Viktor awoke with the memory of Jayce's arms around him. But as he came to fully, he noticed the absence of that warmth and security. Jayce wasn't here. Viktor looked around the room and couldn't see him. The wine glasses and the empty bottle still stood on the coffee table, evidence that he hadn't imagined the whole thing. He wrapped the blankets around himself and closed his eyes again, not presuming to know Jayce's habits away from the lab. Perhaps he had stepped outside for a moment.

Jayce didn't regret what had happened last night, did he? It was ridiculous, but Viktor's mind insisted on examining the possibility. This hadn't been some alcohol-fuelled lapse of judgement. They had been friends first for a long time. They had discussed their feelings, they had gone out to dinner. Their relationship bore none of the hallmarks of rushing into things. Jayce had seemed to enjoy the date and – Viktor felt the heat of a blush – everything that came afterwards. But that didn't mean that Jayce couldn't now feel differently. Feelings changed, he couldn't blame anyone for that.

Viktor sat up and started gathering up his clothes to put them back on. Whether his fears were ridiculous or not, he was now too fired up to consider going back to sleep.

When Viktor reached the lab, Jayce was standing in front of the blackboard with his back to him. Half of the blackboard was covered in Jayce's writing, the other half had been hastily erased. Viktor had already started correcting Jayce's equations in his mind, and was about to verbalise the corrections when something about the way Jayce was standing made him stop. Jayce needed a different kind of support right now.

Viktor made his way across the lab, and was expecting Jayce to notice the tap of his cane and turn around, but he did not. He found a place to rest his cane, and then put his arms around Jayce, resting his head on his back. Jayce's muscles felt tense and stiff.

"Viktor?"

"Ah, so you haven't forgotten about me then," Viktor said.

"I'm sorry. I should have woken you. No, I shouldn't have left," Jayce said, an unusual stress audible in his voice.

Viktor sighed. He hadn't meant to let his insecurities show like that, even if he had meant it as a dry quip. "Jayce, are you alright?"

"Yeah," he said, touching Viktor's hand and wrapping his fingers around it, holding on tightly. Viktor's silence was enough to prompt him to reconsider his answer. "No. I thought I could just come and take a look at everything, you know, solve some of the major problems."

"There's no great rush, Jayce. You're being too hard on yourself," Viktor said, leaning his body against Jayce's. Slowly, he felt the tension in Jayce's muscles start to ease.

"I know," Jayce said with a sigh. "But you finished your prototype and I-"

"Jayce, it is not a race. We are pushing the boundaries of what is possible. This kind of work submits to no timelines."

"I just don't want to hold you back, Viktor. I don't want to be the one to slow us down."

"We're partners, remember. We will solve our problems together," Viktor said, extricating his hand from Jayce's, and moving around to face him.

Jayce's face was flushed with fatigue and embarrassment. He met Viktor's eyes bashfully. "You didn't need so much help from me when you were working on your Hexclaw," he said.

Viktor found himself smirking. "Not true. Perhaps you don't remember me asking you for help so much because you saw it as an opportunity to get close to me," he said, inching towards Jayce and running the material of his lapels through his fingers.

Jayce's serious expression softened, and a smile began to form on his lips. He touched Viktor's arm companionably. That would normally have comforted Viktor, but now things were different, now his expectations had increased. Jayce hadn't flinched when Viktor had hugged him, hadn't tried to maintain distance between them. But they had only talked about work since last night. Viktor was infuriated by how anxious that made him. It was contrary to all reason.

Viktor took hold of Jayce's tie, pretending to straighten it, and then pulled Jayce down to kiss him. Jayce's lips yielded easily to his, and Viktor felt his lingering insecurities melt away. It was comforting and exciting all at the same time. Jayce's arms slipped around Viktor's waist and Viktor pressed his body against Jayce's. Viktor stroked the back of Jayce's neck, pulling his head towards him to deepen the kiss.

There was a moment after they parted where they just gazed into each other's eyes. Jayce was first to break eye contact.

"I hope I didn't ruin last night by leaving," he said.

Viktor fought his urge to shake his head in an obsequious way. "I shall allow you the opportunity to make up for it later," he said, running his fingers along Jayce's jawline.

Jayce caught Viktor's wrist and kissed his hand reverently. "I won't disappoint you," he said.

"You'd better not," Viktor said, and Jayce's heart leapt at the unspoken promise behind their words.

They were both startled by the clunk of a key turning in the lock, and Viktor barely managed to take back his hand before Sky walked into the lab.

"Sky!" Viktor choked out.

"Oh, I'm awfully sorry, is this a bad time?" she said, clutching her notebook to her chest. "I know I'm early, but I have so much to do today, you know how it is."

