Hi everyone !

With this OS, you're in for some Jayce and Vi and mentionned ViXCait.
I just hope I butchered no one's personality this time (like every other time :p) !

As usual, feel free to leave reviews, commentary or corrections (this text is unbeta'd) !

Please enjoy !

Mechanics

As usual, Piltover's main streets were bright and clean. It was no surprise, since I was in the higher parts of the city. It would always make me twitch. Of course, ever since Caitlyn became the sheriff, everything is simply a great deal nicer in the lower parts, but I couldn't shake the memories of my birthplace. The infamous hellhole where I got some scares, scars, my tattoo and some tats, my gloves and well... a little grandeur. Those times were gone, but action never really left my life. Especially since I started helping Piltover law enforcement forces. Today however, was my day off. A plain old boring day off. Luckily, I had a special appointment. To be honest, "appointment" was way too formal.

I saw the familiar white steel doors at the far end of the street. The building was quite isolated from surroundings shops and houses, with good reason. Working on hextech required precautions. But I knew the guy inside was a genius and too much of a good guy to make dangerous experiments near living places. I barely poked the door with the tip of one of my gigantic metallic finger and waited for it to open. After a good minute without any reaction, I tried again, with a little more force. I groaned. Every time, he would complain I left a new dent on his door but I wouldn't if he answered when I knocked ! Damn engineer can't even set up a doorbell...

'You don't want me to power-slam your door, do you, Jayce ?!'

And finally, I heard someone rushing up some metallic stairs. The door flurried open, revealing the square-jawed Piltoverite hero, with a soldering protection mask, an apron and brown leather gloves. I let out an audible sigh and walked right past him. The door didn't close right away, and I assumed he was examining his precious door as I joined the lab itself. I took a seat and saw him come back with a thumbs up.

'No dent this time, good job. I didn't expected you that early, though.'

'Cait didn't needed me around anymore. It was a slow day at the office anyway.'

'So, the usual ?'

'Yep.'

He cleared his main worktable and put his mask down, resting against the table's leg. I stretched a first arm out. Jayce took a firm grip on my glove as I let go of the internal locking system. Flesh soon appeared underneath the metal, as my hands seemed to shrink. I kept staring for a split second before we repeated the procedure with my other arm. I always had a weird feeling when I saw my gauntlets on the table. It wasn't like someone had ripped my hands off, but close. All I had left when they were gone were pale skin and pinkish purple neatly manicured fingernails. Those were the hands I was born with, no the ones I could change something with. The man, being his observant self, noticed my bout of trouble.

'Who would have thought you had such cute little hands under those giants gloves ?'

'Who would have though you would need such big hands to wield such a... small weapon', she teased while looking at his crotch.

'Please, Six, that's just mean !'

We shared a good laugh. Jayce was an older brother to me. He always had a little time to spare if my gloves needed some reparations, or if I needed some advices or to be cheered up. And here he was, checking every phalanx one after the other while speaking what was technological gabble to me. I nodded several time in the middle of some of his sentences, just to show him how I perfectly understood what he was saying. He eventually took notice and continued the maintenance with a faint smile and without saying anything. I took the soldering mask and sat down in front of the other table, across the room. I took the soldering iron in hand and began analyzing the carcass. Hopefully, Jayce always left his plans lying around. When he heard the light shuffling of paper, the hextech engineer turned around, and then threw me his leather gloves.

'You wouldn't damage your new polished nails, hum ?'

'Thanks.'

After several minutes to understand my friend small handwriting and sketches, I began assembling the metal scraps. I was often told I had some talent when soldering, that it would have been better if I made it my job but I honestly liked smashing faces way to much to actually do that. However, it never deterred Jayce from exploiting shamelessly that secondary skill. I even lend him a hand with his famous Mercury Hammer. If you knew where to look, you could see the irregular weldings next to the perfectly straight pieces, and he never let me redo them, because he felt it made it more unique. As I was about to conclude on how Jayce was a sentimental guy, I distinguished a new engraving at the top of the welding iron. Two letters. That guy was just so much of a sentimental... I tried to get back to work, but I felt a poke between my shoulder blades. That meant it was time for some black coffee ! I followed the man upstairs and we settled down around steaming cups. Jayce's coffee was so black it speaks on its own of many sleepless nights. But it was how I liked it anyway.

'So, how is it doing with Caitlyn ?'

It may sound like idle talk about work but we both knew it wasn't. I was very found of Caitlyn, too much to be only a friend. We were from very different social background, we had so different personalities, though... She was all incorruptible, nigh coldly pristine, hardworking and sometimes borderline obsessive with her work. Especially that case with the guy who left cards on crime scene. It worried both Jayce and me. When he knew about my feelings towards Cait, Viktor's rival suddenly felt it was my role to help her out of this. I had yet to make my move. And I was very aware that the longer I waited, the harder it would be to help her out of it. But I wasn't very knowledgeable in matter of romance. The only thing I knew to do to a heart was punch it out of its ribcage. And I certainly didn't want to do that to Cait.

'I'm sure she noticed the frills on your right hip.', encouraged Jayce.

'I hope she did, the fabric come from the tailor she got all her dresses from. And believe me, that place is expensive !'

'Well, I guess if you want her to notice your nails, you'll have to take off your dear gloves. I still wonder why it isn't cracked yet, to be honest.'

I wouldn't leave my gloves anywhere but here. Besides, the police station wasn't that far away. Jayce's smile was reassuring. My confidence was slowly coming back. He rose and opened the door of his lab. I gave him a high five on my way out, followed by a thumbs up and a wink. Maybe if a sprinted, I could be just in time for a cup of tea !