were raised just a touch as he seemed to process what was being asked. He then cracked a small smile, one in which his lip quirked up just enough for Jayce to get a glimpse of one of his canines again. 

Endearing. 

“That would be nice,” Viktor agreed.

The paper heart above Jayce’s head danced in the air. 

Jayce had been so elated about Viktor’s agreement that he had completely forgotten the fact that it now meant he needed to figure out something they could do together that Viktor would also enjoy. For once thing, it was still terribly cold, so Jayce was automatically ruling out any outdoor related activities, as much as he would like to sit at the lakefront or in a park somewhere and enjoy some fresh air with Viktor. 

Unfortunately, the current “fresh air” was the type to nearly freeze the hair in your nostrils. No thank you. 

Jayce was back home, lying in bed and scrolling through his phone for ideas. Maybe just getting lunch together would be enough. But then he remembered what Viktor had said about his commute to campus, how it was usually a forty minute trek. It suddenly felt like asking too much of Viktor to have him make that journey into the city just to spend time with him (him being Jayce, of course, and not the other way around; Jayce wouldn’t at all mind a long ride to see Viktor), or at least just for the sake of a single lunch. 

Maybe Jayce could find one other thing for them to do before or after eating? Or maybe he could go out Viktor’s way instead? Maybe there was something in Viktor’s area that he would prefer to do.

He should ask. 

[JAYCE!]: viktor! would you be down to get lunch together and maybe find one other thing to do? is there anything you like near your place? i know it’s kind of a long haul for you to get more into the city.. 

Viktor replied within a minute. 

[Machine Herald]: Lunch sounds good. I do not mind meeting you out there. 

Jayce was about to type out an are you sure before another message came through.

[Machine Herald]: And, yes, I am sure about it. If you were going to ask. 

[Machine Herald]: :) 

Jayce blushed at being so apparently predictable, but still smiled despite himself, fond of the way Viktor had begun to understand him. The added smiley also seemed like a lighthearted gesture that helped Jayce feel more reassured that Viktor hadn’t said what he had with any sort of snarky or passive aggressive tone. 

Plus, it was just cute in general whenever he used any kind of emoji, sticker, or gif. Jayce liked it, the simple thing that it was. 

[JAYCE!]: i totally one hundred percent was not at all going to ask that, no sir. idk where you got that idea from :-) 

[Machine Herald]: Whatever you say, Jayce. 

Jayce instinctively felt like sending a cheeky heart emoji in the sort of sarcastic, ironic way that he would with Cait, but hesitated just before doing so. Could he play around like that with Viktor? Would it be taken the wrong way? 

Would it be the wrong way? 

Well…he might as well be himself, right? 

He sent a simple red heart. And then immediately turned off his phone and tossed it onto the floor. He didn’t want to see when or if Viktor replied. Homework. He should keep working on assignments. He had things to do, work from his other classes outside the lab. Physics. Calculus. Both. 

Why did he care so much what Viktor might think of it? Why did he feel all anxious and fluttery? 

He got up and went to his desk, stepping over his phone in the process. 

Work would calm his mind. 

They had agreed on a Portillo’s that was near the station where Viktor would arrive. 

Jayce himself had arrived, quite frankly, a little too ahead of schedule. Nearly thirty minutes ahead, to be exact, as his slight nervousness had gotten him up and moving quicker than usual. 

He hadn’t wanted to risk any potential train delays or the like, but things had gone incredibly smoothly, which left him sitting alone at a table near the entrance as he bounced one knee and looked back at his phone to reread his texts with Viktor. 

[JAYCE!]: ❤️

[Machine Herald]: How cute

When Jayce had finally looked at his phone again the night before, after having left it abandoned on the floor for nearly two hours, Viktor’s simple reply had gotten a relieved laugh out of him. He could practically hear Viktor’s sarcastic tone and see him rolling his eyes with that slightly lopsided grin that Jayce greatly enjoyed.  

He was quickly learning that he didn’t have to overthink so much with Viktor, and for this he was grateful.

Viktor said he would show up just before noon. Jayce glanced at the time on his phone: 11:50. 

Viktor could be there at any moment, which had Jayce subconsciously sitting up straighter and hoping he looked fine. His jacket was draped over the back of his seat, revealing the outfit he had maybe taken a touch too long trying to decide on before having left his apartment, though he didn’t really know why it had mattered so much to him. Viktor had seen him plenty of times before in his typical casual outfits that he wore to school, but something about it being their first time hanging out outside the lab made Jayce feel like he needed to spruce it up just a touch. 

Instead of a plain shirt of some kind, he had slid into a button-up that was a warmer, desaturated red and put a white sweater vest over that. For pants he had his brown chinos, cuffed enough to expose his blue socks that were followed by his dark red Converse, which he had popped on in an attempt to match with the button-up. 

It had taken everything in him not to send Cait a photo of the outfit to ask for her opinion. He knew what she would have to say about it, or what Vi, god forbid, would say if Cait went ahead and showed her the picture too. 

Not about whether it was good or bad, but more about…well. 

Jayce didn’t want to acknowledge it. 

He hadn’t realized how drawn into his phone he had gotten while waiting, scrolling through the most recent forecast for the following week (shocker, more snow, though not too much thankfully), until someone cleared their throat from off to his side and Jayce blinked, coming back to and raising his head to look. His eyes found Viktor’s, and then immediately darted down and back up, taking him in. 

A purplish-grayish turtleneck was visible beneath his coat, and he wore light brown corduroy pants that were slightly more high-rise, hugging Viktor’s waist and only making it look more visible with a nicely fastened belt, which also had chain accessory hanging from it, attached at two points and resting against Viktor’s hip. His pants were cuffed as well, his brace peeking out and resting partially over one half of the high top brown boots he was wearing. 

He carefully propped his cane against the table (which Jayce had half a mind to acknowledge that it was wild he hadn’t picked up on the sound of the cane when Viktor had approached him) and moved to take his coat off. 

“May I sit?” he asked, a look in his eyes that Jayce recognized as amusement for having unintentionally snuck up on him. 

“Viktor!” Jayce then exclaimed when he found his voice again, having been momentarily caught off guard. “You look-” He cut himself off, having realized what he was about to say and hesitating. No, don’t overthink. “You look really nice,” he finished, wringing his hands together in his lap, needing something to do with them after having slid his phone away into his pocket once he had realized it was Viktor who had arrived. 

A different look came across Viktor’s face then, his lips parting slightly and eyebrows raising in a way that Jayce couldn’t quite put his finger on. 

Before he could even try to figure it out, Viktor held a fist in front of his mouth and mumbled softly, “Thank you, Jayce. You look nice as well.” His eyes avoided Jayce’s, lingering on the other seat, and Jayce was momentarily stuck on Viktor returning the compliment until he realized he had totally ignored the original question. 

“Oh! Yes, please sit! Get comfy! Or should we go up and order? I could go order for us if you already know what you want.” He scooted back his chair a bit, ready to get moving if that was what Viktor wanted. 

Viktor placed his coat on the back of his own chair and paused to consider, not sitting quite yet. “Actually, yes. You’re right. We should order before I get too comfortable,” he finally said. Jayce was already getting up halfway through the response, not wanting to keep Viktor waiting in the slightest. Viktor looked at him and then chuckled lightly. “There’s no rush, Jayce. We have time, don’t we?” 

Jayce felt the undeniable burn of a blush, both from being so painfully, obviously antsy as well as from the way Viktor had laughed. And the way he looked. And the fact that he was here across from Jayce, seemingly happy to be getting lunch together, happy like Jayce to be hanging out. Just everything about the situation, about Viktor. 

Fuck.

“Right. Right, yeah, we have time,” he said with a nod, trying to push away the jumble of thoughts clogging his mind and ruining his focus. “I still don’t mind going up for both of us if you’d like to settle in.” 

“You really are a gentleman,” Viktor mused, and Jayce caught the way Viktor’s eyes roamed over him. “But you do not need to pay for me, if that is what you were meaning to do. They charge immediately upon ordering here, don’t they? No, er, separate checks if we are not ordering for just ourselves?” 

“Oh, yeah, that’s how it is here,” Jayce confirmed, rubbing the back of his neck with a meek smile as they then began to head towards the counter together. “You really need to stop reading me so well, man. First the texts last night and now this. I’m feeling a little too predictable.”

“Or perhaps we as students of meteorology are skilled in the art of prediction,” Viktor offered with a hum, and then suddenly his free hand was lightly touching Jayce’s shoulder. “Or maybe it is simply me just getting to know you. We have spent a lot of time together. As I always say, do not worry. Trust me.” He gave Jayce a pat before lowering his arm again. 

An involuntary shiver went up Jayce’s spine at Viktor’s touch, and a little breath escaped him. Thankfully the music in the building was loud enough that it drowned out the sound of it, but Jayce still felt embarrassed. Without thinking, he brought an arm up and rubbed lightly at where Viktor had touched, only managing to mumble a faint okay before they were at the counter and the employee at the register greeted them.

They placed their separate orders, Jayce opting for a spicy chicken sandwich, a slice of cake, and a large fry to share with Viktor, as he had still wanted to be able to offer him something. Viktor only got the char-grilled Polish sausage (along with a drink too, of course) once Jayce insisted they could share the fries, and then the two stepped aside, neither saying much of anything as they were content to just listen to the music and wait for their orders to be called. 

Once they had their food, they stopped by the soda fountain before making their way back to the table.

Settling in, Jayce immediately cracked open the container for the cake slice he had gotten along with his meal before ripping the plastic off his fork and taking a bite. He couldn’t help but groan blissfully, shoulders slumping as he savored that first bite of one of his favorite cakes. He then noticed Viktor watching him, clearly entertained, and paused his chewing. 

“What?” he asked, covering his mouth with a hand as he spoke. 

“You prefer dessert first?” Viktor asked, but with a genuine curiosity in his tone rather than any sort of judgement. He lightly dipped a fry into some ketchup before taking a bite, his attention remaining on Jayce throughout. 

“Oh.” Jayce shrugged a shoulder and quickly finished chewing and swallowing before speaking any further. “Not necessarily. I just really like this cake. My mom got it for me once and I swear it changed my chemistry. Something illegal’s gotta be in it.” He grinned before going in for another bite.

Viktor laughed, and Jayce thought the sound of it was somehow sweeter than the cake.

Fuck. 

“Well, maybe next time I will try it myself,” Viktor said with a warmth that had Jayce nearly forgetting they were still in the midst of February. 

He needed to get a hold of himself. 

“Next time, huh?” He sat up straighter and leaned further over the table, putting his elbows on it and propping his chin on folded hands. “So you’ll hang out with me again?” He couldn’t have stopped the next smile that was now taking over his face even if he wanted to, the idea of seeing Viktor more often like this, outside of the lab, almost managing to completely overtake the lingering worries he had had about this whole thing. 

Viktor had been getting ready to take a bite of the sausage but paused, lowering it before giving Jayce a mischievous grin. 

“You have chocolate on your face,” was all he said in return, his gaze flitting from Jayce’s eyes to his mouth. Something about it made Jayce’s stomach flip, and he quickly ran the back of his hand over his mouth. 

“Really?” he asked, exasperated at having been caught off guard by Viktor’s response and from the way being looked at so closely by Viktor made him feel. 

Viktor snickered and shook his head. “No, not really. You’re just cute when you get embarrassed,” he said, like it was the easiest thing in the world to say, and then took that bite of sausage he had been holding off on. “Mm. Really good,” he mumbled. 

Jayce felt like he had been struck by lightning. 

Something about the way Viktor called him cute this time felt different than how he had said it in their texts the night before, or maybe that was just because Jayce hadn’t been able to actually hear Viktor saying it then. He was pretty confident that it had been said sarcastically, as they often joked with one another after all, but this time hadn’t sounded that way at all. Jayce was able to pick up on that much. 

He was momentarily frozen in place, mind racing to figure out how exactly to respond. If he looked completely ridiculous, Viktor was polite enough not to comment on it or question why he was at a weird loss for words. 

“You know, I realize I have yet to ask you why you’re in meteorology.” 

“Huh?” Jayce was pulled out of his daze. “Oh!” Meteorology. A safe topic of conversation that he could confidently fall back on. He took a quick sip of his drink to clear his throat that had felt parched just a moment before and continued. “Right. Well, I mean, I didn’t always have a love for weather. I used to be pretty scared as a kid anytime it would start storming. I was always convinced a tornado was going to touch down and take everything even if the storm didn’t have any watches on it.”

There was the barest, quickest flash of weariness that crossed Viktor’s expression then. Jayce blinked and tilted his head slightly, but figured Viktor was only reacting to the frightening hypothetical idea of a tornado strike in this context. 

Viktor then gestured for him to go on, so Jayce didn’t think too much more of it. 

“Well, my mom lives almost a couple hours away in the countryside, so that’s where I grew up-”

“A country boy, hm?” The look that had been on Viktor’s face before was now replaced with a softer, intrigued one as he spoke up. He popped another couple of fries into his mouth and then pushed the bag closer to Jayce, wordlessly encouraging him to take a few himself. 

Jayce let out a little breath through his nose and smiled, shrugging one shoulder as he reached for a fry. “Oh, yeah. Big time. Why? You into country guys?” He didn’t know what had compelled him to make the joke, but it was already out of his mouth before he could even catch up with himself. His body tensed, preparing for what he expected to be inevitable awkwardness.

But Viktor only rolled his eyes with a lighthearted tch before waving a hand in the air as if batting the question away. “I interrupted. Please continue what you were saying.” He picked up his drink and calmly took a sip, and Jayce couldn’t help but wonder if Viktor had any idea the internal storm he was causing him, one that had been building up slowly over the past month and a half, one that Jayce hadn’t really realized was even coming until now when he was suddenly face to face with it. 

Being outside of the lab was like being outside of a storm shelter. 

CAPE values were in danger of breaching 4,000 J/kg. 

Jayce cleared his throat, forcing himself back on track. “Okay, well essentially, my mom and I got stuck in a really bad blizzard once upon a time. The storm had come on super fast and, being out in the country, you know, the snowplows don’t get to you right away. It can take a while before those roads get cleared and salted and whatnot. We were driving home at night and the visibility was pretty much zero.” 

He pursed his lips as he thought back on it, how his mom had done her best to remain levelheaded and reassure Jayce that things would be okay so he wouldn’t be as scared. Now he was able to recognize how afraid she had been then too. “We eventually couldn’t keep driving, so she stopped the car and we kind of just…hunkered down in it. But we couldn’t keep it running the whole night either, so it got really cold, and…” He trailed off and furrowed his brows. It had been a long time since he had told anyone else this story, and even then he was still leaving out a few details. He thought of his mom’s fingers and his chest ached. “She put her coat over me because mine wasn’t enough on its own.”

Viktor was listening in complete silence now, eyebrows furrowed in clear concentration. 

Jayce lowered his gaze to the table and took a moment before shrugging. “I guess that was what really got me thinking about weather differently. Yes, it was horrible and terrifying, but I knew I never wanted to go through anything like that again, and I hated that there wasn’t anything more I could have done to help my mom too. From then on, learning as much as I could about weather was how I was able to overcome the fear I used to have, and now I’m in love with it. It’s kind of funny, right? I was so scared of thunderstorms and it ended up being some snow that kicked my ass. Don’t underestimate a blizzard warning, that’s for damn sure.” 

He took a bite of his sandwich, letting the words settle. 

Viktor nodded slowly, and Jayce sensed that he was trying to decide what to respond with. Perhaps he really had talked too much this time. He hadn’t meant to completely unload on Viktor. Maybe he should apologize. 

“I’m-”

“We are very similar then,” Viktor said softly. “In that aspect as well, I mean.” 

Jayce stared at Viktor, trying to understand what was going on behind those slightly parted lips and now avoidant gaze, Viktor’s eyes having gone from watching Jayce intently as he explained his reasoning to trailing down and off to the side, as if he were lost in a memory. One that certainly wasn’t much better than Jayce’s, whatever it might be. 

“Viktor,” Jayce murmured, leaning forward a little over the table, wanting to be closer to Viktor, wanting to understand. “You alright?” 

Viktor seemed to come back to himself, meeting Jayce’s eyes again and blinking a couple times before hurriedly saying, “Oh, yes, I’m fine. I’m sorry, Jayce. I did not mean to make this about myself.” He fidgeted with the paper that had been on his straw, hand resting on the table. 

