I apologize that this chapter is a bit shorter than normal, this week has been rather busy, and my attention span isn't what it used to be. But I promise more is to come soon! GLHF!

Jayce hummed to himself, swiveling rhythmically around in his chair, just as he had been doing for the better half of the hour. He leaned back in it and groaned, tapping his temple with the stylus he held in his hand.

The work on the Primal Gear was going slowly. Jayce had spent most of the day running around his lab and making sure he actually HAD all of the components he needed, and determining on each and every piece whether or not he could sabotage it somehow. He deduced that a couple piece that, if both compromised, would allow the wielder of the Primal Gear to use it only around 3 - 4 times before breaking down completely and needing repaired. However if those two pieces WERE compromised, it would be very obvious. No other pieces would give it a sufficient enough debilitation, while giving Jayce and Ekko enough time to prepare for when Rorik would inevitably come back to kill them when he found out. Jayce didn't want to deal with Rorik anymore. The very thought of the man flooded Jayce with anger.

When he wasn't fiddling with the Primal Gear or trying to sneak peaks at the people all over the block that were watching his lab like hawks, Jayce was checking on Ekko. The kid had woken up twice, once mumbling something about someone named Ajuna, and the other time telling Jayce that he was 'absolutely fucking starving, like literally you have no idea', before promptly falling back asleep. Each time, the inventor had nudged him back t o sleep and kept hoping he would stay asleep. He'd had to refill the IV once more before he felt like Ekko had regained enough blood to be completely coherent when he did finally wake. This was difficult of course, since he had essentially destroyed the syringe to create the IV that was stuck into Ekko's arm. Jayce had sufficed by slitting a short cut into his wrist, a bit deeper than had originally intended, and bleeding out the amount he wanted for the zaunite.

In the end, Ekko looked much less pale, and Jayce didn't need stitches for his mild slip up. Paranoia was starting to creep up on him. He didn't know what to do with Ekko when the boy awoke. He wasn't much for genuine comfort, and Ekko didn't seem like the type to want it. Things done in the heat of the moment couldn't be done after everything settled down. Jayce didn't regret holding him, or wrapping him up and healing him. He did regret letting Ekko slip into the elevator and begrudgingly letting him come up into the lab. Mild irritation passed through him. If Ekko wasn't so goddamn stubborn none of this would have happened! Granted he might have been in the lobby, pissed and screaming, but he wouldn't have been...

Jayce groaned again, rubbing his eyes. He was too tired for this shit. The was not how he wanted to spend the week. A low creaking noise startled Jayce and he whipped around to stare at Ekko, who had just stepped out of the hall. He gave Jayce a strange look as he paused, before continuing into the room. "What?"

"I thought you were asleep." Jayce said, turning away to stare dimly at the Primal Gear.

Ekko shrugged, scratching the back of his neck. "Slept for long enough I suppose."

Jayce nodded, frowning at the awkward silence they found themselves wrapped in. He coughed, "Feel better?"

"I'm... yeah. Cept this thing is itchy as all fucking hell." Ekko answered, tugging at the wrappings along his forearm. Jayce twitched with irritation. It really wasn't the cursing itself that got to him, but it was a little excessive, especially for Ekko's age. He hated it when kids cursed. Call it a pet peeve. He watched Ekko wander around his lab, peeking at the zaunite from the corner of his eye. Ekko studied all of the unfinished inventions, roaming around, picking things up, putting them back down, giving small snorts every once in a while. Jayce's irritation grew. It felt almost... violating. And the sarcastic sounds Ekko gave made Jayce feel extremely indignant.

"Would you stop fucking staring at me?" Ekko asked without turning around.

"Would you stop fucking cursing?" Jayce said with a smirk, not missing a beat.

Ekko turned to sneer at the inventor, throwing his hands up in the air. "You just fucking cursed as you said that."

"Yeah, well," Jayce smirked, glancing back at the Primal Gear. "I'm not 12."

He could hear Ekko stomp over and Jayce turned back to look at him, his eyes widening when he saw that the boy had closed the distance very quickly and was now standing directly in front of Jayce, giving him a venomous look. Jayce opened his mouth to speak, but Ekko quickly interrupted him, "I am not a child. I'm almost 17."

