Chapter Text
Jayce likes to think Viktor considers him his best friend too.
In a whole year of friendship and working together, Viktor had never been known to be absent. He’d take a sick day every once in a while when the pain got too bad, and when he had a doctor’s appointment, he’d simply come in a few hours late, even though he had many of thoses.
But being away for four days of work plus a weekend… that was unusual, and Jayce couldn’t help worry about his friend. If he was okay. If something had happened and he was lying in some hospital somewhere. And Jayce wouldn’t even know, because maybe Viktor didn’t consider him his best friend after all, and his emergency contacts only had information about his parents.
Jayce glances at the cubicle right beside him, painfully empty without Viktor there. The cybersecurity department is small, but Jayce isn’t particularly close to anyone else on the floor.
He is just one among many, and without Viktor there, there’s nothing to do but work. Coffee breaks aren’t filled with the sound of his own voice rambling endlessly to his coworker about things only the two of them would understand. The quiet chuckles and crooked smile he'd get out of Viktor when the joke was too good for him to be quiet.
It’s not like Jayce has anything against the rest of the team, but most of them have started having babies, and Jayce is still a thirty years old single alpha. Not the casanova people expect him to be, someone with a trail of broken hearts behind him.
No. He’s just hopelessly in love with his beta coworker and — Gods above — his best friend. In a whole year nothing had happened yet, he doubts his feelings will ever mean anything to VIktor.
So he stares at Viktor’s empty desk, at the little things decorating the space: a few succulents somehow surviving the deadly AC, colorful Post-its, and a small collection of weirdly cute Labubu dolls the coworkers give him with hopes that Viktor will find one of them ugly. Still, he likes them all.
His spare sweater is still hanging over the chair and, if Jayce were alone in the office after working hours, he’d probably press it against his face like a madman. Betas have no scent, but he loves Viktor's perfume.
Jayce tears his eyes away. He needs to work.
He’s part of a crucial portion of the IT departament and, alongside Viktor and a few other staff members, they purposely hack the company’s systems to find vulnerabilities that could make it easier for outsiders to attack.
But he doesn’t manage to work for long. Soon enough, he picks up his phone to check whether Viktor has replied to his message.
Nothing.
The last time Viktor answered him was exactly twenty-four hours ago with a simple Yes, after Jayce had asked if he was okay.
He types another message and sends it. At least once a day, yeah, that’s a normal amount for a friend.
J: hey vik, I hope you’re okay. If you need anything, just ask me! 😉
His fingers hover over the letters for I’m worried, but the last thing he wants is to annoy Viktor…
But what if he really needs help? What if the hospital couldn’t contact his parents? What if he isn’t even in Piltover or Zaun anymore?
Jayce puts his phone away and forces himself to focus, counting down the hours until he can leave the office. Any other day, he and Viktor would stay late — not even for the money, their salaries are already good, but for the peace and quiet of an empty office.
However, the second the clock hits five, Jayce is on his feet and out of the door in a hurry. Anyone trying to chat with him gets ignored and those who get into the elevator with him only recieve nods for answers. The only person he actually says goodbye to is the security guard by the parking lot.
Jayce climbs into his black sedan and drives towards the edge of Piltover, near Progress Bridge, where Viktor lives in an apartment the size of a sardine can. The trip takes thirty minutes, but only because he knows how to escape the traffic around the financial district.
On the way, he stops by a Zaunite bakery Viktor is fond of. He picks up a few of his friend’s favorite pastries, the same ones Viktor once brought to work and shared with him in the break room. Sweet buns filled with zesty jam, buttery cookies, and a warm spicy drink.
Once he’s back in the car, Jayce stares at his reflection in the rearview mirror.
Is he being too much of an annoying alpha? This urge to provide, to care for the people he loves, to protect them — even when they don’t need protection anymore, even when they’re long past their more animalistic days. The instinct still lingers, and when it comes to Viktor, it feels impossible to ignore.
Jayce can’t help it, as much as he is aware a beta like Viktor would never understand what is it to be controlled by those things.