Shyness be damned, Jayce reached out and settled a hand over Viktor’s, noting the way Viktor immediately stopped his fidgeting, his fingers instead pausing before his hand curled into a fist, smaller beneath Jayce’s hand. 

“You didn’t! I wasn’t thinking that at all, trust me. I was just worried. You…” He bit his bottom lip lightly for a moment, unsure of his wording. “You just looked sad.” 

Viktor hummed noncommittally. He then slowly turned his hand so that it faced palm up and uncurled his fingers, their palms together now, and each of their fingers lightly brushing against each other’s wrists. 

What the fuck. What the fuck, what the fuck, fuck, fuck. 

This doesn’t mean anything. 

Jayce went as still as stone, afraid of how his body might betray him should he even breathe a little too hard. With his luck, he’d flinch hard enough to knock Viktor’s drink right into his lap, and then he’d undoubtedly have to flee the city, the state, probably even the country. 

Jayce had always been a touchier guy, putting his hands on Viktor’s shoulders and patting his back whenever something went well in class, which was, of course, most of the time when it came to the two of them. In this moment, Jayce couldn’t help but think back to the times in the lab where he’d notice their knees touching but Viktor making no effort to move away, to break it. Again, perhaps he hadn’t even realized it, so lost as he was in forecasting and otherwise analyzing data. 

It had been comfortable to Jayce in those moments, but this right here felt like yet another lightning strike, like Jayce had been standing in an open field and holding a metal rod high above his head, a feeling that had started to prove itself as increasingly common when it came to being around Viktor. 

It felt different, but Jayce knew it didn’t mean…well, it couldn’t mean what he was realizing he might actually want it to mean. 

“I am relieved that you were okay. It must have been very scary,” Viktor said, his voice carrying Jayce back into the moment. 

Jayce forced his eyes away from their hands and to Viktor’s face, desperately hoping that he hadn’t accidentally left himself staring, that Viktor hadn’t noticed anything. But, as nervous as he was, nothing had become more natural than the smile he eased himself into when Viktor spoke. 

“Yeah, it was. But I’m relieved too. Thank you,” he said. 

Viktor smiled back, and then let out a light sigh, “I really want to help people, Jayce. I want our work to take us somewhere, so that these things don’t keep happening. Nobody should have to go through that. We need-”

“Even better forecasting. Better predictions, earlier warnings, more time to prepare,” Jayce rattled off, lifting fingers on his free hand to count along with himself, his passion carrying him away. “There is always room for so much more improvement.” 

Viktor chuckled. “You took the words right out of my mouth.” 

Jayce laughed softly, almost sheepishly, as he hadn’t meant to cut Viktor off. But it was clear that Viktor hadn’t minded in the slightest, perhaps too used to Jayce’s enthusiasm at this point, so Jayce continued. 

“We’re going to help people,” he insisted. “I swear it to you right here and now.” He gave Viktor’s hand a squeeze before he could even second guess it. 

“Heh. An oath made in a Portillo’s?” Viktor asked, raising an amused brow. 

“But of course,” Jayce said with confidence, once again finding a little more of his courage when it came to their shared goal. “I swear it on this cake.” He gestured to the slice still in front of him and grinned widely. 

Viktor rolled his eyes, but his lasting smile betrayed the action. “You are ridiculous.” 

“Well, you haven’t asked to swap lab partners yet, so I think I’ll keep pushing my luck,” Jayce cooed teasingly, and Viktor flicked the paper he had been fidgeting with earlier at Jayce’s face. 

Instinctively, Jayce pulled his hand away from Viktor’s so that he could have both free in a too-slow attempt to protect his face. He immediately missed the physical contact, but there was no way in hell he was going to just put his hand right back down on Viktor’s. He wasn’t completely insane like that. 

After the paper fell back onto the table, Jayce shot Viktor an exaggerated look of shock. “I can’t believe you’d do that to me. I thought you were better than this.” 

“Then perhaps you are not as smart as I thought you were,” Viktor easily retorted, and Jayce snorted before they both broke into laughter together, filling the air between them with their mirth. 

They stepped outside an hour later, the cold quick to bite at their skin wherever it was exposed. Jayce let out a breath, watched it hang in the air, and found it cute when Viktor did the same while his now gloved hands gripped his cane in front of him. 

They had had a wonderful time chatting over lunch, but decided by the end of it that they would simply have to meet up again another day, as it was truly just a little too cold to stay out and about much longer. Even though Jayce certainly wanted to, as he would withstand any weather condition if it meant hanging out more with Viktor. But Viktor had mentioned how the cold fucked with his joints, made them ache pretty badly, and that was enough for Jayce to understand. 

Besides, it meant that they really would continue to hang out like this. Jayce could be patient with that in mind. 

“Thank you for asking me out like this,” Viktor said, and then an embarrassed look immediately flashed over his face at the same time that Jayce’s eyebrows shot up. Viktor seemed to stumble over his next words for a moment, something Jayce hadn’t ever seen from him, before adjusting with, “I mean, thank you for inviting me to get lunch. It was nice. I really will look forward to the next time.” He cleared his throat and looked down the sidewalk, body leaning in that direction as if he was eager to get moving. Jayce supposed that was understandable. The cold, after all. 

“Yeah, man, of course! And I’ll look forward to it too!” he said with a quick couple of nods. He risked giving Viktor a light shoulder nudge and added, “Get home safe, okay?”

Viktor smiled softly and nodded. “I will, thank you. You too.” He turned and began walking down the sidewalk, heading back towards the station. “I will see you later, Jayce,” he said over his shoulder, giving Jayce a small wave goodbye. 

Despite the cold, Jayce felt a warmth blooming in his chest. He lifted a hand and waved in return. 

“See you later, V!” 

“I have a serious fucking problem,” Jayce blurted into his phone as soon as Cait answered, lying on his bed with one hand holding the phone to his ear and the other pressing against his forehead. 

There was a pause on Cait’s end before a slow, “Go on…” 

“Is that Jayce?” 

“Shh, yes it is.”

Naturally Vi was there too. Jayce could hear her in the background, but he couldn’t even bring himself to care about the inevitable worsened teasing bound to come his way after what he was finally about to admit aloud.

“I-” 

Jayce choked on his words, wondering just how bad of an idea this was. Saying this out loud meant solidifying it, meant that he couldn’t take it back, couldn’t keep trying to pretend he wasn’t feeling any of it. It was a terrible, awful, stupid idea for someone who tried his best to be smart and level-headed. 

But, in the end, Jayce’s heart always spoke a little louder. 

“I think I like Viktor. I’m fucked, I’m so screwed,” he sputtered, knowing he was definitely talking way too fast but being unable to slow himself down. 

“FINALLY-” Vi’s voice burst through, and rustling could immediately be heard as Jayce imagined Cait pushing her away. “Oh my GOD.” 

Jayce ran his hand down from his forehead to over his eyes, groaning miserably. 

“That’s wonderful to hear, Jayce,” Cait spoke up, and Jayce could pick out both sincerity and amusement in her tone. “Congratulations on finally figuring it out.” 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jayce practically whined, and Vi’s snickers carried through the call. 

“Well, I mean, I just sort of had a feeling the moment you began talking just a little bit too much about your new, super cool, really smart, awesome, interesting, fellow weather nerd lab partner,” Cait began rattling off, and Jayce could only feel his face burning hotter and hotter and she continued. 

“Jesus, did I really sound like that?” he muttered under his breath, but it was still enough for the girls to pick up on it. 

“Yes,” Vi insisted.

“Maybe a little bit,” Cait mercifully downplayed. “We were just curious how much longer it would take for you to acknowledge it. You seemed pretty insistent that nothing was going on. We could only keep quiet for so long, you know.” 

“He is so tragically autistic.”

“Vi, I can still hear you.” 

“And I stand by what I said.”

Jayce rolled his eyes and could only hope Vi felt the energy of it through the phone. “Okay, well,” he mumbled, trying to gather up his many thoughts. “I just, I don’t know what to do. I can barely remember the last time I felt anything for someone, and of course it had to be him, and now I’m afraid that I’m making things weird, like, like he can sense that I’ve changed now that I’ve realized it. ‘Cause, ah, I guess I’ve already kind of known for a bit now, but…I tried to ignore it. I guess.” He brought a curled finger to his mouth and lightly bit one of his knuckles. 

“Take a shot every time he says ‘like’ or ‘I guess’ from here on out.” 

“Oh, as if you weren’t any better when it came to me,” Cait chided, though not with any real harshness as she came to Jayce’s defense. “Jinx told me everything.” 

“Right. And I fully intend to kill her for it,” Vi replied very matter-of-factly. 

“Anyway,” Cait continued. “Jayce, I haven’t met the guy myself, so I can only know whatever you’ve told me so far, but my instinct is rarely wrong and I’ve got a good feeling about this.” 

“About what? You can’t be implying that there’s any chance he’d like me back. We don’t even know if he’s into guys, Cait.” 

“Twenty bucks says he’s into guys.” 

“I’m not betting with you, Vi.” 

“He’s never said anything about any past relationships or crushes or the like?” Cait piped in curiously. 

“Cait, all we do is talk about the goddamn weather.” Jayce had put his phone on speaker at that point, running both hands up and down the sides of his face, as if trying to massage the onslaught of emotions away. “He doesn’t really open up about personal life stuff. I have no clue.” 

“Hm. Well. I still have a good feeling. That’s all I’ll say,” Cait said simply with a satisfied hum. “This is really exciting, Jayce. By all means, keep us updated.” 

Jayce sighed lightly. “Well, you two are the only ones for me to update.” 

“And don’t you forget it, pretty boy,” Vi sang. 

The next time Jayce and Viktor saw each other again was for lab a few days later during the following week. Viktor greeted Jayce with a soft but incredibly warm smile as Jayce made his way over to their spot, and Jayce wondered if the room was drier than usual, his throat starting to feel parched. But he ignored it the best he could and got situated, sitting down and sliding his backpack to the floor. 

“Good morning, Viktor,” he said, hoping he sounded perfectly natural and not at all flustered. “Excited to look over some dual-pol readings?” He knew it was impossible, but he couldn’t help but worry that if Viktor looked at him long enough, hard enough, he’d be able to see right into Jayce’s mind and know that he had talked to Cait and Vi all about his ever growing crush on him just a couple of days ago. 

Christ, crush made it sound so juvenile, but, well, wasn’t that exactly what it was when simplified? But Jayce’s feelings didn’t feel so simple at all. 

Maybe if he just kept talking, Viktor wouldn’t have time to pick up on anything. He dug his notebook out of his backpack. “I-” 

“Oh, not ‘V’ this time?” Viktor spoke up before Jayce could go on. 

Jayce didn’t entirely register what Viktor meant, blinking and turning to look at him. 

“You, uh-” Viktor suddenly seemed to have lost his train of thought when Jayce had looked at him, though Jayce couldn’t place why that would be when Viktor was usually so sharp and, well, a hell of a lot more articulate than Jayce had joked about himself being back when they first met. His lips were parted slightly, words hanging in the air for a beat before he apparently found himself again. His eyelashes fluttered. “You called me ‘V’ when I was leaving the other day.” 

Jayce processed Viktor’s words for a moment before remembering that he had, in fact, done so. “Oh, yeah,” he said, heat creeping up the back of his neck. He fought the urge to itch at it, hands instead gripping his notebook. “I mean, we’re close enough for nicknames, aren’t we?” Casual. It’s casual, be casual. It took everything in him to not outwardly ask Viktor if that had been weird of him to do. Confidence. 

Viktor’s eyes lingered on Jayce for a moment before he redirected his attention to the monitor in front of him, where radar images were flashing on the screen. He reached a hand up and tucked a stray tuft of hair back behind his ear, and Jayce couldn’t help but watch the way Viktor’s fingers moved so elegantly. Couldn’t help but think of how soft his hair looked. 

“Yes,” Viktor said, the faintest tug pulling up at the corner of his mouth. “We are close enough.”

Chapter Text

“-so we’ll be going back over what we’ve done so far this semester throughout the week. A little less work on the computers and more pencils to packets,” their professor was explaining a couple of labs later, as they had entered the first week of March and midterms were approaching. She had a large stack of packets cradled in her arms that she began passing around. “Don’t worry about rushing to fill out as much as you can before our time is up today. It’s meant to last for at least a couple classes. I would also like it if we could work in bigger groups, perhaps of four?” She smiled brightly and gestured around. “Maybe try working with the pair sitting across from you, or whoever is behind you! While I don’t want there to be any rush, as I said, there is still quite a lot I’ve put together for you all, so working with a few extra people will certainly be beneficial. And it’s always more fun to share our thoughts and opinions with more like-minded, upcoming meteorologists, right?” 

“Mm.” Viktor grunted, taking the packet that she handed to him as she passed by. “I really prefer just working with you,” he murmured to Jayce, and Jayce’s heart fluttered. But he agreed, and had already felt the same way even before his crush on Viktor had developed. 

They just…understood each other, on more levels than just meteorologically. 

“Yeah, I prefer that too,” he mumbled back, and there was a sharp, positive glint in Viktor’s eyes at the response. 

Regardless, they soon found themselves moving their chairs around to face the pair that had been sitting behind them thus far, finding that easier to do than try to talk over and around monitors with the people across from them. 

Official introductions were made, as Jayce had recognized these two from the fall semester, but hadn’t ever actually spoken to them, and of course Viktor hadn’t known them at all as someone who had come in for the spring semester after having previously been online. 

After these quick pleasantries, they got to work, diving right in and sailing pretty effortlessly through the first several pages for the most part. Jayce would never say it in front of these people, but he couldn’t help but feel like Viktor was easily outshining them with his knowledge. For one who preferred to just work alone or only with Jayce (which still had Jayce feeling butterflies), Viktor was doing a damn good job at being the main leader of their discussions, quick to gently yet confidently correct the others when they had something wrong. It made Jayce feel proud. That was his partner. 

His lab partner. Just that, obviously. 

Regardless, Jayce found it to be incredibly attractive, and he was far beyond being able to deny that to himself. 

Around an hour or so in, the conversation had lulled slightly as they were each focused on filling out a few charts and graphs. Jayce’s concentration had been razor sharp until he had begun to notice in his peripheral vision that the other two had been sneaking multiple glances up at him and Viktor before looking at each other, as if having some sort of weird, hesitant, wordless discussion. Jayce had tried to ignore it, but eventually, by the fourth time, he couldn’t help but ask.

He directed his attention to them, lowering his pencil as he asked, “What’s up?”

Viktor glanced at him briefly before continuing his own work, evidently not interested in losing his own train of thought. Jayce wondered if he had even picked up on the looks the others had been giving. 

“What?” the girl of the pair asked, blinking quickly a couple times, looking like a deer in headlights as the guy awkwardly pursed his lips, apparently content to let her try dealing with this. Whatever this was. 

“You’ve been looking at us a lot. Do you need help with something?” Jayce belatedly wondered if he sounded condescending by implying that his immediate assumption was that they needed him and Viktor to figure something out for them. But the two didn’t seem at all phased as the girl opened her mouth to say something, but then appeared to think better of it as her jaw snapped shut immediately after and she instead directed her gaze to the guy. His eyebrows furrowed in apparent exasperation before he sighed and then sat up straighter, giving off a very alright, fine, I’ll do it kind of vibe. 

“Well, we were just wondering,” he began, clearing his throat halfway through. He then seemed to steel himself before asking, straight up and rather bluntly, “Is it true you two are together?”

Jayce blinked once. 

Blinked twice. 

He had gone completely still without realizing it, and the sound of Viktor’s pencil scribbling away had also stopped, but Viktor was not looking up. He was still staring down at whatever chart he had been filling out, but it was clear he was listening now, the tip of his pencil hovering just above the page. 

“What…do you mean?” Jayce asked slowly, carefully, desperate to not make any assumptions about this. At least not any that he would dare say aloud unless given confirmation that that was what they really meant. 

“Like, are you two dating? Are you together?” 

Ah. So Jayce had understood correctly. 

Instantly, his body temperature shot to incalculable levels, and he knew there wasn’t anything he could do to stop the inevitable flush crossing across his cheeks and up to his ears. Viktor was still still, still silent with his hand frozen in place. If anything, the only difference Jayce could notice was that perhaps his shoulders had become more hunched. But that was all. He was otherwise unreadable. 