Jayce growled in the zaunite's face, not backing down. He wanted a fight? He'd get a fight. "Get out of my face and go brush your damn teeth. Your breath smells like you've been gu-"

Jayce stopped himself, astounded that he was actually going to say something like that. Ekko looked like he'd just been slapped, and flinched before glaring at Jayce once again. His eyes burned like fire and he looked like he was about to strangle Jayce right then and there. "Fucking say it. I dare you."

Jayce's jaw hung open and the stung look on Ekko's face burned in his mind's eye. He stood up quickly, walking away from the zaunite. Shame burned his cheeks and he rubbed his face, groaning. He probably deserved whatever Ekko wanted to do to him right now, in all honesty. He looked back at the boy and found him staring at his own hands, at the rope burns that etched bruises deep into his skin. Jayce pulled a chair over for him, which Ekko wordlessly sat in. The inventor headed towards the kitchen and stopped at the counter, hesitating. "Are you hungry?"

"No." Ekko said quietly, staring out the window with an irritated look on his face. Jayce ignored it, feeling shameful enough that he'd even thought about mentioning the... he held his head in his hands, guilt and regret clawing at his insides. They were going to be stuck with each other for a week, and they already hated each other. Fantastic. Jayce made himself a cup of coffee, and after standing there and staring at his mugs for 15 minutes, made Ekko one as well. He grabbed a small bowl of sugar and made his way back to the table, setting one of the coffee cups down in front of the somber boy before sitting back down in his chair. Silence drew on between them, and Ekko didn't even look at the coffee, let alone touch it. Jayce stared at the Primal Gear, cursing the infernal contraption that started all of this. He pushed the bowl of sugar over to Ekko after placing two spoon fulls in his coffee, and leaned back in his chair with a sigh. He put the cup to his lips and held it there, not taking a single sip. He groaned again and placed the cup back on the table, putting his head in his hands. "I'm... fuck. I'm sorry Ekko. I didn't want to say that. I didn't mean to. I can't believe I almost did."

Ekko sat there quietly and listened, his facing moving from irritated, to sad, and then to a more neutral expression. He reached over and pulled the sugar over, placing a spoon full in his coffee cup and stirring it slowly. "Do you have any milk?"

Jayce stared at him for a second before nodding, heading back to the kitchen to retrieve it. He set the small jug beside Ekko, who poured it in his cup until the creamy tan liquid ran up to the brim. He leaned down and slurped it loudly, leaving Jayce to roll his eyes as he put the milk away. Sitting back down in his chair, the Primal Gear seemed more intimidating of an objective to tackle than ever before. Ekko chuckled at the horrified look Jayce was giving the device.

"You know," Ekko said, sipping his coffee. "She warned me that you were an asshole."

"Hm?" Jayce cocked an eyebrow at the boy, taking a long drink out of his cup. He was going to need it, he could tell already.

"Vi. She said you were a jackass."

Jayce spit his coffee, coughing violently. Of fucking course. How else would Ekko have tracked the capsule down to Jayce? FUCKING VI. "That fucking bitch!"

Ekko chuckled at him again, and Jayce worked to wipe up the mess he'd made. He tossed the rag towards the kitchen, ignoring Ekko, who cocked his eyebrow and gave him a look. If Vi knew that Ekko had been here, she might stop by to see how things had gone. Jayce didn't particularly want to drag her into this, but the extra manpower would be very helpful. Jayce didn't have access to the Mercury Hammer, and Ekko had come to Piltover unarmed. Which, now that he thought about it, seemed very strange...

"Did you come here without your.. uhh, bat thing?" Jayce asked, taking another drink of his coffee.

Ekko snorted and gave his drink an irritated look. "Fucking tophat took it. She said she'd give it back when I went to leave Piltover, but she didn't want me to have it in the city. Confiscating my shit when I came here because a piltie stole my shit in the first place. Fucking classic."