Jayce's father and mother are two omegas — a rare pairing, and even rarer to end up with an alpha baby after failed atempts at conception. Without his alpha grandmother around, Jayce was raised by softer people, not exactly what someone expects from his secondary gender. Everything about him feels like it’s trying to fit into a mold that was never made for him. And he tries so hard to be more like his parents — gentle in the way only omegas could be. Mindful of every action. Collected. Not this overwhelming need to protect and provide, to make himself useful.
He’s being too much. He knows he is.
He should just turn the car around, go home, eat the damn pastries himself, and hope they somehow fill the Viktor-shaped hole in his heart.
What a pitiful alpha, no wonder he is single. Who would a man like that?
No. No, Viktor is on sick leave. He’d probably appreciate something good to eat. Jayce is his friend — sometimes he wonders if he is Viktor's only friend — and he should be there for him.
So he keeps driving, overthinking the entire way as usual, and a few blocks later he’s pulling up in front of Viktor’s building. Endlessly tall, mass-produced concrete panels stacked together into identical towers filled with afordable apartaments. In one of those countless balconies, Viktor is sick.
And alone.
There’s a short wall surrounding the complex, with a doorman stationed at the entrance to keep strangers away from the apartment blocks.
But he knows Jayce by now, from the times he'd stop by Vikto's place to give him a ride. He’s another alpha and alphas usually remember each other.
Jayce parks right in front of the complex and marches towards the entrance, the office ID still hanging from his neck.
“Hey.” Jayce stops beside the small guard booth where the doorman sits.
The man recognizes him immediately, eyebrows lifting.
“Hey, man!” He’s already reaching for the intercom, trying to remember Viktor's apartament number in a sea of units. "Lemme just make sure he knows you’re here. Uh…” He looks at Jayce's ID, his serious photo from five years ago, with the Medarda Insights logo right under it. "Jayce, ok."
"Dont worry about it” Jayce lifts the bakery bag slightly. “It’s a surprise, actually."
“Oh… Really, man, I have to call when theres someone.” The doorman clears his throat and puts the intercom phone back in place. “Hey—!"
Jayce doesn’t stay long enough to hear anything else, already heading down the path towards Viktor’s apartment block. He knows which one, even thought he had never been past the yard and parking lot. Tenth floor. Balcony facing Zaun — a view most people wouldn’t want, but Viktor loves it.
With every passing second, Jayce’s thoughts spiral back to the same place of doubt.
Should he even be here?
The question lingers while he stands inside the elevator, follows him down the corridor, and stays rooted in his chest when he finally stops in front of Viktor’s door.
He rings the bell and waits.
Then waits for what feels like an eternity.
Gods, he hopes Viktor is okay.
He rings again and, this time, hears footsteps approaching. Heavy steps, with none of the familiar tap of Viktor’s cane against the floor.
The door swings open, and Jayce is immediately hit by the pheromones of another alpha. What might be appealing to an omega only makes his skin crawl. The scent is metallic, sharp, the kind meant to warn other alphas away.
But beneath it, there’s something else.
Sweet vanilla mixed with soft cotton. And underneath all of that… Arousal, spicy like cinnamon.
Everything crashes into Jayce at once. An alpha drenched in omega scent, wearing nothing but a bedsheet around his waist, standing inside Viktor’s apartment. Tawny skin. Broad shoulders. Dark hair falling to his shoulders.
The omega scent could only belong to Viktor.
But Viktor is a beta. He told Jayce he was a beta, born from an omega and alpha pair of fathers.
And Jayce has never smelled this scent before. Not even in the sweaters Viktor leaves hanging over his cubicle chair.
“Who the fuck are you?” the alpha asks, nostrils flaring.
The tone alone triggers something ugly in Jayce. His fists tighten instinctively.
He steps forward, only for a hand to press against his chest and stop him. Reflexively, Jayce grabs the man by the wrist.
They stare each other down while Jayce’s thoughts churn violently around one unbearable fact: There’s another man in Viktor’s apartment. Another alpha. And Jayce hates it more than he wants to admit.