Jayce then realized he had not replied for a couple beats too long, and he cursed himself mentally at the way his voice partially cracked when he finally found his words. 

“What? We - no, not like that. Like, we’re together, but only as lab partners, not-” He knew he was going on way too much to come off as casual or nonchalant. All he had to do was say a polite oh, no, haha and carry on with their work, but the words kept spilling off his tongue and it took everything in him to try to reel himself back in. “We’re not dating.”

The guy shared a glance with the girl, perplexity plastered on both of their faces. As if they didn’t believe Jayce, but he couldn’t imagine why not. Viktor slowly lifted his head just a touch, and Jayce could tell, could feel, that Viktor’s eyes were on him now, as if weighing how he was going to handle the situation. 

“Okay…” the girl drawled out awkwardly, and Jayce so wished he could disappear. But the disbelief they apparently had was tugging at his curiosity, and he just couldn’t help himself. 

“Why are you asking? Are people saying that?” he blurted, knowing he should just let it go, use the packet as an excuse to drop the topic and get them back on track. 

“I mean,” the girl mumbled, and Jayce’s exasperation spiked. He hadn’t thought anyone was paying him and Viktor any mind at all. He had just assumed everyone was in their own little bubbles with their own partners, focused on work and on each other. 

Maybe Jayce had just been too entranced by Viktor to pay any attention to anyone or anything else in the room. 

“You guys are just kind of touchy,” the guy explained. “Like, obviously it isn’t our business or anything, but there have been a few others who have noticed it too and were wondering. Like, you almost always are at least touching knees, and your faces get real close when you’re comparing your work.” 

What the hell? People really were noticing them that much? It almost felt creepy. 

“Plus you have those matching pins on your backpacks!” the girl suddenly chimed in, gesturing towards their bags. Both Jayce and Viktor looked at the same time then, seeing the way their trans pins did indeed stand out together against the dark colors of their backpacks. But since when were matching pride pins associated with being together like that? Did these people even know what the pins were for? Sometimes Jayce had to remind himself that not everyone was like his safe inner circle. A lot of people still knew a whole lot of nothing about queerness. 

His and Viktor’s eyes then met and Jayce’s heart tripped all over itself as they stared at each other in shared confusion for a moment before turning their attention back to the others. 

Jayce could obviously tell that Viktor was baffled too at this point, but he still couldn’t work out if the idea of them being together was…weird or not to him. It made it feel a whole lot harder for Jayce to know how exactly he should act about this. 

“I think,” Viktor finally spoke up, and Jayce held his breath, tentatively forcing himself to keep his weary gaze on Viktor, “that we should get back to work. We still need to get through another five pages if we are to stay on track to complete this by the end of the next class.” 

“Yeah,” Jayce managed to mumble, just eager to follow Viktor’s dismissive lead at this point. Viktor’s tone had betrayed nothing of his inner thoughts. It was torturous. 

“Sorry, we didn’t mean to make you feel weird or anything!” the girl hurriedly said, and Jayce brushed it off with a strained airy chuckle and a shrug. “It’s just silly rumors. We thought we’d get an answer and put an end to the chatter, you know?”

“The chatter,” Jayce echoed. Viktor looked sidelong at him again. 

“Yeah, man, just rumors. Don’t worry about it,” the guy offered with a single-shouldered shrug of his own. 

So Jayce tried not to worry about it. 

Jayce had worried about it all the way through midterms. But he and Viktor never brought it up between themselves. 

Despite that, he had still been completely confident in his work during all his tests, and that confidence had been reinforced when his grades came back and showed nothing but great marks. 

As much as his brain had been fogged lately with thoughts about Viktor, Jayce would still be damned if he let anything throw him off his meteorology game when it mattered most. 

Compartmentalize the crush. Deal with it later. 

And now spring break was upon them, a couple of weeks off to wind down or, on the other hand, go wild to celebrate the end of midterms. Jayce didn’t personally care for the latter in the sense of going on any vacations or to any sort of party (not that he would necessarily have an invite to one anyway). But what he was ready to celebrate was the fact that spring break was going to carry them into the first week of April. 

Slowly but surely throughout the semester, the weather had been changing from snow, to drizzly rain, to an upcoming forecast that included thunderstorms. Winter had felt too long. His favorite time of the year was arriving. 

During the last pre-break lab, Viktor had lightly cleared his throat before asking, “Will I be able to see you during the break?”

Jayce was one minor wind gust away from bursting at the seams, pure joy spreading from his chest through the rest of his body. Viktor was asking him now about hanging out outside of class. And though it goes without saying, his response was a resounding, “Yes! Yes, absolutely!” 

The smile Viktor had flashed for him after was positively dazzling. 

Their second out-of-class hang out, occurring on the third day of break, was at the Museum of Science and Industry, where they spent arguably too little time at every other exhibit (though they still appreciated it all) and far too much time in the Science of Storms section, taking an abundance of photos and videos of the 40-foot tall controlled vortex before messing around at the storm chasing simulator. 

Jayce had been caught off guard and startled by the large Tesla coil up on the ceiling when it went off, as the two hadn’t been watching the countdown for it, rather having devoted their attention to the large projected video that was playing on tornadoes and chasing. Jayce dramatically clutched his chest while Viktor laughed brightly. With an exaggerated frown, Jayce gave Viktor a light push. 

“How did that not scare you?” he groaned, almost whined. 

“Eh, I guess I am just made of sterner stuff,” Viktor teased with a shrug, and Jayce could only roll his eyes fondly, not even bothering to fight back his own smile. 

They met up again only two days after that, Jayce having gone out to Viktor’s area this time to grab breakfast with him at a cute and quaint cafe that Viktor had given high praise to. There, they chatted away for a couple of hours over a pair of powdered-sugared croissants and coffees. And after they exhausted their time in the cafe, they continued on to mindlessly walk about the other shops nearby, meandering into a bookstore and a couple of thrift and antique stores as they let their conversation continue to flow and carry them away, as natural as ever. 

“Hm. Do you think this would look nice?” Viktor asked at one point, pulling a sweater off the rack at one of the thrift stores and tilting his head at it. “I know we are headed into spring now, but perhaps it could be good for autumn.” 

Jayce spoke without thinking. 

“Anything looks nice on you,” he said after having given Viktor and the sweater a look whilst digging through another nearby rack for himself. Alarm bells instantly went off in his brain and he didn’t know which would be worse: letting the statement hang out there with fake confidence or trying to cover it up with some sort of weak correction, though he wouldn’t even begin to know what else he could possibly say. In the end, he only averted his eyes and pretended to be incredibly interested in the hoodie he had come across, lifting it higher up with the hope that it was completely covering his face from Viktor’s view. 

There was silence for a few moments before Viktor said, “I think I will get it then. Thank you, Jayce.”

By the time Jayce felt brave enough to lower the really-not-that-interesting hoodie another moment later, Viktor’s back was already to him as he was heading towards the checkout. 

Chapter Text

The first week of break had flown by, which hadn’t really been a surprise to Jayce. Breaks always came and went too quickly, but the saying “time flies when you’re having fun” had proven itself to be especially true the past seven days. They had only been able to hang out in person twice throughout the first week, but they had texted somewhat consistently during the other days. 

Well, it was really more of Jayce sharing what he was up to every now and then in between links to weather documentaries and damage analysis videos while Viktor continued to give his usual relatively short and to-the-point (some would say dry, but Jayce never thought of it like that) replies. They were always positive and conveyed his mutual interest in whatever it was that Jayce was showing or telling him, so that was really all Jayce needed. 

He had been telling Cait everything too. Obviously. Mostly through just text in the hopes that Cait would be able to keep it somewhat between them and not have Vi overhearing through a call like a certain other time. Jayce didn’t really mind that much, knowing her teasing was done out of affection, of course, but…well, he still needed a little bit of grace. 

[caitlyn]: so you’re going on dates then :) 

[JAYCE!]: they’re NOTTT DATESSS cait 

[caitlyn]: im afraid i simply do not believe you! xx

Jayce tossed his phone aside and covered his face with his hands, battling against the absolutely humiliating urge to kick his feet as he was lying in bed. 

On the second Tuesday of break, dark and heavy clouds hung low in the early morning sky. 

When Jayce had woken up and noticed how much darker than usual it was in his room, he had quickly rolled out of bed and pulled back his curtains to peer outside, excited to see clouds that didn’t promise snow, but rather rain and, as was in the forecast for later in the day, a few scattered storms. 

His body thrummed with anticipation, but he tried to manage his expectations, as these earliest spring storms could sometimes be fussy, coming in strong but fizzling out at the last moment. 

Regardless, he grabbed his phone and made swift work of going through the regular forecast again as well as reading predictions from some of his favorite chasers that he found to be typically pretty reliable. 

It generally looked like they’d be getting something between five and six o’clock in the city. Jayce’s eyes flicked to the time on his phone. A quarter to nine. An idea came to mind and he bit his bottom lip in an attempt to tamper his excitement. 

The attempt was futile.

[JAYCE!]: would your car be at all available to borrow today 

[caitlyn]: no good morning? just straight to asking for my car…i see how it is 

[JAYCE!]: I will love you forever and always if I could borrow it 

[caitlyn]: hmmm

[caitlyn]: okay, you’re in luck, i wasn’t going to be needing it today, we’re not going anywhere :) what are your plans? 

[JAYCE!]: there are supposed to be some scattered storms around today. I want to take Viktor and follow a few of them if we can, or at least find a nice spot to settle in for one if nothing else

[caitlyn]: that’s so nerdy and romantic of you, i love it 

Jayce rolled his eyes with a half smile before Cait typed out another message. 

[caitlyn]: you can borrow the car under one condition

With now slightly furrowed brows, smile dipping, Jayce replied.

[JAYCE!]: hit me with it 

[caitlyn]: take vi and me with you!! we aren’t doing anything today! if we’re all free then we want to finally meet the guy! 

Jayce blinked and immediately thought of a hundred different ways this could turn out completely and utterly mortifying for him. He knew the girls would never actually out his crush or be too obvious about it (they loved to tease him but they weren’t totally merciless), but it was still a little embarrassing to think about what Vi specifically might try to get away with. 

But he was also a bit surprised at how Cait’s eagerness to meet Viktor seemed to overpower all the past times she had told Jayce no when he used to ask her if she wanted to come chase some lighter storms with him. He had assured her the storms wouldn’t be too bad because, for one thing, he would never want to potentially endanger anyone else and, for another, he didn’t really make a point of chasing the even more severe storms himself yet. He still had a lot that he knew he needed to learn and study before going into it more seriously, and he had also felt like he needed to wait for someone to do it with him too, so that he wasn’t chasing alone in case something happened. 

Maybe Viktor would like that. 

But that was thinking a little too far ahead. 

[JAYCE!]: even though we’d be going chasing if he’s free and agrees to it?? 

[caitlyn]: if you think it will be safe enough, then i trust you x

[JAYCE!]: crazy how you’ve never said that before but are now only because Viktor’s involved…feeling very #unloved 

He sent an ironic wilted rose emoji for emphasis. 

[caitlyn]: JUST LET US MEET THE DUDE JAYCE !! 

Jayce dragged a hand down his face.

[JAYCE!]: hi vi 

So much for trying to get Cait on her own. He should have known better.

[caitlyn]: hey gaybo 

[JAYCE!]: you know what? Maybe we’ll just hire a taxi to drive us after the storms

[caitlyn]: NAH GET UR ASS OVER HERE MAN

[caitlyn]: me again, let us know if he’s free and then we can come and pick you up whenever works! :) 

Jayce pinched the bridge of his nose and finally decided that his desire to chase with Viktor after months of waiting for spring was much stronger than his unease over how Cait and Vi might act around him. But maybe Viktor wasn’t even available. Jayce hadn’t wanted to get ahead of himself, but he would rather have known first that they’d actually have a car to chase with than ask if Viktor wanted to chase only to learn they didn’t have the means to. 

He swiped to his chat with Viktor and typed out his question. 

[JAYCE!]: hey man! you free today? 

It was drizzling as they sat parked alongside a curb near Viktor’s place, the time just a little past noon. The girls were together in the back while Jayce had driven, the role of driver having switched once they had picked him up. His fingers tapped rapidly along the steering wheel as he glanced between his phone and down the sidewalk alongside them to see whether he’d get a text first or just see Viktor walking over. 

“Dude, relax,” Vi said, having noted his fidgeting. “He said he’s on his way, didn’t he?”

“Yes,” Jayce answered, not looking back at her. “But that’s not what I’m worried about.” 

“You’re more worried about hanging out with your friend that you happen to like than the fact that you’re planning on chasing storms?” 

“The storms don’t make me nervous. They’re not supposed to get too severe anyway,” Jayce grumbled, and then added on, “It’s just that you guys also being here makes me more self conscious about how I act with him.” 

“I promise we won’t do anything,” Cait spoke up, tone softer and more sincere. “At least, nothing that would actually make him suspicious of how you feel. I don’t think we’ll be able to resist some light teasing, though.” Jayce glanced back at her with narrowing eyes that she merely smiled at, putting on her most innocent demeanor. “It’s like we always say, just be yourself. Which I’m sure you have been all this time around him, so really nothing is changing.” 

“Exactly, big man,” Vi agreed as she slouched farther down in her seat. “Just pretend we aren’t here and act like you always do with him. Or not. It might get too gay in here. I don’t know if Cait and I would survive that.”

“It’s impossible to pretend you’re not here,” Jayce sighed, and then looked ahead again to see Viktor approaching, wearing a light spring jacket with his bag slung over a shoulder and an umbrella tucked under his free arm, not in use yet as the current light drizzle wasn’t any cause for cover. “Fuck, there he is.” 

Jayce hurriedly brushed off the passenger seat even though there hadn’t been a single crumb or speck or anything else on it, wanting to be totally sure that Viktor had a nice, presentable place to sit. 

“He knows what the car looks like, right?” Cait asked, as they were parked between a few other cars. 

“Yes, he knows-”

“Honk at him to get his attention,” Vi supplied.

“I’m not going to honk at him!” Jayce sputtered, and then straightened up when he noticed that Viktor had spotted him through the windshield and was smiling faintly as he closed the gap and opened the passenger door. 

“Hello,” he greeted lightly, with the faintest air of semi-shy uncertainty about meeting two new people. He knew who Cait and Vi were. Of course Jayce had talked about them plenty of times before at this point, so he hoped that Viktor wouldn’t feel all that awkward or like he would need to act any sort of way. He had reassured him beforehand that Cait and Vi were incredibly chill and friendly, and would like him even if he didn’t do anything at all, really. Viktor had given him a warm, comforted look when he said this, and Jayce remembered how it had put a buzz under his skin. 

“Hey, V,” Jayce said, his brightest smile taking over as he took Viktor’s bag for him along with the umbrella and held them back for Cait to place with her and Vi in the backseat. 

“Nice to finally meet you, Viktor,” Cait welcomed cheerily, setting Viktor’s things down. “I’m Cait. This is Vi.” She nodded once in Vi’s direction, and Vi put up a peace sign and flashed a toothy grin of her own. 

“What’s up, dude.”

“It’s nice to meet you too,” Viktor replied politely, genuinely, as he clicked his seatbelt into place. “Jayce says you are his closest friends, so I was looking forward to meeting you. I hope we can be friends as well.” 

“Of course!” Cait exclaimed, wasting no time. “I just hope Vi and I didn’t barge in on your hang out.” Jayce gave her an unimpressed stare, knowing she did not give a damn about having insisted he take them along. Cait didn’t even bother looking back at him, instead finishing with, “It just felt like the perfect opportunity since he needed my car anyway. Figured it would be fun!” 

“Oh, it’s no problem,” Viktor assured with a small shake of his head. “Thank you for letting us use your car. It is very kind of you. Chasing is not exactly, eh, as productive if you’re waiting for buses or trains to pick you up. So this is quite nice.” 

“So polite. A real good guy you’ve got here, Jayce,” Vi said, and Jayce felt his shoulders stiffen, but he knew better in this moment than to overreact and make it seem even more suggestive. 

