"Excuse me- Hi, sorry, could you- Pardon me, I-"

You bumbled about the crowd, narrowly avoiding commuting students and scholars swamped by piles of paper and quills.

You were at the Academy, attempting to find out where on earth Viktor's lab was located in the huge building. Everyone was occupied with to-ing and fro-ing, barely casting you a second glance as you tried ask for directions. You didn't want to even attempt finding the lab by yourself - noy after what had happened last time (though witnessing the creation of a revolutionary technology first-hand again would be pretty cool).

It had been three days since Viktor had leant the umbrella to you. You had intended to return it sooner, but had a few surprise deadlines pop up that needed to be done for the weekend.

You held it close against you now, scared of it being knocked from your grasp or snagged on a coat. You had almost nearly broken it a couple times already. Though it was easy enough to open with a simple click of a button, you had practically wrestled with it for an embarrassingly long time before getting it to close again.

At last, after nearly fifteen minutes of 'Hi-'s and 'Excuse me?'s, you managed to be given a vague set of directions by a harried professor of some sorts.

Armed with information relayed to you in one long, quick sentence, so fast you barely had the time to commit it to memory, you set off.

When not being chased down by a pair of angry Enforcers, you discovered the interior of the Academy was grand enough to rival its exterior. You had only ever traversed the halls at night, and so never had the chance to admire the expansive view of Piltover from the wide windows; inspect the detailed pattern of tiles that decorated the floors in creams and blues and reds and golds; squint at the signatures scrawled in the corners of the many probably priceless paintings that adorned every wall.

To your surprise, at some point the hallways and corridors had began to grow familiar. You recognised certain aspects from your mad chase from the Enforcers nearly two months previously. You looked upon the surroundings with an odd sense of fondness. There was the corner you were spotted by the Enforcers; that was where you had ducked out of sight for a moment before changing directions; which meant that just over there was...

Looking up, you finally came to the door through which you had been pulled by Jayce Talis himself.

You stuffed the umbrella underarm and knocked curtly on the wooden doors.

Silence.

Then-

"It's open!" came a muffled response from the other side.

You hesitantly pushed it open and stepped inside. Instantly you were met with the jarring smell of sharp chemicals combined with old books. You weren't sure whether you found it comforting or heady.

It took you a moment to locate the broad figure amongst the precarious yet orderly piles of equipment stacked around the lab.

"Hello," Jayce called from the other side of the room. Back to you, he stood at a work bench, tinkering away on something you couldn't see. He waved absently over his shoulder. "I'll be a sec'. Put the coffee on the table. Actually, on second thoughts, don't. I haven't had a chance to clean up the-" He glanced behind him and paused.

He blinked.

"Hi," you said.

For an excruciatingly long moment, he stared, frowning, head tilted, as if not entirely sure what he was seeing. He wore protective goggles, which made him look abnormally bug-eyed.

"You're not Sky," he finally said.

You raised your eyebrows. "I'm not."

"Hello," he said. Again. More slowly this time.

"Hi," you said. Again. Less certain this time.

Setting his tools down, he lifted the goggles from his eyes and squinted at you.

"I recognise you," he said after a moment of inspection, pointing to you with a wrench. "Have we met before?"

You nodded.

"You're..." He frowned. You opened your mouth to speak, but he cut you to it, holding up a finger. "Don't tell me, don't tell me... Give me a hint."

"Um..." You thought for a moment, finding your brain inconveniently blank. You glanced around the room, in search of inspiration, and stated the obvious. "Hextech?"

He snapped his fingers. "Oh! I remember now. You were the one Viktor got me to save from the Enforcers: [name that sounds similar to your own but isn't slash N/T/S/S/T/Y/O/B/I]-"

"Y/N," you corrected.

"Y/N, yeah, that's it. Sorry. Close enough." He set down the wrench and walked over, crossing his arms. "What are you doing here? Our next illegal experiment isn't until tonight."

You gave a slight roll of your eyes, smiling. "I'll have to check my schedule. But I'm here to return Viktor's umbrella," you said, brandishing in front of you as proof.

"Ahh, you're his mystery artist friend."

You blinked. "What?"

"You're the one he met at his little spot by the stream, right? He was telling me about the other day, with the rain and the-" He paused mid sentence. Nevermind," he finished suddenly.

You frowned. "'And the' what?" you prompted.

"No. Nothing. I shouldn't of said anything. Forget all of that."

"Okay..?"

You were still intrigued, but eager to move on from the odd subject. You craned you next to either side, searching, but found no sign of the man you had come here for. "Is he here today?"

"Not at the moment," Jayce said. "He's at the library." Sensing your oncoming question, he added, "Up the first flight of stairs to your right, eighth floor, and it's the door opposite the landing."

---

The library was impossibly and tragically huge. Bookshelf buildings inhabited by cracked and colourful spines ran from wall to wall, floor to ceiling, close enough to press your back to one whilst touching the one in front with an outstretched hand.

Yet somehow, despite the dark wood interior and tight-knit arrangement of furnishings, it didn't feel claustrophobic. Quite the opposite, almost. Every towering shelf reached up to a giant domed ceiling, interspersed with detailed depictions of divine scenes and forgotten gods floating amongst the cosmos. From your weak vantage point on the ground, even with your head craned high, you could only see a slight sliver of the beautiful ceiling. Still, you stood gawking until your neck ached and you had to force yourself to look down.