“Look, he’s in heat right now.” The alpha smirks, which only makes Jayce’s anger spike higher. “And we’re busy. Leave before you really piss me off, huh?"
Before Jayce can answer, he’s shoved backwards and the door slams shut in his face.
****
The doorman gives him an apologetic look when Jayce returns. Jayce ignores him completely, except for dropping the bakery bag onto the open window of the guard booth.
He manages to keep himself together until he reaches his car. Then his hands start shaking so badly he can barely fit the key into the ignition. After several failed attempts, he throws the keys somewhere across the passenger seat and drops his forehead against the steering wheel, letting out a miserable whimper.
He feels sick with disgust.
Not because Viktor lied — though that hurts too, but he wants to believe there's a good reason behind it.
No, his disgust is aimed entirely at that alpha. At the way he exposed an omega’s vulnerable state so casually. He didn’t know Jayce, yet he hadn’t hesitated for even a second before announcing Viktor’s heat out loud, bragging about what they were doing inside.
The disrespect.
The sheer—
Jayce slams his fist against the horn before quickly jerking back, horrified at himself. The last thing he wants is to become some brainless, territorial alpha throwing a tantrum.
And then, just as quickly, the anger collapses into something far worse.
Pain.
Viktor kept this from him. Why would he lie about being a beta?
And there’s another alpha.
Jayce never really stood a chance, did he? Not before, when he thought Viktor was simply a beta, and certainly not now that Viktor is an omega who already has an alpha.
A shitty one, apparently.
Jayce could survive the heartbreak of Viktor wanting someone else, really. He'd been getting ready for that outcome for the past 12 months.
But knowing the guy seems like a complete asshole somehow makes it worse. If Viktor is going to choose someone over him, then at the very least, that person should treat him well.
He digs his phone from his satchel bag and checks his messages with Viktor. How everything was normal, endless memes and links to articles amidst their conversation until Viktor went radio silent. Sparse messages, then nothing.
Viktor is busy. And theres nothing Jayce can do about it.
****
It takes one more day for Viktor to return to work on a Thursday, eyebags more pronounced and short hair messier than before. Bundled up inside a thick sweater over his white dress shirt, he's already by his cubicle when Jayce arrives. Early than the rest to enjoy some thrity minutes of silence. And instead of a cane, his crutch rests against the desk.
Viktor looks over his shoulder and when Jayce offers him a smile, he turns back to his screen — endless coding in blue, white and red.
"Got me worried for a moment." Jayce clears his throat, laughing akwardly as he places his blazer over the chair and turn his computer on. "Are you feeling better?"
Eyes glued to the screen, Viktor says, "I know you've stopped by my apartament."
"Ah…" The alpha nods, able to look at Viktor over the clear partition. "I asked the doorman to not tell you, it was a surprise. I was w-worried, so I thought about grabbing some food. B-But I left, so—"
Viktor shakes his head and turns his chair around.
"It's okay, Jayce. It was my… Guest who told me."
The guest. Right.
The mere mention of that nameless man makes something twist painfully inside Jayce, but he keeps it to himself, hoping it doesn’t show on his face or seep through the patches covering his scent glands.
“Let’s talk.” Viktor pushes himself to his feet, his crutch tucked under his arm in one smooth motion. “At the balcony, before everyone else arrives.”
It takes Jayce a second to regain his bearings, but he quickly follows Viktor outside. They usually go there when the break room is too crowded or whenever Viktor managed to steal a cigarette from someone.
This time, it’s because they need to talk about something Jayce feels no one else should hear.
The skyline of Piltover stretches around them from the balcony — towering glass buildings and busy streets glittering beneath the morning light. Jayce trails next Viktor, who lowers himself onto one of the shapeless wooden benches.
There’s distance between them.
There always has been.
They’re friends. Coworkers. Nothing more.
“You’re an omega,” Jayce finally says, breaking the silence. When Viktor doesn’t answer immediately and simply keeps staring at the city, Jayce adds quietly, “Why did you lie to me?”
Viktor takes his time responding. By then, he’s no longer looking at the skyline. His honey-colored eyes settle on Jayce instead, steady and unreadable.