He laughed lightly and got the car started up again. “Yeah, he’s a good guy,” he agreed, because that was obviously true and he certainly meant it. Along with a lot of other positive descriptors, but he would rather throw himself into a tornado than say any of those aloud. “I got lucky getting partnered up with him. It’s been a fun semester so far.” An incredibly massive understatement. 

He couldn’t help but chance a glance at Viktor after saying so as he was rolling out of their parking spot and back onto the road. Viktor was looking down towards his lap, long fingers running along the handle of his cane where he now had it resting between his legs. There was a smile on his face and a touch of color to his cheeks. Jayce figured he must be feeling a little shy from the combination of meeting the girls and being complimented. 

“Yes, it has been fun,” Viktor said. “Though I feel that I am the lucky one. Jayce is quite brilliant. He makes the work easy.” 

If Jayce was completely insane, he would have leapt out of the car window and ran around in circles in the middle of the street. 

Instead, a bashful grin crossed his face and he couldn’t help but mumble “ah, jeez, man,” before shrugging a shoulder to downplay the praise (something he usually only did with Viktor, as Viktor’s praise was the only kind that flustered him). But it hardly did a thing, Viktor’s words replaying in his mind over and over like a broken record. Making him have very distracting thoughts of cupping Viktor’s face in his hands, leaning in, and-

He got a look in the rearview mirror and saw the girls giving him the most deadpan, blatantly unimpressed expressions ever from the backseat. He could practically hear Vi calling him a dense idiot over the sound of Viktor’s voice still repeating itself and calling him brilliant, the two clashing. 

Fortunately Viktor’s gaze was still lowered, so he wasn’t seeing any of this. Jayce didn’t know what Viktor would possibly think or make of it if he did. Maybe he would worry he had said something wrong that put off the girls. Or he’d somehow connect the dots that Jayce didn’t want connected. Either way, it was good that he wasn’t paying them any attention. Hopefully. 

“Ah, being in the presence of geniuses is hard,” Vi broke in dramatically, pressing the back of a hand to her forehead. “I fear we’re in for a lot of nerdy talk today, Cait.” 

“Could be the case,” Cait mused, and Jayce found himself chuckling along with Viktor in response. 

They shared a smile between themselves and Jayce wanted. He wanted so badly. 

“Could we get some food first, though?” Cait then asked with fake innocence, batting her eyelashes for extra effect when Jayce glanced back at her in the mirror again and sighed. “What? It’s going to be a bit of a drive, isn’t it? You promised us food.” 

“Sustenance,” Vi added pointedly. 

“Okay, fine. What does everyone want?” Jayce relented. It was a typical time for lunch anyway, and they did have a bit of driving time ahead of them for sure. His nervousness about introducing Viktor to the girls and his excitement to get to chasing had rather overshadowed his appetite, so he supposed it was good that they were pushing it, otherwise he’d certainly let himself forget. 

A few minutes later, they were rolling into a drive-through.

And a few minutes after that, they were on their way.

They had driven southwest for about an hour and a half, Viktor having updated Jayce along the way to where the storms were set to start firing up first so they could aim for the best spot. 

Gradually the cityscape had become vast stretches of fields and farms, which really set the tone for the chase. The skies had mostly cleared at this point, the initial round of clouds having passed on as the group drove against their northeastern direction. 

“Looks pretty blue now,” Vi had observed. 

“Yeah, but more’s coming,” Jayce promised in return. “Calm before the storm or whatever. We’ll see the first actual round of today’s storms.” 

“What’s the radar look like?” Cait asked curiously, leaning forward in her seat so that Viktor could in turn lean back a bit to show her the radar he was using on his phone and explain a little more about it when she had additional questions. 

Jayce’s heart felt full over how they were getting along so well. Obviously he knew the girls would be nice and that Viktor would be nice, because they were nice, but it really did feel as if Viktor was fitting in incredibly naturally, like he was meant to be part of their group or already had been for a considerable time. Aside from helping Jayce with the radar, he had been chatting easily with the girls, mostly Cait, along the way as well, and their conversation flowed like a river. 

And, thankfully, the girls hadn’t tried to further push their luck in terms of making implicating comments. 

Finally, they found themselves in what Jayce and Viktor considered a pretty perfect spot. The land was flat and the view unobscured, the crops in these fields only a few inches high as opposed to, for example, a field of corn in the middle of July. The gridded roads were clear and not at all busy, and were even mostly paved properly (quite shockingly, truly), which meant they wouldn’t need to worry as much about getting stuck on a dirt road that’s been muddied after heavy rains. It seemed they would be able to avoid less reliable roads if they had to, though Jayce didn’t intend to let the storm overtake them regardless, at least not the worst of it if anything. But it was better to be safe than sorry when picking one’s spot. 

The plan was to meet the storms here and then stay just ahead of them on the way back to the city. And at the point of arrival, with only about an hour or so until the storm was supposed to hit, they could see it coming very clearly, Vi’s previous comment about it clearing up being taken back immediately once they had gotten out of the car. 

The multi-cell storm towered in the distance, reaching high up into the sky like a mountain, there being a tallest, leading point that tapered down along the sides and a darkness blanketing the bottom of the system. 

The clouds swelled and rolled, taking on a very cotton candy-like form, and the incoming breeze blew their hair and rustled their clothes. Jayce was swept away with the rush of it, and he stared for a few more moments before looking at Viktor where he stood right beside him. 

In the back of his mind, Jayce noted how he and Viktor were standing even closer together than Cait and Vi were, and the girls were literally holding hands. He made sure to keep his feet firmly planted so that he wouldn’t dare get any ideas, such as allowing the wind, regardless of how light it currently was, to guide him into leaning against Viktor. Or something otherwise stupid like that. 

“Worth the drive,” Viktor said with a smile, hands in his pockets as he looked from the distant sky to Jayce. 

“As if you were the one driving,” Jayce replied, a grin tugging the side of his mouth. 

“Eh, I helped navigate. I made myself useful, didn’t I?” Viktor nudged Jayce’s side with an elbow, and even that little touch had Jayce’s pulse thrumming. 

“I suppose you did,” Jayce got himself to say, and hesitated a second too long before nudging Viktor back in a way that instantly registered in Jayce’s head as horrendously awkward, but Viktor apparently didn’t notice at all, or care if he did, as he simply hummed with content before pulling his phone out of a pocket and taking a couple photos of the clouds. 

Jayce blinked, forgetting about his embarrassment and instead remembering he had his photography camera waiting for him in his own backpack that was still in the back of the car. “Ooh, hold on.” He stepped away from Viktor’s side to go get it. 

Cait noticed him and followed, the two of them a reasonable distance now from the others, Vi approaching Viktor to undoubtedly chat him up while Cait wasn’t with her. Jayce wasn’t sure why Cait was following, but didn’t question it as he opened one of the back doors and reached in for his bag. Cait leaned against the side of the car and smiled warmly at Jayce when he got out and stood straighter again, turning his attention to her. 

“I like him a lot,” Cait said simply. “Even more now that I’ve met him myself.” 

“I’m not sure anyone could not like him,” Jayce said, glancing back towards Viktor and Vi to make extra sure they were still far enough away and distracted between themselves. They were. 

“I saw the pin on his bag,” Cait then added, her smile only growing. “So you’re even more alike than I knew. The matching pins are very cute, you know.” 

Jayce blinked before processing what she meant. “Oh, right,” he said with a light, breathy laugh, a little shy. “It wasn’t my information to give.” 

“No, of course not. I understand that. I’m just-” She paused and shrugged. “-happy for you. I know I keep saying that, but the more I learn, the more I feel you’ve really found someone who’s pretty perfect for you.” 

“We don’t even know how he feels,” Jayce murmured, absentmindedly fishing his camera out of his bag while he listened to Cait, his eyes flicking towards Viktor and Vi every few moments to continuously make sure their conversation was safe. “I’m still just happy to have him as a friend.” 

“Mm.” Cait’s simple hum conveyed everything she didn’t say. She didn’t believe it was one sided, and Jayce knew that. But hope was a dangerous thing. 

“Guys, come here!” Vi then shouted, waving them over with one hand while she had her phone held up in the other. “Group selfie time! No getting out of it!” 

Cait gave Jayce one more encouraging look before hooking her arm through one of his as the two headed over for the picture. Jayce knew it was coming, but still felt his breath catch when Cait immediately positioned him next to Viktor, pressing him against Viktor’s side as they all squeezed in together for the picture. 

He and Viktor looked at each other, and Jayce breathed out, “Hello.”

Viktor’s cheeks were ever so slightly rose-dusted. But somehow Jayce noticed it. 

“Hi,” Viktor replied, voice soft and light. 

Jayce wondered how a single, simple word could sound so musical.

“Say ‘we’re totally not gonna get struck by lightning!’” Vi exclaimed, poised to take the pic. The other three immediately snorted and laughed out their amused, natural reactions, and Vi took it in that moment, capturing the joy in their expressions. 

When she showed the result to them, Jayce thought that he looked goofy, but Viktor tilted his head in an inquisitive manner before saying, as he placed a gentle hand on Jayce’s shoulder, “You look nice. Do not worry about it.” 

Jayce’s mouth felt dry, but he managed to thank Viktor before a distant rumble of thunder pulled everyone’s attention back to the storm that was not-super-slowly-but-kind-of-slowly-but-surely making its way towards them. It had vastly expanded in size, and had taken on a slightly more anvil-like form. Very close, but not quite. Either way, Jayce felt the way it drew his breath out of him, akin to how Viktor had, and he hurried to get his camera turned on, eager to capture the system’s transformation. 

He strode forward a few paces to get ahead of the others, lifting his camera up and taking several pictures to start, some zoomed in and others panned out to capture more of the landscape stretched before and around them. He had become so engrossed in it that he didn’t notice Viktor had followed along behind him until he commented, “I must say I’m disappointed you haven’t shown me any of your photography yet.” But his tone, as it usually was with Jayce, was as lighthearted as ever. 

Jayce turned to face him, lowering his camera. “Oh, yeah,” he said, not having realized that Viktor had paid that much attention to the very few times Jayce had brought up his storm photography. He gave a noncommittal shrug. “I guess I’m just not that satisfied with it yet. Perfectionist’s curse or something.” When Viktor gave him a curious look that Jayce knew meant go on, he added, “My camera is pretty old. Pictures don’t come out quite as I’d like them to. I’ve tried tinkering with them in editing, but, eh.” He waved a hand back and forth in a so-so gesture. “I’ve been wanting a new camera for a while, but it’s expensive. That’s all.”

Viktor hummed and gave a slow, understanding double nod. It seemed to Jayce that he was thinking deeply about something, but decided not to share whatever it was. Instead, he only said, “I can understand that.”

Jayce paused for a brief moment before clicking the gallery button on his camera, bringing up the photos he had taken. He took a few steps to close the gap between them and held out his camera to Viktor with a shy clearing of his throat. “They aren’t that good, but I guess I don’t mind if you see them.” 

Viktor gave him a calm and level gaze. “Are you sure?” 

Jayce felt a little silly. It wasn’t like he was revealing some sort of drawing or letting Viktor read a story he had written, things where it felt like flaws could be pointed out a lot more easily. But photography was still a creative craft that needed to be learned and honed to improve, and Jayce just knew he wasn’t there yet. It was different, but one’s photography was just as much a representation of themselves, a reflection of what they see and feel about the world, as any other craft. Jayce wondered what Viktor would see when he looked at it. 

“I’m sure, V,” he said, and Viktor carefully took the camera before him, clicking through the photos, taking his time studying each one with an unreadable expression settled on his face. 

Jayce felt a little awkward waiting for his verdict, so he let his eyes drift back to the storm, admiring the darkening nature of it and listening for more thunder. The girls seemed perfectly entertained without them, Jayce glancing their way as well to see that Cait was pointing something out to Vi in the field with a bright look on her face. Possibly and probably some sort of animal, maybe a field mouse. The wind was picking up, the nearest line of trees getting their branches caught together with the flow of the air, their leaves a fluttering chorus. Jayce closed his eyes to take in the sounds, and that’s when Viktor spoke again. 

“These are very beautiful. You have the eye for this.” 

Jayce looked at Viktor, whose face held nothing but complete and open honesty. Viktor seemed to always have only the utmost belief in Jayce, no matter what for, and to Jayce that meant more than he thought anything else possibly could. 

In the back of his mind: insane thoughts for a lab partner. 

“I feel like I’m constantly thanking you,” Jayce mumbled with a breathy laugh. 

“Mm, well. I’m just that nice, aren’t I,” Viktor suggested, and then Jayce laughed again, a more sure one, and this time Viktor laughed along with him. 

Thunder cracked ahead, louder now, the invisible tendrils of the sound reaching a little too close for comfort, and Jayce could feel the moisture increasing around them. He and Viktor blinked at each other before Jayce took the initiative and called out, “Okay, we should probably get moving. Cait! Vi! Time for the next spot!” He waved at the girls and gestured towards the car, and they nodded and headed over without pause. Jayce made to follow, but Viktor grabbed his arm to stop him. 

“Jayce,” he said, grabbing his phone again after letting go of Jayce, cane still held by his other hand. “I realize we have not taken any photos together. Of just us. Don’t you think now is a pretty good time for one?” 

Jayce grinned. “Good idea,” he agreed. 

Viktor smiled right back at him and then nodded before getting his phone’s camera on and turning it to face them. He angled it so that the storm could be seen in the back, almost engulfing the entire sky behind them. But they knew it was still far enough away that they’d be able to stay ahead of it. They still had a bit of time. Enough to capture a memory, at least. 

They leaned into each other, Jayce tilting his head down towards Viktor, who had his chin lifted confidently. They both maintained their easy smiles as Viktor took the photo and then pocketed his phone after, not even giving either of them a chance to decide if they liked how it turned out, though Jayce got the feeling that Viktor really didn’t worry or care too much about that. And if Viktor felt that he, Jayce, had looked nice in Vi’s photo, then Jayce would trust that he thought so for this one too.

They looked back at the storm one more time before getting into the car where the girls waited. Viktor pulled up his radar app again to monitor and direct, and Jayce put the car into drive, turning them around in order to head back towards Chicago, back northeast to race the storm home with a few more stops along the way for more pictures of the system’s development. 

Cait joked about how easy chasing seemed to be, how they had barely even gotten any rain, and Jayce reminded her that he was specifically doing “the world’s easiest, no stakes chase” for her sake, which got Vi to laugh.

Cait and Viktor spent one of the next stops together, talking lightly about this and that, what Cait was studying and, Jayce noticed, why Viktor was in meteorology. Jayce heard Viktor give Cait the same answer he had given him back in January, just to help people, and Jayce again wondered what more there was to it.

At one point, the storm almost gained on them when Vi had insisted for a bathroom break at a gas station while the others waited in the car. She had been inside for nearly twenty minutes before she hurried back out and scrambled into the car while explaining how there had somehow been a line for the bathroom and two of the stalls were out of order, and then how she couldn’t help but shop around for a couple of snacks too, which she offered to everyone in a little bag as her apology for the holdup. The others were mostly quick to forgive, but Jayce certainly had a heavier foot on the gas the moment they got back onto the stretch of I-80 that took them the rest of the way home. 

Jayce had nearly forgotten about the fact that Viktor would still need to be dropped off back at his place, but Cait had been quick to propose they all go to her and Vi’s to continue hanging out for the rest of the day while the storm passed by. Jayce was obviously down to keep spending time with them all, especially Viktor, but he wasn’t sure if Viktor had had enough of the three of them by this point. They had already spent hours upon hours together, most of that time in very close proximity, but Viktor had agreed right away.

The evening was spent with games, dinner, blankets, and the accompanying rumbles of thunder, flashes of lightning, and downpouring rain just beyond the windows. 

And time continued to pass just like that. 

Not only had the entire group managed to hang out twice more during the last week of spring break, making it three times total in just that week, but Jayce and Viktor had spent more alone time together beyond that as well, with the two of them having decided to keep hanging out even after Cait and Vi broke away to go home after long days spent downtown. 

Between getting lunch by the river, sitting on the grass at Millennium Park to people-watch, wandering the Field Museum on one of its free days for residents, and more, the group had crammed in so much in only a couple more days. But Jayce hadn’t tired at all. It was easily the most fun spring break he had ever had. 

