Chapter Text
Jayce knew the odds were not in his favor. Blind boxes are evil. In the best case scenario, he had an 8% chance of getting the character he wanted—his beloved Machine Herald—but that was really the best case scenario, assuming the figure was in one of the boxes and no one had bought a box before him… Which wasn’t the case because there was one less box on display. He was fucked, he knew that, but he bought one anyway.
Moving away from the crowd of people curious to see what was for sale at that store—some carrying several bags that bumped into the people around them and others with cosplays with giant weapons or even wings—Jayce went to a corner where only a few people were, sitting on the floor, resting after hours of waiting in line at the convention and carrying the weight of the purchases they made.
Taking a deep breath, Jayce opened his new purchase, excitement and hope rising in his chest until… yeah, it wasn’t Machine Herald. In his hand was a small Giopara toy. The character was cool, he had a deep relationship with Machine Herald and an interesting background, but it wasn’t the figure Jayce wanted.
Well, it could be worse, I guess?! Jayce thought as he let out a loud sigh. At least it’s Giopara and not that stupid rat with the stupid camouflage and stupid poison. “Sneaky, sneaky” my ass.
Jayce was ready to put the figure in his backpack and go look for Caitlyn and Vi, who were at one of the other stands, when someone touched his shoulder.
“Excuse me, hello” a beautiful voice, low and a little slurred with an accent that made his hair stand on end, tried to get his attention, and when Jayce turned around, he felt all the air leaving his lungs.
In front of him was the most handsome man in the world. No, Jayce was not exaggerating. His eyes, an amber that reminded him of old gold coins and which were behind black rectangular glasses, were the first things that attracted him, hypnotized him, as if a spell had fallen over him. And then Jayce noticed the man's hair, which almost touched his shoulder and was slightly curled and had white tips. Jayce wanted so much to run his fingers through those silky-looking strands and wrap them around his fingers and kiss them. And there were also those moles and...
Jayce realized that he had been staring at the man for longer than could be considered normal and, feeling his face heat up, he said:
“Um, hi?” His voice cracked, causing the redness on his face to spread to his neck and under the collar of his Indiana Jones t-shirt.
What the hell is wrong with you? You’re making a fool of yourself. Keep it cool, Talis! He scolded himself a little pathetically.
The man smiled at him and Jayce felt like he could die right then and there and would be totally happy about it.
“I’m sorry for bothering you, but I couldn’t help but notice that you opened this box and took out a character you didn’t want.” He pointed to the little Giopara still in Jayce’s hand. “I was wondering if you’d be willing to trade it with me. I got this one… Just a second.”
Gripping his cane tightly with one hand, the man placed the backpack he was carrying on his shoulder on the ground with the other hand, opened it, and took out a figure from inside. It was Machine Herald.
“OH MY GOD, YES! LET’S TRADE!” Jayce screamed and then realized with horror how he had acted and quickly apologized, embarrassed once again. “Sorry, sorry. I just… I really like him.” Red would apparently be the new color of his face with the amount of times Jayce felt his skin heat up at his own shameful actions.
The man in front of him laughed, a real laugh, teeth showing, eyes shrinking and shoulders moving. Jayce liked that, that sight, that sound.
“It’s okay!” Trying to control himself, the man continued, as he handed him the small toy: “Is this the one you were hoping to get?”
“Yes! I’m a Machine Herald main and I have a small collection of his stuff… So yeah, I really wanted it.” Jayce confirmed, handing him the figure he had got himself.
The eyes of the man in front of him shone and, excited, he said while holding the Giopara toy against his chest:
“I’m a Giopara main! And I also happen to collect his merch!”
“Wait, what? That’s really cool!” The man’s excitement, so palpable, spread to Jayce. He liked meeting people who showed passion for the things they loved, and he could tell the man had a great fondness for the character. And of all the characters he could love, it was Machine Herald’s other half. Call Jayce a hopeless romantic—or, as Caitlyn loved to tell him, too naive and dreamy for his own good—but it seemed like fate. “I can’t believe it, what are the chances?!”
“I’m not sure, but probably low. But pretty cool, indeed.”
“Viktor? Hey!” Vi appeared out of nowhere with Caitlyn beside her. They were drinking milkshakes and Vi took her arm off Caitlyn’s shoulders to approach the man—Viktor, that was his name!—and to lightly punch him in the arm.
“Oh, hey Violet. How are you?”
“I’m fine, man. I didn’t know you were coming to this con too, but honestly I’m not really surprised at all.”
“Gods, did you get another thing from this robot man?” Caitlyn walked over to Jayce, arms crossed and a judgmental look in her blue eyes. “I swear you won’t be able to get into your room soon, Jayce.”
“Shut up, sprout. And he’s not actually a robot.”
“Whatever!”
“Actually, he got this one.” Viktor proudly showed off the little Giopara. “But we traded it because I wanted this one and he wanted the one I got!” He pointed at Machine Herald.
“So that’s why you guys were talking! Fair enough, nerds need to stick together. And you guys are the biggest nerds I know. Aaaanyway, cupcake and Jayce, this is Viktor. We live near each other. Viktor, this is Caitlyn, my girlfriend, and this idiot right here is Jayce.”
“Fuck you?!”
“No, fuck you!”
“Nice to meet you, Viktor!” Caitlyn ignored the bickering between Jayce and Vi, already used to the dynamic between those two.