“Some companies rarely hire omegas for certain positions. We’re considered… eh, unstable employees.” Viktor gestures vaguely toward the office behind them. “Heat cycles, maternity leave… some HR people preach that we’ll eventually be consumed by the instinct to have pups and abandon our careers. That we’re meant to be caretakers, parents, support staff. Jobs that fit our nature and nothing else. You were raised by omegas, right?”
“Yes, but…” Jayce hesitates. “They never talked about their struggles. They've only…”
He searches for better wording, something that doesn’t reduce omegas to submission, but it’s harder than he expected. His parents had spent years teaching him how to care for, provide for, and protect a future omega partner.
“How to treat omega partners,” he settles on, clearing his throat. “I never actually had one, so… I only know what it’s like being an alpha.”
Viktor nods without a trace of annoyance.
“It happened to me before,” he continues. “Being denied a senior position I was fully qualified for once they learned I was an omega.” His fingers brush absently over the brace over his brown slacks. “So I lied. My father knows a doctor who could issue a falsified report saying I’m a beta. It’s common practice in Zaun. A lot of omegas hide their secondary gender.”
He tilts his head slightly.
“Now think about this place, Jayce. Have you seen many omegas around?”
Jayce opens his mouth automatically. “There are omegas here.”
That earns him a deep frown and a look sharp enough to pierce straight through him.
“The secretaries. Cleaning staff. A few hopeful trainees who’ll eventually watch their alpha coworkers climb the ladder twice as fast.”
Jayce falls quiet.
The more Viktor talks, the harder it becomes to deny the truth in his words. Surely there are companies out there that are better, more inclusive. But not many as large as Medarda Insights. Not many offering salaries like the ones he and Viktor have, despite it strict rules about employer behavior.
They both hate this company, though. They’ve talked about it often enough.
Jayce dislikes it even more now that he’s seeing it through Viktor’s eyes.
“You…” He wants to shrink into himself somehow, but alphas aren’t supposed to do that. So instead, he forces himself to hold Viktor’s gaze. “You could’ve told me. I thought we were friends. I thought you trusted me.”
Something close to shame flickers across Viktor’s face before he looks away, staring down at his shoes.
“I didn’t want our friendship to change.” His voice is quieter now. “It’s good being treated like a beta. No one expects anything from them.”
Then, after a pause:
“Don’t you have expectations as an alpha that you can’t stand sometimes?”
“Yeah,” Jayce admits softly. “But it wouldn’t change anything, Viktor. Really. You’re still you to me.”
“Apologies, then” Viktor lowers his head slightly. "I never meant to make you feel like this about our friendship. Hiding it from everyone is tiring, always making sure people don't get too close. I felt like shit everytime I didn't invite you over, that's what friends do. That's what you do to me."
There’s something about the exhaustion hanging over him that makes worry creep back into Jayce’s chest. Are heats really that draining? Viktor had an alpha with him, isn’t that supposed to make things easier?
“Are you feeling okay?” Jayce asks carefully. “I don’t really know much about… an omega's cycle, but are you better now?”
Before Viktor can answer, Jayce rushes on awkwardly.
“My parents used to send me to my grandfather’s house whenever that happened to them. Gods, that sounds embarrassing when I say it out loud. My own parents… Ugh.”
“Don’t think about that.” Viktor chuckles softly, though a faint blush colors his cheeks. “Sorry, I’d rather not talk about this too much, hm?”
Heat crawls instantly up Jayce’s neck.
“Of course! Sorry. That’s… personal.”
Viktor waves it off and slowly pushes himself upright again, leaning heavily on his crutch.
“I trust you’ll keep my secret from now on.”
“Wouldn’t betray your trust like that.”
Jayce’s hand instinctively lifts towards Viktor’s shoulder before stopping midair.
Touching another omega — especially near the neck — is a boundary he’s never crossed. Except… he has. Countless times, back when he thought Viktor was a beta.
Fuck.
He shoves both hands deep into his pockets instead.
“Uh… your patches work really well.” Jayce laughs nervously. “I can’t smell anything besides your perfume.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment, they're quite expensive.”