Viktor shook his head. "No, no, now is just fine," he said, reaching for his cane.

Jayce felt Sky's eyes boring into him, and gave her a tight smile before turning around to clean off the rest of the blackboard with the board duster.

"Thank you so much for taking time to show me what you're working on," Sky said, as Viktor began to lead her around the room.

Jayce listened to them talk, Sky enthusiastic and amazed, Viktor proudly describing all of their work. He was glad of the excuse of cleaning the board to turn his back. If Sky had walked in a few moments earlier, they might not have heard, and she would have seen a lot more than she had been expecting. He hoped she was too excited to see their inventions to notice that he and Viktor had been just a little too close to each other. It wasn't that he was ashamed to be seen with Viktor, he quickly told himself. It was complicated, as Viktor had said himself. And neither of them were teenagers any more, they couldn't get away with such unprofessional public displays of affection.

But having Viktor so close to him and not being allowed to touch him seemed like a cruel and unusual punishment. How did anyone cope with working with someone they loved? Jayce almost hit himself in the nose with the board duster in an attempt to cover his gasp. He really had said that. After only their first date, their first night together. He'd heard others talk as if sharing one's deepest feelings like that so quickly was cringeworthy. But Jayce didn't understand that, hiding things never seemed right to him. Besides, he thought, looking over his shoulder at Viktor as he talked animatedly with Sky, it hadn't seemed to have ruined things.

Jayce jumped when Viktor called upon him to show Sky what he had been working on. He put the board duster down, hoping she hadn't noticed him cleaning the same part of the blackboard repeatedly. Sky listened to him talk with genuine fascination, and didn't question why his prototype gauntlets were still in pieces. She was a true inventor, she understood.

"Well, this has all been really interesting, thank you so much for showing me around. I feel so inspired!" Sky said.

"You're very welcome, Sky," Viktor said.

"Yes. Come back any time you like," Jayce said.

Sky smiled at them both, and then looked down at the notebook in her hands, fiddling with it. "Before I leave, there is something I'd like to ask you, Viktor, if I may," she said.

For a moment, Jayce was afraid she was going to say something about him and Viktor.

Viktor nodded, and she held out her notebook to him. "Well, I've been doing some research of my own, it's not much, but I-I wondered if you wouldn't mind taking a look at it," Sky said, stumbling over her words and rounding her shoulders.

"Of course," Viktor said, taking the notebook from her.

Sky gave him a little smile and pushed her glasses back into place. "Thank you so much! I know you're busy, so I really appreciate it," she said. "Well, I'd better not take up any more of your time."

They said their goodbyes to Sky, and she left the lab.

Jayce breathed a sigh of relief. "We have got to be more careful," he said.

"Hmm," Viktor said, and Jayce wasn't sure he was listening, he seemed more interested in Sky's work and was leafing through her notebook, which was full of notes, sketches and extra pages paperclipped in. Jayce watched him, and his expression was almost as if he was making a brand-new discovery of his own.

Jayce busied himself with tidying up the tools and equipment he had thrown around in frustration earlier. Viktor took the notebook to his desk to study it further.

"Sky, why didn't you tell me?" Viktor said to himself.

Jayce looked up. "Something interesting?" he asked, walking over to Viktor's side.

Viktor's eyebrows were furrowed. "You could say that," he said. "Look at this." He turned the pages too fast for Jayce to read the words, but there were a lot of sketches and diagrams of plants. Viktor gestured emphatically at the pages. "For someone so new to the academy, this is incredible."

There was something odd about Viktor's tone of voice, and for a moment Jayce almost thought Viktor was discouraged by Sky's intellect. Jayce dismissed that thought and laid a hand on Viktor's shoulder. "That's great, Viktor," he said.

"Hmm, yes," Viktor said without much conviction. "But look how far these notes date back. Sky is from the Undercity, like me. I thought I was being a good mentor to her, Jayce, but this just proves I'm not."

Jayce frowned. "What makes you think that?"

Viktor heaved a sigh, and emotion crept into his voice. "Look at how long she kept this to herself. I must have led her to believe her ideas were of no importance."

"You don't know that, Viktor. Maybe she was waiting for the right time."

"I've been absorbed in so many things. Sky must have thought I was ignoring her," Viktor said, pushing a hand back through his hair.

Jayce kneeled beside Viktor and rested his arm on his desk. "From the way she talks and looks at you, I'd say you are inspiration enough," he said.

Viktor lifted his head and looked at him. "You're just trying to make me feel better."