Jayce gave Vi a light push and turned to Viktor with the biggest smile of all.
“Yeah. Nice to meet you, man!”
“The pleasure is all mine.”
“So, do you want to join us? Cupcake wanted to take one last walk around the event before we left.”
“I’d love to, but I need to sit down for a bit. My leg is starting to bother me” Viktor said, frustration leaking into his voice against his will.
The mention of his leg made Jayce realize that his own leg hurt, and he decided to use it as an excuse to stay with Viktor a little longer.
“Mind if I come with you? My leg hurts like hell.” He laughed sheepishly, pointing to his own leg where, hidden behind his jeans, was a compression knee brace.
“Not at all, I saw that there are some empty tables nearby that we could use.”
“So Vi and I are going to take a walk and then I’ll find you later so we can leave, okay Jay?” Caitlyn asked.
“Deal.”
Momentarily saying goodbye, Jayce and Viktor walked together to the tables, looking for one that wasn’t dirty and full of trash—how hard is it to take the trash to the trash can?—Viktor quickly sat down, putting his backpack on an empty chair, his cane resting on that same chair and placing his little Giopara toy standing up at the table.
“Hmmm, I’m thinking about getting something to eat. Want anything?” Jayce asked, looking at the food trucks lined up a little further ahead.
“There is no need.” Viktor opened his backpack and, hidden under his hoodie, from the very bottom, he pulled out two foil-wrapped sandwiches, one of which he offered to Jayce. “Want one? It’s chicken. It might be a little smashed, but at least you won’t have to pay a lot for a sandwich that’s probably going to be bad.” He shrugged.
“Perfect. I’ll take it!”
Jayce sat down, placing his backpack on his lap and his beautiful Machine Herald standing next to Giopara—he can totally understand why a lot of people ship the two characters, even leaving all the lore aside, which would already be enough on its own, they really look beautiful next to each other. They ate for a short while in comfortable silence until Viktor turned to him, curious.
“Sooo…”
“Sooo?”
“Is League the only game you play?” Viktor asked, taking a bite of his own sandwich.
“It’s the game I play the most, yes, but I play a few others too. Especially shooters with Cait. Valorant, CS… I’m not very good at them, but she likes these types of games and it’s fun. I like competitive games in general. Any kind. I even played Minecraft for a while.”
“Minecraft?” Viktor laughed. “No judgement, ok? It's just that when I think of Minecraft I think of building little houses and mining iron.”
“Yeah, no, I get that.” Jayce laughed too. “But like, I played x1 and mini games on some servers. But the game I play the most and have played the longest is League. You?”
“I really like League, but I also like turn-based games, and roguelikes too. Last night I finished playing Hades. I finally got 100%!”
“Nice.”
“Uhum.” He nodded. “I plan on starting Hades 2 in the next few days, I was fighting for my life to not get any spoilers, but I’ll finally be free!”
The sandwich ended, but the conversation did not. Jayce showed pictures of his Machine Herald merch collection—“And you said it was a small collection” Viktor teased—and Viktor showed his own collection, some of them where his cat Rio appeared, a true lady who liked to sniff the new items he brought home, almost as if she was analyzing whether she approved them or not—“Of course, it’s her house after all! She needs to have the final say!” Jayce commented and Viktor agreed “That is true.”. It felt so natural to talk to Viktor, like an old friend. A friend he was already in love with, but an old friend nonetheless.
It was when they started talking about their work, the project they were working on at the moment, that Caitlyn appeared, frowning at the phone she was holding.
“Okay, so, I know it’s still early, but my mom’s been texting me a lot saying it’s time to go home, so… Is it okay if we leave, Jay? Please?”
“Of course, sprout” He smiled to reassure her, but he felt heart broken to end his conversation with Viktor so soon, but it didn’t take long until the man interrupted his sadness with a proposal that rekindled his chest with excitement.
“I think I’ll be going too. Are you free later, Jayce? We could play some League together if you want…” Maybe it was Jayce reading too much into Viktor's words and expressions, but Viktor seemed just as keen to continue talking to him as he felt to continue talking to Viktor and that made him happy as hell.
“Yeah!!! I would love to!!!” He almost jumped up and down in excitement.
“Very well.” Viktor smiled sweetly.
They exchanged phone numbers and said their goodbyes, Caitlyn and Jayce heading to the exit to wait for an Uber and Vi accepting a ride from Viktor.
In the car, Caitlyn turned to Jayce, a devilish grin on her face.
“Did you have a good time? I think you had. ” She hummed.
“You know what? Yeah, I had a good time.”
A notification on the phone beeped and made both of them look at Jayce’s phone.
“I wonder who that is!” Caitlyn scoffed, quickly taking out her own phone and probably texting Vi. Jayce ignored her and unlocked his phone to see his messages.
Hello Jayce, this is Viktor. I had a great time chatting with you today. Looking forward to playing with you later!
Jayce thought it was cute how Viktor expressed himself, very polite. He didn’t take long to reply.
hi viktor!
i had a great time too
do u have discord???
so we can keep chatting while we play
i mean
only if you want!!!
Yes, I do. It’s ViktorGiopara. I’ll add you as soon as I get home. I’m going to get in my car now, so I’ll talk to you later.
okok
btw my discord is Jay314
see u later V :D
See you! :)
With the Machine Herald toy in his hand, Jayce looked out the car window and counted the minutes until he got home. He had a good feeling about Viktor.
It really seemed like fate...