Classes started back up and continued to go very well. If there were still any rumors circulating about Jayce and Viktor, nobody brought it up to them again. But Jayce still couldn’t help but feel extra conscious about the way he acted with Viktor, while at the same time overanalyzing how Viktor was acting towards him. He didn’t think he noticed any changes, but then that got him wondering if all the touch that guy had mentioned had all been entirely initiated by him. 

He tested this idea, and found that there really were only a few times that Viktor touched him if they weren’t already touching (which Jayce could never realize was happening until it already had, such as moments where their knees or shoulders were together as had been pointed out to them). It was always something very small and easy to miss. Viktor tapping his arm or letting their hands brush as he was writing something. Small. Easy to miss. 

But Jayce felt the sparks of it each time.

Chapter Text

Severe weather season in the region was between April to September, but May was certainly one of the most in-swing months for it. Instability, moisture, lift, wind shear; it was all coming together more and more frequently, with the power and duration of each system increasing. 

Watching the storms approach campus through the large lab windows had proven to be one of the most exciting experiences of the school year besides the actual meteorological work before them, but knowing that they were so close to being let out for summer so that they could have more free time to actually go out and chase these storms was even better. 

Finals were nearly upon them. Just over two weeks left and they would be free to go.

One later afternoon after their last classes of the day, Jayce and Viktor met up outside to hurry together to the girls’ place, once again needing to use the car for a chase throughout the rest of the afternoon and into the evening. Cait made Jayce promise that the car would be returned without hail damage, as she had heard there was potential for it, and Jayce only joked about covering the car with his body if he had to, which got Viktor to roll his eyes lightheartedly and assure Cait himself that it would be fine, and that the threat for hail was small and more northerly than them anyway. Only then did Cait drop the keys into Jayce’s palm. 

The two drove west, placing nonsense bets on how they thought the storm would develop, even though they ended up agreeing on the same things anyway, their minds completely in tune. They drove for about an hour before finding a nice large park to stop at, pulling up to the curb and getting out to enjoy and soak in the view from outside. 

The wind was kicking up, leaves fluttering past and between them. The dark, heavy clouds loomed aggressively, but Jayce and Viktor knew they still had a bit of time left before they’d really need to get moving again, and they would take advantage of every minute. 

“I was hoping for a shelf,” Jayce said as he snapped a few pictures. 

Viktor chuckled from where he stood at Jayce’s side. “You knew that was unlikely going into this chase,” he reminded him, and Jayce sighed his wistful defeat in response. 

“Maybe so,” he acknowledged with exaggerated glumness, which made Viktor grin and offer him a light pat on the shoulder before he moved to get his notebook out of his backpack to start jotting a few things down, walking in slow, focused circles as he did, cane hanging carefully in the crook of one of his arms. Jayce eyed him for a moment, admiring, before turning his attention ahead again. 

They spent a few more quiet minutes like that, taking pictures and writing observations. Quiet only in the sense of them not speaking, as the growl of thunder was ever-growing. As it did each and every time, Jayce’s heart thrummed excitedly with each rumble, thundered itself from within him. 

This was all he wanted. This feeling right here. 

Once he was satisfied with his pictures, he tucked his camera away and rested his hands on his hips, taking it all in. Intra-cloud lightning illuminated the largest part of the approaching thunderhead, highlighting for the briefest of seconds every distinct detail of the cloud’s formation before it all became dark again in the blink of an eye. Jayce allowed himself to get lost in it until Viktor spoke up, now back to being only a couple feet from Jayce’s side. 

“It’s following every pattern we’ve predicted so far,” he said thoughtfully. 

Raindrops began to fall onto them as Jayce looked at Viktor, whose tufted hair swished as the breeze gained strength, whose vest was becoming patterned with the dampness of the rain, whose expression appeared calm, focused, but Jayce could see the bright anticipation in his eyes, the slight lift of his brows, the way he eagerly squeezed the handle of his cane.

And, god, he looked…

“It’s beautiful,” Jayce breathed. 

This was all he wanted. 

Viktor looked back at Jayce once he spoke, and his mouth lifted into a small half-smile as he tilted his head just a touch. “Yes. It is, isn’t it?” he agreed, and there was an almost knowing look in his eyes that snapped Jayce out of his brief near-trance. “But I think we really should get going now,” Viktor added with another chuckle as thunder made itself known again ever so loudly. 

“Shit, you’re probably right, huh?” Jayce managed a laugh, and the two of them gathered their things and got ready to head back to the car, beating the downpour by mere seconds. 

They had made it back to the city just fine even in the heavy rains and sweeping winds, Jayce having driven slowly and carefully, the two of them in no particular rush. The drive had gone a little longer than the hour or so it was meant to be due to this, so their stomachs were grumbling quite a bit by the time they rolled through the Portillo’s drive-through and then parked in the lot to eat. 

It wasn’t that late into the evening yet, but with the storm covering the city, it was already plenty dark, all the lights of the buildings, cars, streetlamps and the like glowing brighter, their reflections bouncing off every puddle on the ground or each droplet sliding down any given structure. It was incredibly dazzling, and Jayce found peace in it despite the inherent chaos of a storm. 

Naturally, they had killed the time back to the city by chatting, but now they sat in comfortable silence as they ate, taking in the sounds of the world around them instead. It stayed that way up until Jayce finished the actual dinner aspect of his order and moved to open the container for his slice of cake. 

“Y’know,” he started, poking his fork into the cake. “I’m thinking of what I might like to do when we eventually work on thesis stuff before graduation.” He took a bite and hummed his immediate satisfaction, as was customary. 

“Oh?” Viktor raised an eyebrow slightly, glancing aside at Jayce as he neatly tucked all his garbage back into the bag. 

“I know, I know, I’m thinking way ahead here,” Jayce acknowledged with a light laugh, and Viktor gave a carefree roll of his eyes in return. 

“I was not going to say that,” he said, but Jayce knew that he had at least been thinking it. Not that that was a bad thing. Just that Jayce had learned quite some time ago how to read Viktor’s face. So he said as much. 

“But you were thinking it, right?” he teased, flashing a toothy grin at the unimpressed, yet still fond expression that Viktor gave back. “Okay, okay, I’m serious now. I’d like to do something with investigating supercell mesocyclone longevity. I think that would be really fun.” He shrugged one shoulder as he popped another bit of cake into his mouth. 

“Mm,” Viktor hummed. “Confession time. I have also already considered what I would like to do. As a matter of fact, I was thinking along those same lines.” 

“Wow, and you had the nerve to say I was thinking too far ahead,” Jayce scoffed with much feigned offense. 

“I never said that,” Viktor easily retorted, lifting his chin defiantly. “You just assumed I was thinking it.” 

They stared each other down for a second before Jayce gave in with another laugh. Viktor had him there, but he found that he liked it more whenever Viktor won in whatever fake argument or playfully petty discussion they got into. “Okay, fine, you’re right,” he said. “As always.” But he didn’t want to let Viktor sit smugly for too long (even though he looked unfairly cute when he was proud of himself), so he asked, “What were you thinking then?” 

Viktor leaned back in his seat and looked ahead through the windshield, eyes tracking the raindrops that were rapidly sliding down it. “An engineering-based research project entirely focused on supercells. That’s as far as I’ve gotten,” he said simply, and Jayce loved the sound of it. “Really, it just sounds almost exactly like what you’ve said.” 

“Well,” Jayce began, rubbing his chin to put on a show of thoughtfulness that made Viktor huff through his nose when he saw it, which was more than enough for Jayce to feel pleased. “I guess that just means we should keep working together, right? Keep being partners in weatherly crime.” 

Viktor furrowed his eyebrows. “That…sounds ridiculous. Weatherly crime.”

“But you just can’t say no to me, as we’ve discussed,” Jayce reminded him, 

“I said something like that.” 

“You’ve got an awfully good memory when it comes to reminding me what you did or did not say.” 

“Or perhaps your memory is failing you. Getting old, Jayce?”

Jayce’s jaw dropped before a laugh burst out of him, which in turn got Viktor laughing, their combined joy almost as loud as the thunder outside.

Once they both calmed down a little more, Jayce said, “Damn. Well, I mean, my birthday is in a couple months now. Guess I am getting old, huh?” He pressed a hand over his chest and sighed, which only got Viktor to snicker some more, though he looked thoughtful upon hearing Jayce’s birthday was slowly but surely approaching. Jayce picked up on it and joked further, “Gonna do something for me, V? I’d like a professional career with the NWS all wrapped up in a pretty pink bow please.” 

“Oh, yeah, I’ll be sure to get you that,” Viktor played along, which made Jayce’s heart flutter fondly. “Do you want a gift receipt in case you want to return it or make an exchange?” He raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest. 

“Not necessary,” Jayce dismissed with a wave of a hand. “I’m confident in what I want.” 

Viktor hummed his amused acknowledgment, gaze lingering on Jayce for a moment, but it was just long enough for Jayce to feel an antsy thrum in his pulse and sit up a little straighter, still hoping to look presentable under Viktor’s analytical stare despite all this time. Or maybe because of it. He was more comfortable with Viktor than he had ever been with anyone else (other than the girls, naturally), but, somewhat unfortunately, having certain feelings for someone was bound to leave one constantly overthinking their every move. 

But Viktor didn’t say anything about him, instead nodding a couple times before looking out his window again. Jayce’s brows pinched slightly, him feeling a touch confused. Viktor was quiet, but it still seemed like he had something he wanted to say, the anticipation of it in the air, like the way one could feel that specific energy in the atmosphere before a storm. Maybe Viktor was just trying to find the words. So Jayce waited. 

“Your confidence is infectious,” Viktor finally said, simply said, and looked back at Jayce with a very small smile. 

This was not quite what Jayce had expected him to say, but then again he supposed he hadn’t necessarily had any expectations. Viktor could be quite the wild card. 

“Is it?” Jayce then asked genuinely in return. “I thought you seemed plenty confident already back when we first met.” 

“I was… but not nearly as much as I am now. I did not used to feel much confidence at all. In terms of what I wanted to possibly dedicate my life to, I mean.” 

“Yeah?” Though Jayce supposed that was entirely normal and happened to pretty much everyone, he waited for Viktor to elaborate. 

“It…took me some time to realize that this was what I really wanted to do. Because I was quite afraid, to be honest.” Viktor folded his hands in his lap and stared down at them. His gaze looked a little distant. 

Now Jayce raised his eyebrows, sensing that he was about to learn something new about Viktor, something important. He had an urge to reach out and touch him, on his hands or his shoulder or something. But he didn’t. 

Viktor glanced at him again with a look that Jayce could only describe as weary, as if he was waiting for permission to talk. And though he obviously never needed permission, Jayce gave a slight dip of his head to encourage him to continue. Rain was still heavy on the car, the sound of it quite demanding, but it became easily lost to Jayce as Viktor continued. 

“I want to help people impacted by the weather,” he started, and then paused to let out a sigh before continuing, “because there was no one to help when I was young.”

Jayce had waited to hear Viktor talk, had wondered if he would ever open up about whatever was protectively tucked away beneath his surface. He would never have demanded Viktor tell him anything he didn’t want to, but there would have been a part of him that would have always quietly wondered otherwise. 

Jayce had waited to hear Viktor talk, and now he would listen. 

The next two weeks were rather hectic as everybody was reviewing or cramming or whatever else they needed to do in order to prepare for their impending finals. It felt like the semester’s end had come out of nowhere, but Jayce once again considered all the fun that had helped the time pass and how the past months had probably been the most exciting of his life. 

He wondered if Viktor thought that too, even if only a little bit. 

When they were down to one week before finals, Jayce had impulsively asked Viktor if he wanted to come over to his place to study more together after classes were over. He hadn’t even gotten the chance to try backtracking once he remembered that his place was a bit messy at the moment, or just the fact in general that being alone with Viktor in his own room sounded both thrilling and terrifying. Way too close, way too intimate somehow, but they were still friends and friends hung out at other friends’ places and it wasn’t weird, it was just that Jayce was all sorts of tightly wound up and nervous and- 

“Oh, that sounds good,” Viktor was agreeing while Jayce’s mind moved at warp speed. “I must say I am curious to see what the home of Jayce Talis looks like,” he added with a sly grin.

Jayce forced his mind back into focus. With a pssh, he said, as casually as he could muster, as if he wasn’t trying to remember whether or not his dirty laundry was lying about in his room, “Ah, yes, the House of Talis, which is actually a way too small apartment with a few water stains on the ceiling and walls just thin enough that I can hear the neighbors getting it on. It’s very luxurious.”

Viktor laughed, and the sound of it was enough to ease Jayce. Just a little bit. Enough. 

Naturally, he laughed along.

Fortunately, it had not been nearly as bad as Jayce had convinced himself it would be. Both the state of his apartment and hanging out there alone with Viktor. When they had arrived, after meeting up after their last classes and hopping on the train together, Jayce had quickly uttered a give me one sec before hurrying ahead into his room and seeing that he had only left a couple of shirts and one pair of pants lying on his desk chair, so it was easy enough to gather and toss them into the actual hamper stored in his closet. He didn’t really know why it was so hard for him to do that in the first place, but whatever. 

His bed was looking a little jumbled too, so he swiftly straightened it up, spreading out the blanket a little nicer and even fluffing the pillows, though he had no idea why that mattered at all. The only thing left in his room that looked like a mess was the desk, filled as always with books, journals, pens and pencils, loose papers, and whatever else he was working on, studying, researching. And while it looked chaotic, he felt that this was the kind of mess he didn’t care to make more presentable, because it was the kind of mess that he knew Viktor would understand.

And he had, as it was the first thing Jayce noticed that Viktor noticed when he had finally been allowed into the bedroom. Viktor’s eyes had landed on Jayce’s workzone immediately, and he brightened in a way that had Jayce letting out a secret sigh of relief. 

“Mm, I suppose I expected nothing less from the mind of a genius,” Viktor praised lightly as he moved closer to the desk and then paused before asking, “May I?” His fingers hovered just above one of Jayce’s notebooks, but Jayce’s brain was still catching up after Viktor’s praise from just a moment before. 

“What? Oh, yeah! Yeah, uh, sure, you can look at whatever,” he managed to ramble, trying to calm himself down next by putting his backpack onto his bed and unloading its contents, just to have something to do with his hands, something to do in general, while Viktor had his fill. And once he had nothing left to pretend to be busy with, he paused before awkwardly sitting on the edge of the bed to watch Viktor, who was apparently too enraptured with Jayce’s hurricane of notes to pay him much mind. He was flipping through one of Jayce’s favorite field guides, one he had annotated and tabbed to the high heavens. 

Jayce suddenly remembered then, as his eyes lingered on Viktor’s beautiful frame in his room, that he perhaps ought to be more of a host, so he cleared his throat before offering, “Would you like anything to eat? Or drink? Or…” 

“Hm?” It really was Viktor’s turn to not entirely pay attention, but only for the briefest of seconds before Jayce could physically see him catch up, eyelashes fluttering as he blinked quickly a couple times before saying, “Ah, maybe a drink? If you wouldn’t mind.”

“Of course not!” Jayce reassured instantly, quickly standing at the same time, and he felt his cheeks burn as he did. Too much. Too much. 

Viktor had apparently noticed as well, to Jayce’s mortification, as he used the field guide to cover his face as he let out a breathy chuckle, his dazzling eyes watching Jayce from over the book’s cover.

Jayce was dumbstruck, frozen in his tracks for a moment, before stupidly (in his humblest opinion) stammering, “W-Water? Or - well, actually I think I just have water. I had some soda but I’m pretty sure I finished it off just the other night, so-” 

Viktor lightly cut in, book lowered, “Water is fine, Jayce. Thank you.” An easy smile rested on his face, and it had its usual effect of being able to comfort Jayce despite it all. 

He left to get water before he could say or do another stupid thing. 

Some time later, the two had found themselves a quite comfortable setup with Jayce working on the floor, sitting with his back against his bed, and Viktor lounging on the desk chair, turned to face Jayce as they worked. 

Jayce had offered to clear off space on the actual desk for Viktor to use, but Viktor had assured him that it was no problem, that he didn’t want to compromise the evident system of study Jayce clearly had going on, so he instead was using a hardcover book as a flat surface on his lap, a notebook of his own resting on it. 