They start walking back towards the office together.
“Isn’t it strange, though?” Viktor asks lightly. “How betas don’t have scents.”
“It is!” Jayce laughs, relieved to latch onto a safer topic. “Like… I’m so used to associating scents with people. Loving my mother’s scent, missing my dad’s, catching a random smell somewhere and suddenly thinking of a friend. They become memories, you know? Part of us, even if they’re not our own scent.”
Viktor nods, smiling faintly as they walk side by side at his slower pace.
“So…” Jayce says once they’re back near their cubicles. “That guy is…?”
The answer comes immediately, sharp as broken glass.
“Forget you ever saw him.”
Jayce nods and sinks into his chair. “Of course. Already erased from my memory.”
They enjoy a few more minutes of peace before the office gradually fills with voices. Someone opens the blinds, flooding the room with sunlight and a perfect view of Piltover’s skyline — a pathetic attempt to make employees forget they spend most of their lives trapped inside the building.
Beside him, Viktor quietly works through everything he missed, checking system changes with the obsessive focus he always has.
Whatever omega heats are truly like, it must have been serious enough to stop Viktor from working remotely and obsessing over tasks from home.
In an entire year, Viktor had never taken leave like this.
Compared to Jayce’s parents, that’s a long time between heats.
Now that he knows Viktor is an omega, little things suddenly start making more sense. The oversized sweaters Viktor always wears when it gets cold almost seem like a portable nest. The pretty knitted back pillow he keeps on his chair that could have been any ugly ergonomic pillow like everyone else. The endless patience in his soft voice, even when dealing with idiots submitting useless IT requests.
The trainees especially adore Viktor. They orbit around him far more than they do the other senior staff and Jayce is aware of then have a massive crush on Viktor.
Sure, any of those traits could belong to anyone.
But now… Now they feel different somehow. Like Viktor’s omega nature had always been there in the smallest details, quietly peeking through.
Maybe Viktor would invite him over now. The same way Viktor had visited Jayce’s apartment a few times for a drink because they both hated the noise of bars on Friday nights.
Past the gates. Inside his home, where his omega scent probably lingered in every room. A place where Jayce would’ve learned the truth if he was allowed in before.
“You’re back!”
A beta woman from the security engineering team beams when she spots Viktor.
“You’ve never taken such a long leave before. Are you okay?”
Viktor smiles politely, though it doesn’t quite reach his eyes.
“Yes. Just a nasty flu.”
“Oof, those suck.” She drops into her chair nearby. “Come have lunch with me later, okay? My treat!”
Both men end up joining a large group of coworkers in the building's shared cafeteria for lunch. And Viktor is right — most of them are betas and alphas. Some tables are occupied entirely by alphas, loud and full of themselves. Others are made up of mixed groups and casual chatter. Near the windows overlooking the green pathways surrounding the building, four omegas sit together, all juniors, clustered close like pups on their first day of school.
Jayce glances around at their own table. He’s the only alpha there besides a woman who is very obviously dating one of the betas from another company that occupies the building, despite both of them pretending otherwise.
Even if Jayce were sitting at one of those alpha-only tables, he’d still feel out of place.
When it’s just him and Viktor in the break room, his thoughts never stop flowing. But the second more people join them, he tends to retreat into himself. Still, he enjoys listening to everyone talk, and it pleases him more than it should whenever a joke earns a small smile from Viktor.
Their one-hour lunch break stretches a little longer than necessary and, while the others use the extra time to visit their favorite nearby coffee shop or nap in the break room, Viktor quietly returns to his cubicle.
Jayce follows without even thinking about it. They’re always orbiting each other around the office to the point people jokingly call them each other’s work husbands.
The joke usually makes Jayce laugh, but somewhere deep inside, his heart flutters at the idea of being something more than just close coworkers.
Now, though, he’s not even sure what Viktor would want.
The office slowly settles back into its usual rhythm. Everyone buries themselves in tasks while the sharp clicking of high heels against the floor and endless chatter eventually forces Jayce to put in his noise-canceling earbuds.
