Knowledge if Magic

Viktor sat in front of his board, cane in front of him and hands balancing it back and forth. It was already approaching closing hours, and he hasn't moved from his chair.

"This is unusual, even for you." Jayce leaned his arm on the chair, his eyes scanning across the numbers and letters on the board. "You've been looking at this for hours. Maybe a fresh pair of eyes will help." Viktor looked up at his lab partner.

"Be my guest." He gestured to the front of him. "Although I don't think you'll be able to figure it out." Viktor stood up and walked to the board with Jayce, "We could... try together." His voice shook a little but covered it up with a little caught. Nothing suspicious or unusual for him so Jayce had no reason to think anything of it.

The taller man nodded and stepped to the first problem. "We can start from each end, meet in the middle so to speak." He suggested as he winked playfully, not even realizing what those winks and toothy smirks were doing to Viktor's heart.

They traded glances and theories and solutions, each coming up with a letter at the end of the calculation. It was easy, way too easy for Viktor to be stuck on it for so long. Strange.

"Viktor, are you feeling okay?" Jayce paused mid-writing to look at him, Viktor didn't look away from his task, once again confirming to Jayce that it wasn't a real problem.

"I feel fine." Now this was even weirder but Jayce chose to hold his questions for now. Instead he chose to focus on the task at hand. They were almost done anyway.

"Okay! We have... a series of letters?" Jayce tilted his head like a confused and curious cat.

"I will take a little break, maybe something will come to me." Viktor patted Jayce on the shoulder and took his seat again, watching as his partner figured out the puzzle. He heard him mumbling on occasion, about a pattern, about an order of the numbers used to get the letters. Finally he started to put them in order, Viktor's smile widening with each one he wrote. "Finished. Let's see what we got!" As excited as a puppy Jayce took a few steps back to read it out, "Jayce will you go out with me?"

The man had never looked so puzzled before. Viktor had done it, he made Jayce speechless.

"Well Jayce, will you?" Jayce turned around to see Viktor standing behind him, a blush on his face and a smile on his lips. Time wasn't relevant, it wasn't moving, it was just between the two of them now, silence that dragged on for eternity.

Jayce blinked away from the trance and turned around to make sure he read that right. In his head he knew it was right, that the words asked the same question and Viktor waited for an answer.

Jayce was good at those. He turned back, ready and determined and confidant in it, "Yes."

A weight felt like it was lifted off Viktor's shoulders for the first time in years. His feet felt lighter then before as he walked right into Jayce's arms, not experiencing a hint of hesitation from the arms that embraced him.

"How long have you been coming up with that one?" Jayce looked at him, smiling with his shining smile. Viktor chuckled and shook his head, trying to calm his heart down enough to get the words out.

"Quite a while now. It re-did the calculations a dozen times for each." This was probably one of the bravest things he did yet, and this next one would be even braver. He leaned on Jayce rather than his cane, holding onto his shoulder and chest, "Is it okay to kiss you?"

"Yeah." It felt much like magic, the one they tried to reach. When they kissed it was like they were floating again, maybe they were, they didn't know, for they didn't dare to take their eyes off each other.