Jayce was working away diligently on his laptop, reading aloud the additional notes and highlighted bullet points he had marked from a PowerPoint they had been given to study, Viktor contributing his own thoughts and guesses in a way that had the two of them ping-ponging off one another well into the evening.

Jayce’s initial nervousness over having Viktor at his place, having Viktor at his place with it being just the two of them, was eventually drowned out as he began to realize how natural it actually felt for him to be there, for the two of them to be working together like this just as they would if they were in the lab. The occasional awkwardness that he felt about himself, whether or not Viktor noticed it too, was more than worth it to spend this time together. Anything was worth it to spend time with Viktor, really. 

Jayce lost track of time as he was lost in their workflow. 

At some point, Viktor had suddenly gone from sitting on the chair to sitting on the floor next to Jayce, wanting, apparently, to show him something from his own notes. Jayce wasn’t sure why Viktor had gotten so close to him for this, as Viktor had been sharing information from his other notes just fine from on the chair, but Jayce wasn’t going to complain about the proximity. Wasn’t going to complain about the way the musky, mahogany smell of Viktor’s cologne subtly made itself known between them. Their shoulders were so close, their knees as well, and, while Jayce wasn’t complaining, his heart was pounding, and he could only hope Viktor didn’t have the superhearing to notice it. 

It had been dark for some time. Viktor had not gone back to the chair, and neither of them had moved away from one another either. If anything, Jayce felt they had gotten even closer, but maybe he was only imagining that. There was that familiar buzz under his skin that he couldn’t ignore, and it was driving him a little bit crazy. 

The two of them had fallen into a cozy silence some time ago, so Jayce had completely locked himself onto his laptop in an attempt to distract his mind. He was supposed to be focusing on this anyway, but, for once in his life, explaining the effects of low pressure systems did not feel as important to him, not in a moment like this. Nonetheless, he forced himself into it, in the middle of typing rotational differences depending on hemisphere when a sudden weight settled on his shoulder. 

He froze instantly, his eyes flitting from the screen to the side, where a head of soft brown hair was resting against him. Was he asleep? Jayce hadn’t even noticed, but now he looked from the top of Viktor’s head down to his lap, where his hands had stopped moving, pencil lulling in his palm. His chest rose and fell gently, but he was otherwise very still. 

Sirens blared in Jayce’s head. He was practically paralyzed, unsure of what to do, eyes darting back to his laptop to read the time in the corner of the screen: 10:47 PM. Christ. And Viktor still had quite the commute home. Jayce didn’t want this to end, Jayce wanted this to end, he never wanted to move, he wanted Viktor to move before he somehow in some way did something to humiliate himself. 

But before he could decide on any course of action, he felt Viktor stiffen for a moment before he was quickly sitting up straight again, eyes wide open now despite him having looked so peacefully asleep just a second before. Jayce often struggled to read people’s expressions or just generally understand them, but the alarm on Viktor’s face was undeniably clear to him now. 

For a millisecond, the two of them stared at each other like a pair of deer in headlights before Jayce said simply, dumbly, “It’s getting late, huh.” Not as a question, just an acknowledgment. He slowly closed his laptop, the soft sound of it shutting being the only noise in the room then before Viktor seemed to gather his own thoughts as he pulled himself up with his cane, which had been propped against the bed, and moved to grab his backpack from near the desk. 

“Right,” he acknowledged in agreement. “I’m sorry. I do not usually sleep this early. I guess I got a little, eh, too comfortable.” He wasn’t looking at Jayce as he put his things away in his backpack before hoisting it up onto his shoulder. 

“Oh! It’s okay, really, I-” Jayce didn’t know if he should say this, but the words came out anyway. “I didn’t mind.” 

Viktor looked at him now, and the butterflies in Jayce’s stomach scattered about. He was ready to straight up rip his tongue out of his mouth before Viktor’s lips cracked into a tiny smile, and Jayce thought that maybe he almost even looked a little shy. But that could have just been a projection of his own feelings. 

“Ah, well,” Viktor mumbled before clearing his throat. “I am relieved then.” 

Jayce’s own relief flooded him, and he smiled back before he pushed himself to his feet and moved to the bedroom door, of course going to follow Viktor to see him off for the night once he was ready. 

“I’m glad we could do this,” Jayce was saying as Viktor got his shoes back on by the actual front door. In the end, he did not regret inviting Viktor over despite the few times he had embarrassed himself. They had gotten a lot done after Jayce got over the initial awkwardness of introducing Viktor to his space, and he was grateful as always to have the best lab partner out there.

“I’m glad too. Thank you for inviting me, Jayce. Your place is very nice,” Viktor replied as he straightened up and gazed at Jayce, expression warm and genuine. 

Jayce wanted to kiss him.

Fuck.

“Ah, you don’t gotta lie,” he joked in return with a wave of his hand, fully aware that his apartment wasn’t the nicest ever. But it was home. And Jayce liked the way Viktor fit into the picture of it. 

“Tch, you take me for a liar?” Viktor asked with an arched brow and a grin. 

“I-” Jayce opened his mouth, paused, thought, and then sighed in defeat. “I have no clever rebuttal this time. I think my brain is fried.” He hung his head for dramatic effect, and Viktor chuckled proudly before patting the top of Jayce’s head twice, which, though it goes without saying, had quite an impact on Jayce’s nervous system. He lifted his head and wondered if the sting along his cheeks and ears was as visibly obvious as it felt. 

“That’s okay. I did say you would get used to me winning, after all,” Viktor hummed, and Jayce loved the sound of it. Loved the way they could always joke with one another like this. 

“You did, you did,” he allowed with a breathy laugh before he opened the door for Viktor. “Think we’re ready for finals now?” 

“Oh, certainly.” 

Jayce smiled wide. “Goodnight, V.”

Viktor smiled back. “Goodnight, Jayce.” 

[JAYCE!]: FFUUUCCCKK FUCK FUCK 

[caitlyn]: ????? are you good? 

[JAYCE!]: i just had viktor over at my place to study together for finals ALONE and FUCK FUCKFUCK I NEED TO TELL YOU WHAT HAPPENED 

[caitlyn]: OH?

Finals, like midterms, came and went almost too quickly for Jayce to comprehend. So much build up, so much work, his mind always racing between his assignments and where he stood with Viktor so much so that he rather felt as if the wind had simply swept him up and sent him tumbling uncontrollably through the rest of the school year. And, fortunately, though he didn’t really have too many doubts to begin with when it came to his exams, Jayce came out alive on the other side of it all. “It all” being the schoolwork and finals aspect, not his relationship with Viktor, which he had forced to the back of his mind when taking all his tests but was only able to think about it now that school was finishing up. 

“I will miss this lab,” Viktor was saying as they packed up their things, getting ready to follow everyone else out of the room. “Though we will see it again, I suppose.”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. I’ll miss it too,” Jayce answered, and he would, but he couldn’t help but think more about how much he’d miss sitting next to and working so closely with Viktor several times a week the way they had been since January. It was a routine he always looked forward to, though he supposed this meant there was now that potential for them to spend even more time together with schoolwork out of the way until fall rolled around again. 

That is, if Viktor still wanted to spend as much time with Jayce as Jayce wanted to spend with him. He knew, if anything, that they both wanted to chase more storms together before the season would wind down, but what about after that? Or what would happen next semester? Would they still be partnered together? Would they need to switch? 

“Jayce?”

Jayce blinked, realizing he had been blankly staring down at the monitor on the desk, one hand on the back of his chair while the other held his backpack over his shoulder by its strap. He blinked again, a little harder this time to focus his vision, and then looked at Viktor, who was a few steps away now, looking back at him in return. 

“I’m afraid you can’t live here until fall,” Viktor teased, head tilted. 

Jayce let out a sigh and pushed in his chair the rest of the way. “How’d you know that’s what I was thinking?” he lied jokingly, but noticed the way there wasn’t much energy in his own words, each one falling flatter than the last, sounding much unlike his usual self. 

Viktor gave him a softened, understanding gaze, and in that moment he was all Jayce could see, the movement of their classmates around them an unimportant blur. Then Viktor turned to face him a little more, moved closer and grabbed Jayce’s free hand with his own, giving him a gentle tug to get him moving. 

“Come on. We will be back before we know it,” Viktor was saying, and Jayce was listening, listening, listening, but his heart and mind were yearning, yearning, yearning.

“Right,” he said. 

He squeezed Viktor’s hand and followed him out of the lab, looking forward rather than back.

They went out to dinner with the girls that night to celebrate. It was, as always, a wonderful time, and Jayce was overwhelmed with the sheer amount of warmth and gratitude he had towards his friends. 

He couldn’t help but watch the way Cait and Vi interacted and wish he could be that way with Viktor, who was sitting closely next to him on their side of the table but wasn’t touching him, wasn’t brushing his hair back every now and then, or sharing food off the same fork the way the girls were, leaning into each other and giggling happily. 

Jayce wondered if Viktor would even do things like that. He didn’t know if he necessarily pegged him for the visibly affectionate type when in public. Probably not, at least not to such an extent. 

He did hold my hand in the lab where everyone could see, though. 

But that was friendly. So it didn’t count. 

After dinner, the girls offered for Jayce and Viktor to come back to their place to keep hanging out. To play games or have dessert or maybe a few drinks or something, as they had put it. (“Cait and I tried making cupcakes yesterday. They’re kinda sloppy, but they’re edible.”). 

Viktor fondly expressed that, while he deeply appreciated the invite, he had more celebratory plans with a few other friends back in his area to get to as well before it got too late. Naturally, they all understood, but naturally, Jayce wished he didn’t have to go. 

Maybe Viktor could see the slight disappointment on his face, which Jayce considered to be quite horrifying if that was the case, because he offered up a little smile and said, “I will text you when I’m home,” before waving at the girls and heading off towards the nearest station. 

“Goodnight, Viktor!” Cait called as they watched him go.

“Oh?” Vi then piped up, leaning into Jayce and nudging his side. “Texting each other when you’re home safe, hm?” A shit-eating grin stretched across her face while Jayce’s own face lit up. He hurriedly shrugged her off, lest Viktor glance back at all and see them. 

“It’s polite,” he mumbled under his breath by way of explanation, and Cait only rolled her eyes lightheartedly while Vi snickered. It was more than evident that the girls didn’t buy it, but Jayce still had a fear of getting his hopes up too high. It was kind of like storm chasing. It was never a guarantee to see exactly what you might be looking for, especially if it was a tornado, so you always needed to manage expectations and accept the likelihood and odds. 

But it wasn’t impossible, and people would drive hundreds and hundreds of miles to see it happen. 

Jayce didn’t want to be too hopeful, but he knew how far he’d go for Viktor. 

Farther into the night, technically the following morning, nearing 2 AM, Jayce was sitting on the floor by the girls’ couch, legs pulled up to his chest and eyes locked onto a bare part of the wall across the room as his thoughts warred. 

The girls were joking and laughing loudly behind him on the couch as they gamed, the usual and comforting routine. It stayed that way for a few more minutes before they must have realized that Jayce had been quiet for a moment too long, because Cait poked the back of his shoulder with her foot and asked, “Earth to Jayce?”

Jayce blinked, coming back to himself. Maybe the few drinks he had hadn’t been such a good idea, because he squeezed the bottle in his hand, took a breath, and said,

“I want to tell Viktor.” 

His phone lay on the floor next to him, lit up with a notification.

[Machine Herald]: Looks like there is a decent setup for next week. Want to look into it? Anyway, I got home safe. Good night, Jayce. 

Jayce and Caitlyn went out the following day. Well, the day of Jayce’s sudden announcement, just later (at 3:36 PM, to be specific, after they had all eventually passed out and slept til just past noon). Vi hadn’t been able to tag along, having been needed by Jinx for something. Jayce couldn’t remember what exactly, but Vi had groaned her dismay at not being able to join them on what was inevitably going to be “a very juicy and pine-y conversational adventure,” to which Jayce had just smacked his hands over his face in embarrassment. 

They had walked from Cait and Vi’s place to a bus stop that took them deeper into the city, getting off downtown and grabbing some fast food that they held onto as they walked the rest of the way to the steps near Ohio Street Beach. There, they settled down to eat, quiet and comfortable for the time being as they watched the lake’s waves roll over one another. 

Eventually, after they finished up and stuffed their trash back into the greasy paper bags, Cait took initiative, which Jayce was grateful for, as he wasn’t so sure he wouldn’t keep blurting out more stupid things. 

“Well,” she began with a slow grin as she turned from the lake to Jayce. “He certainly has my very important and certified Kiramman blessing. But you already knew that.” 

Jayce let out a small chuckle before shrugging helplessly, fiddling with a napkin as a way to keep his hands busy as they talked, folding it over and over, unfolding it to go the other way, tearing here and there at random. Whatever. 

“It’s just like I said,” he mumbled, recounting a bit of what he had explained initially at 2 AM. “I don’t know what next semester will be like. Lab could be very different. We might get separated. Though I guess our teacher was pretty nice…maybe she’d let us stay together if we asked. I mean, if he even wanted to. I think he would, though? He never really talked to anyone else.”

Cait had an elbow propped up on a raised knee, chin now resting in her palm as she watched Jayce. 

“You know, I never told you, but one day he and I had to work with a couple other people in our class, and they thought we were, like…dating.” Remembering it had Jayce’s ears heating up all over again, though he supposed he never fully forgot about it. 

Cait’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh?”

“Yeah. I guess there was a rumor going around about it. Which just feels weird since I didn’t really think anyone was paying us any attention. But I guess they were. I mean, evidently. Obviously.” 

“So even the random cishets are clocking you two is what I’m hearing.” 

Jayce’s jaw dropped and he scoffed in disbelief, twisting so that Cait could take in totality of his offense and flabbergasted-ness. “Okay,” he started, defiant. “For one thing, we don’t know if they’re straight-”

“But we know they’re cis?”

“I have a sense for that.” Ignoring that Viktor had fallen under his radar initially. “But-” 

“Ah, yes, the transgender radar. The tradar.”

“Yeah. But that’s not the point. The point is there’s nothing to clock!”

“I don’t think you’d be gearing up to confess then if you really believed that.”

Jayce opened his mouth to say more, then shut it, Cait’s words processing in his mind. Processing and unfortunately making sense. Or…fortunately? 

Was there really a chance his feelings could be reciprocated? Even if that chance was small? Was it that, or was he just becoming reckless with want in a way he had never been before?

There were too many questions, and they were making his head hurt with all of their swirling. He groaned and pulled his knees up to his chest, wrapping his arms around and burying his face in them, eyes squeezed shut and brows tightly pinched. 

This was more than he had bargained for. He truly never had felt this way about someone before. He didn’t know how people survived having back to back crushes or anything like that. It was unbearable. 

“I don’t know how to tell him,” he mumbled, and could sense Cait shifting closer to try to hear him better. 

“I think you just bite the bullet and do it. Just be your sweet, honest self.”

Jayce turned his head and cracked an eye open to look sidelong at her. “That’s some really corny, cliche advice,” he grumbled. 

“Hey, don’t look at me,” Cait said as she held up both hands in defense. “I was the ‘confessed to,’ not the confessor.” When Jayce only rolled his eyes and huffed, she dropped her hands, letting one settle on his shoulder, and added, “Seriously, whatever you want to do, Vi and I will be here to back you up if you need it. We can celebrate with you or be a damn good distraction if it goes poorly.” When Jayce shot her another look, she clarified, “But it won’t because he totally likes you back and you guys are going to be so cute and so gay and I’m going to be so happy for you. Trust me.” She flashed a confident smile, and Jayce stared for a moment before sighing and leaning into her, letting her arm wrap all the way around his shoulders.

“Thank you,” he said, softly and genuinely. 

“Of course,” she replied, just as softly and just as genuinely. 

They listened to the waves again for a minute.

“So…you have a tradar but no gaydar?” Cait asked. 

Jayce immediately shoved himself off her, pushing her over in the process, as she broke into laughter. 

Jayce tried to script it. 

Scripting was something he was good at. But life often did not like to adhere to one’s script, and it always felt like the rug was pulled out from under him each and every time that happened. 

He and Viktor chased that following week, the setup Viktor had mentioned having pulled through and provided them a pretty exciting chase after all, one that had them parking under an overpass at one point to avoid some sudden quarter-size hail that came and went relatively swiftly.