Time passes quickly now that Viktor is back. Things almost feel normal again. At some point, Jayce even forgets Viktor is an omega at all.
Until he notices Viktor shrugging off his sweater and draping it over the back of his chair.
“Leaving already?” Jayce removes one earbud as he notices everyone around them beginning to pack up. It's almost six pm.
“Yes. I need my bed before my body punishes me even more.” Viktor chuckles softly, though there’s barely any humor behind it. If anything, it only highlights how exhausted he looks.
“Want a ride?” Jayce immediately starts shutting down his software. “Just give me five minutes and I’ll be ready.”
“Okay.” Viktor shrugs and sinks back into his chair, clearly too drained to remain standing. He busies himself with his phone while Jayce works as quickly as possible to finish up.
The drive is mostly quiet.
Every now and then Jayce says something, and Viktor responds with a nod or a tired chuckle, but most of the time he simply rests his head against the window and stares outside.
None of it bothers Jayce. He knows Viktor’s pain can reach a point where speaking feels exhausting. And honestly, Jayce is grateful Viktor sees him as someone he doesn’t need to pretend around. Someone he can sit beside in silence without forcing meaningless conversation.
Once Jayce parks in front of Viktor’s apartment building, the omega finally turns toward him.
“Jayce… I’m grateful we’re friends.” Viktor pauses briefly. “And it’s a relief that you know the truth now, I was tired of pretending to you.”
He removes his watch before peeling away the patch covering his wrist.
Immediately, that soft cotton-like scent fills the car. There’s no cinnamon this time. Maybe that only appears during his heat.
Jayce feels strangely privileged for having experienced Viktor’s arousal scent at all. A private note he knows he’ll probably never smell again.
Something precious.
“Give me your hand, hm?” Viktor says, offering his own.
For a second, Jayce is too distracted by the scent surrounding him to react. Then he slowly places the back of his hand against Viktor’s palm.
“Your parents probably did this with you before, right?” Viktor murmurs.
He lifts Jayce’s hand slightly closer to his face and gently brushes the tip of his nose against it before pulling away.
“Not really…” Jayce whispers, stunned.
That clearly surprises Viktor, one thick eyebrow arching upward.
“How did they scent you, then?”
“Mostly rubbing wrists together.” Jayce shrugs faintly, suddenly remembering old university friendships that faded over time. “Well… bet a dam and their pups rub cheeks too. I used to do that to my parents all the time.”
“I see” Viktor clicks his tongue thoughtfully while adjusting his shoulder bag. “Must be a Zaunite thing, then. We rub noses. Not with every friend, of course. That would be very awkward.”
For one dangerous second, Jayce imagines rubbing his nose against Viktor’s. It feels unbearably intimate. Almost like a kiss.
The thought alone makes him realize just how painfully Piltovan he really is. He wouldn’t want to do something like that with anyone else. Not even his mother, not now that he is a grown man. No. Some selfish part of him wants to keep that gesture reserved only for Viktor.
“Thank you for the ride, Jayce.” Viktor reaches for the door handle. “And for keeping my secret.”
“A-Anytime, Vik.”
Jayce only notices Viktor is about to leave when his hand settles on the door.
“If anyone finds out,” Viktor says lightly while opening it, his crutch poking outside first, “I’ll know you are the snitch.”
He pauses and glances back over his shoulder.
“And I know a guy who cuts dicks off for a very affordable price.”
Jayce bursts out laughing, relief washing through him when he sees Viktor laughing too.
“Need a ride tomorrow morning?” he asks.
“I’d like that.” Viktor climbs out of the car and gives him a small wave before heading toward the building.
Jayce watches him pass the guard booth, keeps watching until he disappears from sight entirely.
Only then does he lift his hand toward his face. Viktor’s scent is faint where his nose brushed against his skin. Nose scent glands are the weakest of them all, but Gods, Jayce wishes Viktor would rub himself all over him.
Still, his car smells overwhelmingly like Viktor now, more than ever before, and for the moment, that’s enough.
He drives home wearing the stupidest smile imaginable.