It took a painstakingly long time to find Viktor amongst the scattering of students searching the shelves. Or rather, for Viktor to find you.

You were walking down what felt like the billionth aisle you had search, dodging around a scholar in traditional Academy uniform balancing a precarious pile of books, when-

"Y/N?"

You spun around. From behind you, Viktor peeked out from the tower of books he held.

"Hello," you whispered with a wave, conscious of the stifling silence that suffocated the room.

He smiled in greeting, though it quickly turned panicked when the pile teetered and wobbled.

You rushed forwards and took half before they could topple. One slipped off the top and fell to the floor with a god-almighty thunderclap of a crash. The room was deathly silent otherwise, quiet enough to hear the creak of footsteps however-many bookshelves over.

You winced in unison. Viktor pressed his lips together, staring at the book as if his sheer will alone could pop it out of existence. You mouthed a quick 'sorry'. He shook his head, shrugging a shoulder, as if to say it happens.

You both reached down to pick it up at the same time, and, after an unnecessarily long moment of awkward hesitation and accidental hand touches, you finally replaced the book atop the others.

Once done, you held the pile against your hip and retrieved the umbrella, holding it up with emphasis.

He raised his eyebrows.

You held it out to him. Here.

He shook his head, then nodded to his books. Arms full.

You shrugged, shifting your pile back into place as it tried to slide out of grasp. Me too.

He did some sort of confusing head-shake-eyebrow-raise combination you couldn't read.

Your confusion was evident on your face.

He waved for you to come closer, and you leant forwards.

"Why aren't we talking?" he whispered, amused. You suppressed a shiver as his breath brushed your ear.

"Because," you hissed back, "it's very quiet, and I don't want to annoy anyone else by being loud. Again."

"Fair point. I think they heard that book fall in the Undercity."

You swallowed back a laugh. "Thanks. I'll consider that an achievement."

A student to passed down the aisle, and you stepped back to let them through. They cast the pair of you an odd look over their shoulder, puzzled by your proximity.

"How did you know I was here?" he asked, voice back to a whisper.

"Jayce tipped me off," you replied

"Ah."

"Sorry for interrupting your work. I only intended to drop it off and go."

"It's alright," he insisted. "I'll be done soon - I just need to get a few more books. Would you mind bringing the ones you have to the lab?"

Already, you arms were beginning to grow tired, but you said anyway, "No problem."

"I'll meet you there, then we can talk, or walk, maybe - if you have the time to." He stared intently at the cover of the book atop his bundle. "There's a place I think you might like - it's not far. And the weather's good today, I think..." His sentence slowly trailed off.

You grinned. "It is," you said. "A walk would be nice, then. I'm in need of some air."

"Good." He smiled, and though he attempted to smother it, the glint in his eye betrayed his elation.

"I'll see you back at the lab?"

"Yes. I'll only be a few more minutes." He lowered his brow. "You know your way there, right?"

You nodded. "Down the stairs four- no, three flights," you recounted, "then right, then left, then down that corridor near that big painting and..." You trailed off as Viktor looked at you uncertainly. "I'll be fine."

---

As it turns out, you weren't. The stairs were a challenge to navigate, seeing as you couldn't see your feet, nor the steps. You managed to navigate your way back... after an embarrassing amount of wrong turns (and wrong floors, at one point).

Your arms were sore and fit to fall off by the time you reached the two foreboding doors, knocked with a foot (seeing as your hands were occupied), and were let in by Jayce.

"I see Viktor's got you to do his dirty work," he said, eyeing your pile that seemed to have increased considerably in terms of weight during your journey.

"Mhm," you huffed. "I don't think my arms will recover from this."

"He usually drags me along to be his own personal shopping basket. I swear he picks out the thousand page long ones just to spite me."

He lingered at the door, waiting, as you dumped the book on the nearest available space with a grateful sigh and stretched your arms.

"Where is he?"

"Back there, somewhere," you said with a vague gesture. "He said he still had something to do at the library, but he'd be able to talk once he'd done."

Jayce frowned. "Talk?"

"Yeah? Like... what we're doing now?"

"Business, important-stuff talk, or casual, conversation talk?"

You shrugged, put on the spot by the unusual question. "I dunno. Just conversation-talk, I guess?"

"How did you do that?"

"Talk? I mean, you move your lips and tongue and-"

"No, I mean get him to actually do something other than-" He struggled for the word. "-work?"

You shrugged, unsure of how to answer.

"Viktor's hardly looked up from his work - ever," Jayce explained. "Let alone took a break. Did you bribe him or something?"

You considered if the umbrella counted as reverse payment of some sort, and weren't sure. You shrugged again.

As if on cue, Viktor entered the room, nudging the door open with a shoulder. He set the books down with a sound of relief, then grabbed his coat, which had been folded neatly over a chair.

"Where are you going?" Jayce asked, turning to face him. His tone sounded similar to that of a concerned mother who had just discovered her rowdy son sneaking out a window at night. You looked down to hide your amused smile.

"For a walk," Viktor said. "With Y/N. If that's fine with you. The sun's out," he added to fill the quiet, as if going outside required evidence.

Jayce cast you a baffled look as Viktor shrugged his coat on.

"Whatever your magic skills are," he whispered loudly, "teach me."

Viktor raised an eyebrow at the interaction, but said nothing.

finally. drag d r a g.

again