Jayce shrugged, staying silent. It was unlikely that Caitlyn would investigate further when Ekko didn't immediately come back for the weapon. She very much respected a person's privacy, Jayce's in particular since she'd walked in more than once on his.. activities. Vi might get curious, but it was a 50/50 chance whether she would come or not. Jayce cursed. He wished Vi was more damn concerned with people. It would be significantly more helpful.

At one point not long ago, Vi had nearly strangled Jayce when he didn't follow up on one of her ganks, arguing that Gnar had blown his ult and his mega form and was now open to attack. She failed to accept that the broken fucking arm Jayce had gotten from said Gnar ult was a good excuse for not following her for the kill. No matter that he couldn't even hold his damn weapon anymore. She even told him it didn't look that bad, and tried to persuade him to roam mid with her instead of recalling. After the game even Gnar had been more sympathetic. The small yordle might not be the most intelligent one, but he had enough intuition to know when an ingame injury transferred to problems outside of the healing process, and the soreness in Jayce's arm followed him through the recall and the teleport, all the way back to the Institute. The fluffy white yordle had ditched his hat and monocle the moment he stepped off the platform. He'd jumped into Jayce's arms, spouting nonsense that sounded vaguely like an apology, before quickly springing off and tackling Kennen down the hall.

It was simultaneously the most confusing and adorable thing that had happened to Jayce in the Institute thus far.

"Hey, can I... can I use some of this stuff?"

Jayce snapped out of the memory, turning to where Ekko had been sitting and finding the chair empty. The zaunite stood further away, studying the mess of random and unfinished mechanics strewn about the tables. Jayce jumped, "What? Fuck no you can't!"

Ekko turned and gave him an irritated look. "Then what the hell am I supposed to do for a week?"

"Just sit somewhere, I dunno. These are all unfinished project pieces, I don't want you fucking with them just because you're bored." Jayce snapped, hopping up to make sure he hadn't touched anything. Ekko snatched up a random piece laying on the table, shoving it into Jayce's face. "What the fuck is this then? Is this a part of one of your thousand unfinished projects?"

Jayce snatched it out of the zaunite's fist, glaring at him. "YES. It's a piece of... one of the pieces... that go together."

The two stared each other down; Ekko's face remained the same cynical stare, and Jayce started to sweat. He genuinely had no idea what device the piece Ekko had grabbed went to. And the more Ekko stared him down, the more it felt like the boy knew. He turned away from Jayce, waving to all the unfinished trinkets. "You've got so much money that you start all these different projects. So many projects that you're so uninterested in, you don't really commit to their end goal. And when you do finish them, you sell them, to get more money, to take on more projects, that you dislike even more."

Jayce stared at Ekko, unable to say anything. The boy picked up a larger piece and shook it lightly, solemnly watching the dust fall off it. He turned back to match Jayce's gaze, looking almost sad. "I know you're an inventor too, Jayce. They tell stories about you, you know. Hero of Piltover. Greatest young mind of this age. Did they suck all the passion out of you?"

The Defender of Tomorrow stayed silent, shaken at Ekko's calm and startlingly sad words. He tossed the small part he was holding back onto the table and turned away, rubbing his neck. "Do whatever you want. Just don't, you know, destroy the place."

"It's your house man, I'm not doing to mess with shit if you don't want-"

"No," Jayce interrupted, shaking his head. "It's... it's okay."

Ekko watched him leave. Jayce could feel the boy's gaze burning into his back. He went to his bedroom, ignored the empty IV and the blankets littered across the floor, and fell onto his bed. He laid there for a bit, listening to the silence of his lab. Just as it had always been. Silent and empty. Except now it wasn't as empty. It felt like the zaunite had just wandered in and torn Jayce's life apart. Not in a cruel way, but an existential one. Jayce had been ignoring his faults for a long time it seemed. He told himself he was happy. He wasn't alone. He loved what he did. Now it felt all turned around. He wasn't happy. He hadn't been for a long time. Was this what a midlife crisis was? Jayce wasn't even 30 yet...