“I feel like I’m going against a cardinal rule right now by being under here,” Jayce joked, putting on the car’s hazards as they sat there. 

“That’s for tornadoes. This is not a tornado,” Viktor said simply, hands folded neatly in his lap.

I like you. I really fucking like you, Jayce wanted to say. 

“Yes, I know,” he said instead, and Viktor snickered oh-so-innocently. Jayce couldn’t help but let out a little laugh in return, but he heard and felt the way it quivered with his nerves. What he really wanted to say was still right there on the tip of his tongue. His heart pounded and he opened his mouth just as Viktor blinked, looking away from Jayce and moving to dig his phone out of his pocket. Jayce could now hear the way it was vibrating aggressively. 

“Oh, it’s Cait,” Viktor said. The two had officially exchanged numbers back when they had all gone out for post-finals dinner. He answered, putting her on speaker phone. “Hello?”

“Oh, thank GOD you actually answer! Jayce isn’t picking up!” she exclaimed, an exasperation in her voice that had obviously been building up before this. 

“I’m driving!” Jayce sputtered in defense of himself. He wondered how many texts and/or missed calls he would later see on his phone when he had the time to check it again, it being tucked away in his backpack in the backseat, as Viktor had been doing the radar-watching and navigating for them on his own phone. 

“Yeah, I figured! My car better be okay! The hail is coming down here!” 

Jayce hung his head, letting his forehead press against the top of the steering wheel. “The car is fiiine, Cait,” he groaned, because it was! It was fine, and the hail was already lightening up, and a few blue patches of sky could even be seen, but Cait seemingly needed to blow off a little more steam about it, insisting they be careful, both for the sake of the car and themselves, even though they always were careful. 

Jayce glanced at Viktor, and Viktor glanced back and held his gaze before biting his lip somewhat sheepishly as he kept holding up his phone. Of course he didn’t want to cause Cait any concern. Jayce was just used to doing that by now. Though not intentionally, of course. 

But he would be sure to let her know that she had interrupted his almost confession. Just to have a little bit of petty, satisfying payback. Even though, realistically, he knew he hadn’t actually been about to say it. His nerves had gotten the best of him.

Next time. Next time he would say it. 

“Viktor, I-” 

“Jayce! Your hair is standing up!”

“What? Oh, fuck. Go, go, go!”

Okay, next time.

“Hey, V-”

A crack of thunder split the air all around them, so sudden and loud that it had them both gasping in surprise and clutching at themselves, eyes wide as they gawked at one another and tried to catch their breath after the shock of it. 

“Good fucking lord,” Jayce only managed to sputter instead before pushing his hair back with a slightly trembly hand. 

Whether it was the unexpected thunder or the fear of confessing that had gotten him shaking, he couldn’t really tell. 

Okay. Next time. 

“Such clear convection,” Viktor hummed with appreciation as they stood together in an empty field, watching a towering stack of cumulus clouds in the distance. 

Jayce had just finished snapping a few photos and was flipping through them in his camera’s gallery as Viktor spoke. He lifted his head to look over at him and the two met each other with wide smiles, as they always did. 

“Yeah,” Jayce agreed, removing the camera’s strap from around his neck, not liking the weight of it after too long. “Got some pretty good photos. I’ll have to upload them to my computer later to edit, though.” 

“Sounds like a plan,” Viktor said pleasantly. “Shall we head back then?” He adjusted his grip on his cane as he glanced back towards the car, parked alongside the nearby gravel road. 

“Oh, yeah, we can get going. I think it’s gonna clear up for the rest of the day, anyway, so might as well,” Jayce said, digging out his phone with one hand as the other continued to hold his camera. He briefly checked his radar app - yep, no more storms for the day - before putting his phone away again and noticing that Viktor was already making his way over to the car.

Jayce felt a rush of impulsivity. 

“Wait, Viktor, there’s something I want to tell you,” he blurted out, quickly moving to try catching up with him. 

Viktor stopped and turned to face him, eyebrows raised and expression appearing almost expectant. Almost eager. Jayce had no idea what that was about and certainly had no time to analyze it, because the toe of his boot suddenly scuffed the ground hard enough in his hurry to cause him to stumble just a bit, but it was enough for his camera to slip out of his hand and splash right into a puddle of fresh rainwater and mud that sat between the two of them. Mocking Jayce. Taunting him. 

Viktor’s previous expression was instantly wiped and replaced by one that was purely stunned, his jaw dropped and eyes wide. “Oh, no,” he breathed in disbelief, his free hand over his mouth. 

Jayce was locked into place, still as a statue as he gawked at the camera, splattered with mud in nearly two inches of water. 

“I-I actually want to die now,” he stammered, breaking his frozen state to drag both hands through his hair. “Yeah. Yeah, that’s what I was going to say. Fuck, you’ve got to be kidding me.” 

Next time…? 

Next time he would keep the damn camera strap around his neck. 

Well, the good news was that Jayce hadn’t really needed to worry about whether or not Viktor would still want to see him after the semester’s end. Evidently, as they had already had three separate chases together within the first few weeks of summer break, and had hung out a few times in between the chases too. So, clearly, Viktor wasn’t only there for the chase. 

Okay, logically, Jayce knew that. Knew that they were good friends beyond the work, and certainly did not doubt Viktor’s genuineness, but the illogical and crazy-anxious part of his mind, the part that kept trying to gear up to just fucking tell him, was all sorts of worked up. 

He needed to get this over with. Force it out of his system.

The bad news was that he had tried. Hell, he had tried multiple times, and each time something had gone wrong. 

Maybe it was a sign. 

He said as much to Cait, slumped over the arm of the couch in defeat one day as he was over to have breakfast with the girls. Her immediate reaction was to lean over and smack the back of his lowered head with the handful of mail she had been sifting through. 

“Ah- hey!” he sputtered, even though it hadn’t actually hurt.

“Don’t you dare give up!” Cait chided, waving the mail at Jayce’s pouting face now. “I have had to sit and watch you pine after this dude for months and I refuse to let it be for naught!” 

“Agreed!” Vi called out from the kitchen where she was cooking some bacon. 

Jayce sighed loudly and slid off the couch until he was on the floor, where he rolled to lie on his back and stare up at the ceiling. 

“The stars aren’t aligned or whatever,” he lamented, draping an arm over his eyes. 

“Forget the stars. You’re not an astronomer. What’s that one weathery thing you always say?” Cait asked, poking at him with a foot. “Something about cap levels?”

Jayce furrowed his brows and raised his arm so he could squint at her. “You mean CAPE levels?” 

“Yeah, that.” She snapped a finger gun towards Jayce. “Think about that. The stars aren’t aligned but the CAPE levels are, uh, high. High, right? The higher the levels, the greater the potential?” 

Jayce’s arm plopped back down. He acknowledged her with a grunt. 

“Yeah, I’m right,” she continued easily, sounding pleased with herself. 

“Always are, babe,” Vi said, entering the room with a piece of bacon that she offered to Cait, who perked up immediately as she took it. “Food’s all done now. Enough being mopey and gay. Come get these waffles, pretty boy. Fuel up so you can be slightly happier and gay.” 

Jayce wanted to lie on the floor and allow himself his pity party for a moment longer, but the desire for warm waffles and hot bacon ultimately won out. 

“Okay, fine,” he sighed as he hauled himself back up, Cait standing at the same time and reaching to tousle his hair before she followed Vi back to the kitchen. 

“Just keep trying!” she encouraged from over her shoulder. 

Right. Like a chase, just keep trying. 

Jayce would give it one more chance, one more try when he felt the courage come again. And if something went wrong again, then, well, maybe he would just give it a rest for a while. But if nothing stopped him…

Maybe he’d experience the chase of a lifetime.

Chapter Text

“-winds, hail, and even a few brief tornadoes are possible. While these storms have been moving relatively quickly, flash flooding will still be a threat in some areas, so take caution, and do not drive through flooded-” 

In the first week of June, the strongest setup yet was firing up to the west. A squall line was sweeping over the eastern half of the Great Plains, making quite the beeline across the middle of the country. 

“-can expect that initial gust front in the greater Chicago area around 5:30 PM.”

Jayce was eagerly watching the live report on his laptop in bed, and he laughed aloud when he reached for his phone at the same exact moment a notification from Viktor lit up on it. Of course they were both thinking the same thing. 

Of course they were going out there.

It took several minutes, and maybe the promise of a paid for meal or two, for Jayce to then convince Cait over the phone to let them use her car again for this chase. The single cell and multi cell storms that the boys had been chasing thus far were one thing, Cait had argued, but a whole squall line was another, and she desperately did not want anything to happen to the car.

Or to the boys, obviously, but Jayce knew that she still trusted his instincts and was at least 98% reassured that he would never actually be reckless enough to put them in too much harm’s way. Or at least that he would know how to get them out of it if so. 

When they met up at Cait’s place, she narrowed her eyes at Jayce before dropping the car keys into his expectant palm, the usual routine.

“You have got to get your own car for this someday,” she said, but with no real bite. 

“Wanna get me one for my birthday?” Jayce joked. 

“Pssh, you wish,” Cait snorted, before they gave each other a hug and said quick see you laters. Cait offered up a fist for Viktor to bump, which he did with an easygoing chuckle as Jayce headed over to the car. 

“We really do appreciate it,” Viktor said, all genuinely polite gratitude, and Cait waved him off. 

“I know, I know. It’s just fun to give him a bit of a hard time. It’s only ‘cause I love him. You get what I mean?” 

With a light laugh, Viktor said, quietly, “Yeah. I get what you mean.” 

At 1 PM, the boys grabbed lunch before hitting the road. 

At 2 PM, they were nearly an hour out from the city, planning to do their usual move of finding a spot to watch the storm coming in and then maintaining a suitable distance ahead of it on the way back home. From west to east to west again. 

At 3 PM, they found themselves at a location about an hour and a half from the city. Considering the front of the line was bound for a 5:30 PM arrival back home, the boys knew they couldn’t drive too far out lest they forget to leave themselves enough time to make it back home first, considering the usual rush hour traffic too. They had decided on a general area around a small countryside town to start, and then had driven around for nearly half an hour before honing in on a more specific point to actually stop and watch. 

“Gridded roads, connection’s good enough, no one around.” By habit, Jayce started listing out the positives as he rolled to the side of a gravel road along a field. He didn’t prefer the gravel, but that was quite hard to get away from in many rural areas. Like usual, though, he would not let the storm catch up to them, so they really wouldn’t need to worry about potentially getting stuck in mud anyway. But he’d rather be prepared just in case. 

“That guy’s around, whoever he is,” Viktor pointed out, motioning towards the farmhouse property that sat some 500 or so feet away to their right. They could see the silhouette of someone walking towards a pickup truck that was parked outside the classically bright red-colored barn, and the silhouette of a dog lazily trailing behind. 

“Okay, Old Man McGucket doesn’t count,” Jayce said simply, and then squinted as he tried to get a better look through Viktor’s window. “How can you even tell that’s a guy from this far away?”

Viktor shrugged. “Eh, just a guess. Maybe a bit of a stereotypical one.” He put on a false apologetic look that got Jayce to roll his eyes with a smirk before they then moved to get out of the car. 

As soon as the doors opened, the breeze hit them, Jayce’s excitement fluttering with it. 

The sky above was a light gray, and in the distance, still many miles away but large enough to be seen stretching across the vast horizon, was the darkness of the incoming squall. Without fail, a level of calm and comfort settled over Jayce at the clear sight of it, the same feeling that always pulled him into its embrace when faced with an incoming display of nature’s awe-inspiring power. 

The crops in the surrounding fields were low, but they still rustled and bristled with the cool air. If Jayce listened very carefully, he could hear the very faint and distant sound of cars and trucks from the nearest highway. Barely audible, but there, miles away. The gravel shifted, scuffed, and crunched under his shoes, and he turned to look at Viktor upon hearing the way he was dragging his cane over the ground. 

“What’re you doing?” Jayce asked, head tilted down to look. 

“Mm, just an X to mark our lovely spot here,” Viktor hummed, and sure enough he had traced an X into the gravel that Jayce peered curiously at. “I think we should remember this place. It feels…” he trailed off and waved a hand vaguely, clearly trying to decide on what word he wanted to attribute to this charming countryside. 

“Important?” Jayce offered. He wasn’t entirely sure why, but he could just feel a thick, charged potential in the air. Undeniably important. 

He could not tell if it was coming from the storm or himself. Maybe both. Probably both.

Jayce had tried to ignore it on the drive out, the idea of again trying to confess his ridiculous feelings. If he were to do it, it would be completely stupid to do so when they were far from home, wouldn’t it? If it went terribly, awkwardly, and they had to drive back together in a pained silence? The mere thought of it made Jayce shudder, and he was glad that it could be played off as a brief chill from the incoming air. 

But now the idea was back in full force, and here Viktor was marking an X on the ground between them as if they had found treasure, and Jayce couldn’t let go of the feeling now, could not shake it because it had locked in, cemented itself in his mind. 

“Yes,” Viktor said, pulling Jayce from his thoughts. He touched his fingers to his chin thoughtfully. “Important.” 

Jayce bit his lower lip, trying to hold himself together.

Fortunately, his attention was taken off Viktor, off that moment, when a flurry of incoming movement and sound made its way into the field directly ahead of them. Together, the boys watched as a large murmuration of red-winged blackbirds swerved, dove, twisted, and twirled about, their calls and wingbeats filling the silence and mesmerizing Jayce briefly. 

Everything about this felt almost magical. 

“Fuck,” he groaned. “I really wish I had my actual camera right about now.” He dug into his pocket and pulled out his phone, turning it horizontal and recording a quick video of the birds with the approaching storm behind them. He could see the formation of the shelf cloud now, and felt giddy and energized by the sight of it. 

Finally he was getting what he wanted. It was absolutely captivating. 

But it was not everything that he wanted. 

Viktor had remained politely quiet while Jayce recorded, having actually taken out his own phone as well to capture a few pictures and videos, but once they both decided they had gotten all they needed for the moment, Jayce felt the weight on his shoulders bearing down again, absolutely impossible to ignore. 

“V, what’s the radar looking like?” he asked after clearing his throat, having had a hesitance to use his voice, unsure of where he would go with it. 

“Ah, let me see,” Viktor dutifully replied, swiping on his phone to check his app. “It is definitely holding up. Seems to be moving, eh, about forty-five miles per hour or so. We can stay here a little bit longer, if that’s why you’re asking.” 

Jayce squeezed a fist, inhaled for a few seconds, held it, and then exhaled, keeping his eyes trained on the birds and the sky. He knew Viktor was watching him now, and he hoped that he…hell, he didn’t know, he just hoped he looked like he was thinking about the storm and the timing to get home and not at all about how he thought Viktor was more breathtaking than any shelf cloud, any squall line, wall cloud, supercell, waterspout, lightning strike, tornado, hurricane, blizzard- just anything that Jayce had ever or would ever see in his entire life. 

He knew he was young, he knew there was still so much of nature’s beauty to witness on this earth, but he couldn’t shake the surety of Viktor’s ability to outshine it all, couldn’t shake how much he loved the idea of continuing to chase storms like this with him, chase and do more than they were now. Keep learning, growing, going farther, helping others the way they had needed it once before. 

They shared such a fiery passion and goal, and Jayce knew it was risking it all to say anything. 

Well, there was always a certain level of risk to any chase, wasn’t there?

“What’re you thinking?” Viktor spoke again, and his voice brought Jayce’s gaze back to meet his own. Jayce knew it then, knew that Viktor knew there was something more going on, and of course he did because Viktor wasn’t stupid, wasn’t blind to any irregular behaviors of Jayce’s. They had worked too closely together for long enough now that they had become attuned to one another. Knew how the other ticked and operated. And that was what drove Jayce to say what he said next. Because Viktor knew him. 

“I’m thinking about how happy I am that you’re here.”

Viktor blinked, his eyebrows shooting up and mouth opening slightly as Jayce turned to fully face him. And Jayce completely blacked out at that point, squeezing his hands together in front of his chest in a weak attempt to ground himself as the words started to pour out, as if they were a cloudburst of their own, overtaking everything in a sudden explosion of energy. 