"No, I really think that. And what's the point in feeling sorry for yourself? I don't think you did anything wrong, but if you want to spend more time mentoring Sky, you can start from now."

Viktor smiled a little. "You're right. I'll do that," he said. "Sky is developing a new way to grow plants in the Undercity. This is so important for us. I fear nobody else here will take her work seriously. You know how things are."

"But you will. We will."

Viktor smiled at Jayce. "No wonder she is so busy, undertaking this on top of her mandatory research topics."

Jayce snickered. "I'm sure I can't relate to that situation at all," he said.

Viktor snorted. He looked down at Sky's notebook again, and then closed it. He would find a time to properly review her work and give her his thoughts. He looked up at Jayce and raised his eyebrows. "Anyway, who was feeling sorry for himself earlier?"

Jayce smirked guiltily. "It happens to the best of us," he said.

"The best of us?"

"Well, you seemed to think I was pretty great last night," Jayce said, leaning towards him.

Viktor shrunk backwards and narrowed his eyes. "Jayce," he scolded. "We should take care to be more professional in the lab."

"You're right. But that's no fun," Jayce said. Although he had been thinking the same thing earlier, he couldn't help but feel a little hurt when Viktor said it.

"I'd hate for Professor Heimerdinger to find out about our relationship from a third party," Viktor said.

"Do you think he'd disapprove?" Jayce asked, as he got to his feet again.

Viktor shrugged. "I don't know. But I think he would be more likely to look favourably on us if we told him ourselves."

"That seems… so official. Are you sure it's necessary?"

"Well, unless you want to sneak around forever."

Forever. That word held great weight. Viktor wasn't exactly saying that he wanted to be with Jayce forever, but this was a conversation about their future. "Well it was kinda fun at first. But you're right, we've been lucky not to get caught so far."

Viktor stood up and leaned against his desk. "We might get thrown out of the academy. And if not, we may well be forbidden to work together any longer."

Jayce frowned, and nodded. "Are you prepared to risk that?"

Viktor stared into space for a moment, looking utterly lost. "I don't know. My work is an important part of who I am. But so is who I love."

Jayce shrugged. "I've risked everything once before to do what I believe in. But if everything else goes wrong, there's always a place for me working for my family's business. I know it's not so easy for everyone."

Viktor took a breath in, then let it out. Jayce wanted so much to put his arms around him, but Viktor was right, they needed to be careful. "We should both think about it," he said.

Jayce nodded. They looked at each other for a few moments longer, then returned to work. As promised, Viktor spent all of his time helping Jayce with troubleshooting his gauntlets. They drew up a list of possibilities where the issues might lie, and then worked through them. It was much more methodical than Jayce's previous approach, which consisted of trying anything that came to mind and getting increasingly frustrated when it didn't help.

Jayce limited himself to only looking at Viktor and touching him on the arm or shoulder. The unspoken possibility hung between them. If they didn't want to risk going public with their relationship, the other sensible option was to go back to only being lab partners. Jayce watched Viktor as he assembled some parts. Could he cope with that? They had shared a few glorious weeks stealing kisses between work tasks, and finally been on their first date. Was that all that they were destined to have?

Perhaps it was enough, Jayce told himself. That way he wouldn't lose Viktor entirely. If they were thrown out of the academy, Viktor might grow to resent him. Jayce could offer him a place to stay in his, admittedly small, room in his family home. But Viktor wouldn't be satisfied spending the rest of his life making new designs for hammers, any more than Jayce himself would be working in the forge. It would be no happily ever after. They would end up miserable, or apart, or both. Here, they could be together and do the work that mattered to them. Jayce would just have to repress the urge to put his arms around Viktor any chance he got. The prospect of that made his heart feel heavy.

When it got late, they sent for food from the canteen. By the end of the day, they had constructed the basic skeleton of the gauntlets. They weren't pretty, but they worked in a basic fashion. Jayce felt that at least one weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

As Viktor went to his desk to make some notes, Jayce sat down and closed his eyes.

The next thing Jayce knew, Viktor was shaking his shoulder. "Jayce! Don't go to sleep here. I cannot carry you to bed as you did with me."

Jayce blinked a few times, trying to fight back the grogginess. He hadn't realised he had been so tired. "It's been a long day," he said.

"Yes. Let's go to bed."

They left the lab, and Jayce trailed after Viktor down the corridors. As he watched Viktor unlock the door to his room, Jayce suddenly felt completely awake, it was almost as if he was too aware.

"Jayce! Are you coming in or not?" Viktor hissed.

Jayce considered telling Viktor he was too tired and wanted to sleep in his own bed. He spent a few moments frozen in indecision, then followed Viktor into his room.