Maybe it was depression. Jayce mulled over the thought, resting his forehead on the back of his hand. He didn't even know what that was. What did it entail? Sadness? Loss of interest? Was it just a general feeling of unhappiness prolonged over an extensive period of time? How do you come back from it? Jayce rolled onto his back and stared up at the ceiling. He didn't want to call it depression. That wounded so dramatic. However, he also didn't want to say it wasn't for certain. Was that denial? He groaned, deciding he was overthinking things far too much for his liking.

He was lonely. And the longer he spent in his lab, surrounded by his lack of motivation, the more strangled he felt. Leaving every morning to go to the coffee shop now looked like it had been an excuse to escape his lab. Everything seemed dreary now. Jayce grabbed one of the pillows at the head of the bed with the intent to rest his head on it, but he just held it in his arms. Hugged it to his body and felt the softness in his hands. He tried to convince himself his life was great. And it was, dammit. He was handsome, he had great money, a dream job, the best choices of any woman or man he could ever want, and a large open laboratory all to his own. Everything felt so forced. So... fake.

Jayce glanced down past the bed, seeing Ekko walk into the room. The boy hovered by the door, looking like he was debating on whether or not to even speak. Finally he walked in, poking Jayce's left leg. "Are you seriously pissed because of what I said?"

"No. I'm just... disappointed you were right, I guess." Jayce said with an empty laugh, staring at the zaunite. Ekko rubbed his arm, looking sheepish that he'd caused such a reaction in the inventor. I hope you feel bad, Jayce thought to himself. You did this to me.

Ekko turned and sat down on the bed beside Jayce, further towards the head of the bed. Not as close as they'd been in the bathtub, willingly or no. He sighed out loud and rubbed his arm again, his fingers gently running across the fabric of the wrappings. "I have a home in Zaun. In the slums. We live in this old clock tower I found when I was younger. Abandoned as all hell. We fixed it up. Well, me mostly. It's a really cool place. There are good people there, and bad. But every place is like that, you know?"

Jayce looked intently at Ekko, who never met the gaze. He seemed only interested in staring at his own hands, well callused for one so young. Jayce's hands were the same way. Fighter hands. The hands of a Champion of the League. Ekko looked towards Jayce, fixing his eyes on the pillow that the inventor held in his hands. "I have a family there. 12 of us. Usually. My friends. New kids arrive every once in a while, but the amount of people we have stays roughly the same. It's a nice place, but at the same time it's not. Some days I wouldn't trade it for the world. And some days I wished we lived so far away, we'd never have to see it again."

Ekko sighed, and Jayce sat up, coming to full attention. He could practically feel Ekko's emotions all tied together, smothering him like a thick blanket. Ekko bit his lip and looked forward, out the door of the bedroom and far down the hall. "We die all the time. My friend, Ajuna, died just recently. And there are still the same amount of people there, in the clock tower. 12. Someone always comes around to fill the empty spot. They're all around me, talking to me and asking me for things, looking to me for advice. So many people and yet sometimes... I feel so fucking alone."

"I don't know what to say, other than I'm sorry. I don't think I can comfort you." Jayce said sadly, sitting beside the boy.

Ekko scoffed, standing back up. "I don't need comforted and I don't want it. It's just... you're not all alone okay? I know that feeling too. And I can't figure out whether that is more frustrating to me or reassuring, but..."

Jayce smiled, leaning back on his hands. He knew what Ekko was doing. The boy would deny any claims that he was haphazardly trying to make Jayce feel better, but it was kind of working. He certainly didn't feel like he was depressed, and those thought felt more now like meaningless passings. He was appreciative. He wouldn't say it, but as Ekko glanced at him and gave his own half smile, he was sure the zaunite knew. Ekko clapped his hands together and hopped out of the bedroom, turning back and waiting for Jayce expectantly. "Alright, come on. Let's finish your stupid thingy so we can be fucking free."

Jayce stood, his hands on his cocked hips and his stylus held in his teeth. Every item needed for the completion of the Primal Gear was sitting in front of him on a table cleared completely of anything other than the specifics. Ekko had complained about everything being so cluttered, so Jayce had finally given up and asked him what the hell the zaunite wanted from him. To which, Ekko replied simply, 'A little fucking structure would be cool.' The two had worked for hours to clean off one of the tables, putting the mess of trinkets and inventions in random elsewheres, while keeping everything pertaining to the Primal Gear on the table. Jayce had actually found a couple things he thought he'd lost while they were cleaning, and Ekko had laughed at him cheerfully, even pausing his organizing to poke fun at the inventor.