“I was doing this kind of thing all alone for, like, several years before I even began school for it. And that was cool, really, it was fun. But then I met you and I’ve had so much more fun than I ever did before, and I don’t know if you feel the same way about it but I just, I don’t know, have been thinking about how right it feels doing this with you. Or, just, like, spending any time with you in general. Outside of the chases. I don’t really know how to say it, V, but standing here next to you for this feels like the most natural thing I could ever do, and I was worried that we might, well, I guess, I might lose it after the semester ended, or maybe when the next one starts because who knows if we’ll still get to work together, right?” 

He couldn’t bring himself to look at Viktor now. His eyes had gone from Viktor’s surprise, to just off to his side, to eventually at the ground the longer he rambled on. Now they were settled on the X in the gravel beneath and between them, and that seemed like as good a spot as any to focus on. 

“Jayce.” Viktor’s voice was soft, warm, all-encompassing, and Jayce was compelled to lift his head, to see him. 

Just as he did, the birds from before soared past behind Viktor before they doubled back in a large arc that framed him in Jayce’s view, marking him as the only thing that truly mattered there and then despite the wonders all around, despite the grand shelf Jayce had been waiting for rolling towards them across the vast and endless sky. And Jayce acknowledged to himself how cheesy that sounded even if it was all just in his head, but he couldn’t bring himself to care too much because he was looking at Viktor and Viktor was looking at him. 

Viktor’s expression was focused, expectant again like Jayce had noticed once before, though he hadn’t understood why then and he still wasn’t too sure now, wasn’t too sure because he didn’t want to be left disappointed. But he had already started and there wasn’t much of a way to go back now. 

He could see a slight upward curve to the corner of Viktor’s mouth, and that was enough encouragement for him. 

“I really like you,” Jayce breathed, and to make sure there was no room for doubt, no room for somehow still interpreting it as casual, he added, “Like, I really like you, Viktor. I-I think about you all the time and it drives me kind of insane, so I guess that’s why I’m saying all of this now, and I’m sorry if that’s kind of weird to hear, but that’s-” He paused and took a deep breath in before finishing up. “That’s just how I feel.” 

A pause, a silence, before-

“I was beginning to wonder if you would ever say it first.” 

Jayce’s heart leapt, and it must have shown on his face because Viktor laughed aloud before one of his hands suddenly came up and rested on Jayce’s cheek, gently cupping his face, and Jayce’s mind was left scrambling to catch up with this. The touch was so light that it was barely there, but every sense of Jayce’s was heightened and he could only hold as still as possible in hopes that Viktor wouldn’t suddenly fade away as if this entire thing had been a dream all along. 

“What?” Jayce felt stupid, but he was at a complete loss for anything else to say because was this really happening? 

Viktor’s hand left Jayce’s face then to cover his own mouth as another laugh escaped him, and Jayce instantly missed the feeling of his touch, found himself craving it. He barely comprehended the way his body leaned forward on its own accord, seeking out that touch despite any attempt Jayce may have had to control himself. 

“Did you really not know that I always think of you too?” Viktor asked, his eyes flashing above the top of his hand where it still hovered over his mouth. 

“I-” Jayce processed the words, his brain moving slower than his heart, which was already rocketing itself into the mesosphere. “You do? Really?” 

“Yes, really,” Viktor insisted, reaching to give Jayce a light flick on his forehead. He crossed his arms in a stance of false annoyance, cane hanging in the crook of an elbow, and asked, “Must I recount everything I have done to try showing you?” Despite the sense of exasperation in his words, his mouth was pressed into a wide smile. 

Jayce’s hand subconsciously went up, his fingers brushing over where Viktor had touched just a second before as a surprised, breathy laugh of relief broke out of him. He was positively elated, feeling as if he had successfully chased the storm of the century, and he knew that Viktor felt it too because he could now recognize that spark in his eyes. It was the same one he saw whenever Viktor was absorbed in his work, his passion. And Jayce wasn’t sure how he hadn’t noticed that before, but what did that really matter now? 

This moment, there and then, standing with Viktor in some middle-of-nowhere place on the side of some old gravel road, surrounded by nothing but fields in all directions, with only the red-winged blackbirds, the incoming squall, and maybe some farmer with his dog as witness…that was what mattered. And Jayce wouldn’t let it all slip through his fingers. 

“No, I understand now,” he said, and noticed a moment too late that he had moved closer and placed his hands on Viktor’s shoulders, body running on autopilot. “I think I was just too afraid to hope for it.” His face burned and he cleared his throat before lifting his hands off, letting them hover just barely above instead as a means of asking if this touch was fine. 

“Ah, well,” Viktor started slowly. He straightened his posture, which resulted in Jayce’s hands firmly settling on him. An answer. “Hope is not such a bad thing, is it?” 

They gazed at each other, and Jayce saw for the briefest of seconds how Viktor’s eyes flitted ever so slightly down to his lips before looking at him again. And Jayce allowed himself to do the same, because here he was finally knowing that they felt the same thing, that they wanted the same thing. And they were only inches apart then. 

“No,” he agreed, a big, toothy grin spreading across his face. “It isn’t.” 

Jayce’s eyes fluttered shut, and thunder rumbled in the distance as they bridged the gap and found one another, Jayce’s hands making their way to Viktor’s waist as Viktor’s slid up to rest lightly on either side of Jayce’s neck, cane still balancing over one arm, as the two of them held each other close, closer, leaning into the kiss, which, somehow Jayce knew, was only the first of endless to come. 

Jayce couldn’t help but wonder how much sooner he could have done this, could have had this. But he tried not to let himself regret anything. After all, there was undeniably something written in the stars about this time and place, something unmistakably right about it all, and Jayce didn’t tend to believe in much beyond fact and science, things he could see and prove with his own eyes, but he let himself think, as they pulled slightly apart, eyes opening to look at each other again, hearts full and finally satisfied, that perhaps the universe did want this for them. 

And, oh. 

How grateful Jayce was for that.

Chapter Text

THE END, BUT ONLY THEIR BEGINNING

“Happy birthday to my most beloved practically-brother! How lucky and honored I feel to have been here for, like, the past decade. Truly! I was here before it was cool,” Cait announced with all the dramatic flair she could muster up, a heartfelt hand pressed to her chest as she fanned at fake tears with her other one. 

She stood at the end of the small dining table in her and Vi’s kitchen, Jayce sitting directly across from her on the other end while Vi and Viktor took the longer sides. 

“Wow,” Jayce drawled, crossing his arms over his chest and shaking his head in mock disappointment. “Implying on my birthday that I was once uncool to be around. Couldn’t have just left it at how lucky and honored you are?” He had tried to maintain a serious face, but the facade broke about halfway through, a large smile taking over. 

“That wouldn’t have been very sisterly of me to leave it at that,” Cait said simply, earning a hearty chuckle from all three of the others. “Don’t you agree, Viktor?” She leaned forward over the table, hands pressed firmly against it to keep herself up. 

“Are you using me against him now?” Viktor asked knowingly, elbows propped on the table and chin resting on his folded fingers. He arched an eyebrow, grin tugging the corner of his mouth. 

The charming quirk of Viktor’s lips caught Jayce’s eye, and he badly wanted to kiss it. 

Later. Save it for later.

“Absolutely I am,” Cait confirmed, getting an amused eye roll out of Viktor now and an exaggerated scoff from Jayce. 

“Cruel and unusual,” Jayce lamented with a sharp tsk. 

“Eh, I’m sure we can make up for it,” Vi cut in abruptly, getting up from her seat and clapping her hands together. “Present time! The sooner, the better. I want to eat some cake.” 

“The cake isn’t burnt, is it?” Jayce teased as Vi turned and hurried off to grab something from their bedroom.

“That was only one time!” Cait sputtered, and Jayce laughed loudly, glad to have found a way to get back at her. It seemed Viktor couldn’t help but chuckle again then too, this time on Jayce’s side, and Jayce felt as proud as he always did when he could make him laugh. 

“Boom! Behold!” 

A box lowered in front of Jayce’s face as Vi held it before him from behind, her arms circled around his head. Jayce blinked rapidly, not having heard her approaching, before he gently took the unmarked box from her hands so that she could go back to her seat, which she did by way of practically skipping, clearly quite excited for Jayce’s reaction to whatever they had gotten. 

“This is the part where I apologize for the lack of wrapping,” Cait said, finally sitting back down herself yet still leaning forward with an eagerness that was just as clear as Vi’s. If Viktor was anywhere near as excited as them, he was doing a good job concealing it, as Jayce eyed him for any sort of reaction and found nothing. “You know I’m usually on my game about that, but I happened to have run out back during the holidays.”

Jayce let out an airy breath, not minding in the slightest. “It’s okay,” he said. “It all gets torn up anyway.” He positioned his hands over the top of the box, getting ready to pull the flaps open, and then paused to glance up at the others. “Am I okay to open it now?” 

“Yes,” Cait said, and then, as Jayce started to lift a flap, “Wait, wait!” 

“Cait,” Vi groaned with exasperation. 

Cait hurriedly dug into her pocket to take her phone out, lifting it and swiping open to the camera. “Okay! Go!” 

Jayce waited a second longer, giving Cait one last chance to say anything more. When she didn’t, his eyes sought Viktor, who smiled warmly at him before turning a hand in an encouraging go on gesture. So Jayce did.

He pulled back the flaps of the outer box to discover a slightly smaller box inside, but the print on the top was unmistakable. His jaw dropped and he gawked at it for a moment before lifting his head to look at the three staring back at him with big eyes and bigger smiles. 

“No way,” he said, and Cait giggled cheerily. “No way. Are you guys serious?” 

Digging his hands into the outer box, Jayce pulled out the fancy, expensive camera he had been longing for. He turned the actual box for the camera round and round in his hands, looking over every inch of it rapidly as if there would maybe be something off, wrong, or different about it, because it felt too good to be true. And because he knew how much it cost. 

“You’re serious?” he asked again, looking directly across the table at Cait. 

“Of course!” she insisted, and she had put her phone down at this point, having just taken a photo of Jayce upon the initial opening before evidently deciding that was more than enough for her. “I know I like to mess with you, but I wouldn’t fake you out like that.”

“This…” Jayce trailed off, at a momentary loss of words before he hugged the box to his chest and held it tight (but not too tight, of course). “I don’t even have the words.”

“It was Viktor’s idea,” Vi said with a very obvious air of pleasure, shooting him a sharp grin across the table. 

Jayce immediately turned to him, eyes widening even more, and Viktor looked like a deer caught in headlights for a second before he shot Vi a look even sharper than her grin. 

“I thought that we had agreed to not mention that,” he quickly uttered, and Vi let out a merciless cackle. 

“It was so sweet of you to think of it, though, Viktor!” Cait insisted, and then gestured for Jayce to look at her. “He messaged me about it, like, immediately after learning when exactly your birthday was. Asked what we thought and we obviously agreed right away that we could split the cost. Don’t even sweat it. Happy birthday, Jayce.” She had already said and done so much, but Jayce could read and understand all the millions of pure, loving things still left unsaid in her bright, beautiful smile. Left unsaid because it wasn’t necessary. Jayce would never doubt Cait’s love for him, and he hoped she would never doubt the boundless love he had for her in return. 

“Is that a blush I see?” Vi was asking now, wagging a finger towards Viktor.

Naturally, Jayce’s attention latched right back onto him, giddy with everything happening, and Viktor’s eyes widened in alarm before he covered his cheeks with his hands. 

“No!” he denied vehemently, and the girls broke into laughter together as Jayce got up and moved closer to Viktor. Putting the camera box down, he lightly took Viktor’s wrists into his hands to pull them aside before ducking down and stealing a swift kiss. If Viktor hadn’t actually been blushing before, he certainly was now, and Jayce couldn’t name something he loved seeing more. 

“Thank you, V,” he said with all the earnestness in his heart. “It’s perfect.” 

Viktor’s mouth hung open slightly, him appearing almost dazed. But just as he seemed to come back to himself and was clearly about to respond, Vi cupped her hands around her mouth and called out, “Gaaaaay. That was so gay, Jayce.” 

“Oh, I don’t even want to hear that from you!” Jayce exclaimed, releasing Viktor’s wrists so that he could point an accusatory finger at Vi. 

“What’s that supposed to mean, huh?”

“You’re way gayer than I am!”

“Nuh uh.”

“Nuh uh?”

“Okay!” Cait interrupted. “Who wants cake!” 

Viktor, having apparently managed to fully recover and gather his bearings, laughed lightly. Jayce’s head turned away from Vi and Cait back towards him when he felt Viktor take one of his hands into his own, holding it softly. Viktor was smiling up at him now, and Jayce felt it warm every inch of his body. 

“I am glad that you like it,” Viktor said, voice soft but as sincere as always. “Happy birthday, Jayce.” 

He gave Jayce’s hand a squeeze. 

And who was Jayce to deny himself just one more kiss after that?

Upon hearing the news, the girls, especially Cait, had obviously been elated. Jayce had endured at least several hundred “I told you so”s before finally getting a little bit of peace about it, but not without the addition of at least several thousand more hugs and “I’m just so fucking happy for you”s. And he was truly grateful for it, having wondered how much longer he would have let himself suffer if Cait and Vi hadn’t continued to motivate him to just fess up. 

He bought them lunch as a form of thanks, but felt as if he would just have to owe them for the rest of his life for helping him get with - who he wholeheartedly believed to be but would not say such words till quite some more time down the line - the love of his life. 

He had texted his mother saying he had something important to share with her, asking if she was free to call sometime soon, and she had been over the moon the moment she answered the phone, and Jayce had asked how could you have possibly known what I was going to tell you, and she had said I just knew something was different about the way you spoke of him, something was different and I just had to wait and see, and, oh, now I cannot wait to meet him, and please bring him home soon, Jayce. 

Jayce hadn’t realized he had mentioned Viktor enough in passing to his mother for her to have figured it out, but, then again, he had always been quite the momma’s boy. Maybe, sometimes, she just knew him better than he knew himself. 

Jayce thought of when he had come out to her, had told her hesitantly that he wanted to go by the name Jayce. How she had immediately wrapped him into her arms, her cheek pressed against the side of his head, and said, “I knew I had a son.” 

Now, late July, Jayce and Viktor found themselves out in Iowa, doing what they always did while celebrating the fact that they had the time to drive farther and out of state for their chasing endeavors. When Jayce had asked Cait about the car, she had rolled her eyes and said that she supposed he had earned it for his “romantic bravery,” but if anything happened to it, he wouldn’t “live long enough to get the chance to propose to Viktor someday.” 

Jayce reassured her they would be back within the following day, as their target setup was fortunately right along the state borders, and that, like always, he would never put her car in true harm’s way. And Cait had shooed him off with an undeniably fond smile, hardly ever really able to deny her brother anything. 

The meteorological outlook was promising, primed, and then perfect. The sun had loomed high in the sky for much of the day before the massive thundering and rolling waves of dark gray clouds made their way over the fields around them. And while the boys had been sweating before, they now had faint goosebumps as cool air rushed to meet them and the wind picked up. 

There were a few other vehicles parked alongside the road the way they were. Whether they were other chasers or just people who felt the need to stop and appreciate nature’s show too, Jayce didn’t know. 

All he knew was that he felt so glad to know in his heart, in his soul, that he had discovered, without a single doubt in his mind, that he was on the exact right path for himself. He was still so young and there was still so much to learn, but he knew there was nothing that could make his heart race faster than this. 

He fixed the strap around his neck and worked on adjusting the new camera’s settings, his eagerness to snap his first official photo on this camera growing by the second. 

“Look at the updraft there,” Viktor pointed out from Jayce’s side before he took a few steps forward, lifting a hand to trace the shape of the strengthening thunderhead before them. “Incredible.” 

Jayce’s eyes followed Viktor’s hand to the clouds, which he admired alongside him for a few seconds before his attention fell back to Viktor himself. His dark hair swishing this way and that, his raised chin and bright eyes, his brows knit in concentration and dedication, the curve of his body as he leaned more into the support of his cane. His slowly growing grin that flashed a canine as he remained focused on the sky, his head in the clouds in that way Jayce understood in his bones. 

He truly was incredible. 

Jayce finished fiddling with the camera. He lifted it up to his eye and gave the zoom a little test.

The sky demanded his attention, demanded the attention of everyone and everything that lived and breathed below, growled and rumbled furiously for it. 

The sky demanded attention.

But Jayce turned away from it, and the camera focused on Viktor.