Day 1 of the week was nearly over, and the sun began to set behind the skyscrapers and buildings. Little to no progress had been made on the device, as Jayce studied each separate piece up and down, determined not to let Rorik use this. His mind jumbled with many different plans, each more desperate than the last. He groaned, rubbing his temple with frustration. Ekko sat beside him, looking equally tired, but humming a tune as he ate a plate of eggs. Earlier, Jayce had spaced out while organizing and hadn't even registered the plate of food Ekko shoved into his hands. Jayce had eaten them without a word, surprised at how good they were. When questioned, Ekko simply shrugged, telling him that Twitch had taught him how to make eggs once when he was young, and the experience had stuck with him. Jayce choked on his food when he heard the marksman's name, and was unable to finish the plate.

Jayce yawned, rubbing his eyes and shaking his head. Ekko yawned soon after, shooting Jayce a scornful look. He smiled smugly, not meeting the zaunite's playful glare. Out of the corner of his eye, Ekko turned away from him, itching at the wrappings on his arm. Jayce frowned. He wasn't exactly medically affluent, but he felt like wrappings should be changed every so often. Once a day or so, right? He tapped Ekko on the arm, motioning for him to follow. The boy rolled his eyes, but followed.

Jayce retrieved the medical box from the bathroom, frowning at the mess scattered across it. Blood and medical supplies everywhere. Snippings of bandages, loose gauze, wire. He rolled his eyes, vowing to come back at some point and clean it. He made his way to his bedroom, where Ekko was already sitting on the soft grey sheets. He had his knees pulled up to his chest and was itching at the top of the wrapping, doing his best to not scratch the stitches. Jayce pulled his swivel chair with him, having dragged it from the main room. He tossed the medical box on the bed and sat in his chair, stretching his right leg over onto the bed and motioning for Ekko's arm with his hands. The boy gave it over tentatively, much more wary now that he was completely conscious of what Jayce was doing.

He pulled the bandages off slowly, wincing as he felt them tugging on the stitches. Ekko was completely tense, his eyes wide as he watched Jayce work. He hissed when the bandages came completely off, seeing the wound for the first time. Jayce made a wretched face as he surveyed the damage. The wound was red and crusted over, and puss wept through the wire stitches. Ekko gagged as he looked at it, and turned away with a whimper. As much as he'd tried, makeshift medical knowledge was really for naught when compared to the skills of an actual doctor.

Captain obvious, reporting in.

"Hmm. Alright. This isn't that bad." Jayce said, grabbing a rag and slowly washing the wound.

"Yeah? C-cool. Cool." Ekko replied, sounding like he felt woozy.

Jayce cleaned the gash thoroughly, trying to be as gentle as he could. He had to be a bit rough to get all of the crust off the wound, which Ekko didn't appreciate. The boy flinched and tensed, his grip on the arm that Jayce was holding Ekko's wrist with was white knuckled, and Jayce was almost certain it would bruise. He put the rag down and grabbed the antibiotic ointment, slathering it generously across the wound. Despite the amount of puss, it didn't seem swollen. It was difficult to see exactly how red it was because of Ekko's skin tone, but after a good clean, it looked quite fine to Jayce. He wrapped it back up, winding clean bandages over the wound and firmly trying it close to the zaunite's elbow. He leaned back with a sigh, letting Ekko work it to the point where it wasn't terrible uncomfortable.

"Wow it's almost like you know what you're doing." Ekko said, a playful smirk on his face.

Jayce smiled. Despite the fact that, more often that not, Ekko was an annoying little prick, Jayce was starting to enjoy his company. He stood up from the chair and fell forward, face down on the end of the bed. Ekko laid back as well, resting on the pillow that Jayce had been cuddling when he had a minor breakdown. A lot of bad things were happening in their lives right now. But this felt okay. It certainly wasn't what they had been hoping for, and it wasn't the most promising situation. But it felt... survivable.