Following Jayce's POV

Another week passed. The project Viktor and Jayce had been working on was complete. The name they settled on for it was HexTech. They presented tomorrow. Jayce gazed down at the blueprints Viktor had drawn out on a piece of poster paper. He was really good at drawing, Jayce discovered over the course of this project. Nodding slightly, Jayce turned, typing on his laptop, finishing the last slide in their presentation. A knock on the door caught his attention.

He stood up and walked to the door, opening it. In front of him stood Mel. Jayce smiled and let her in to the dorm, shutting the door behind them. He'd taken Viktor's advice last week and called her back. Since then, they'd been hanging out a lot.

"Hello, Mel! How are you today?" Jayce asked, following her to the living room.

"I'm lovely," she nodded, lowering herself into the couch. "You?"

"I'm good," he nodded, sitting beside her.

"Did you draw these?" Mel asked.

"The blueprints? Oh, no. Viktor did actually! He's quite good at drawing," Jayce commented, scooping up the drawings and his laptop, moving them to the side.

"Hm, I see," her voice grew a bit dull. "Well, have I ever shown you my paintings? They're quite good."

Jayce paused, shaking his head after a moment. "No, you haven't."

"Well perhaps I should one day!" She said, nodding.

Jayce smiled. Things had been going well with Mel lately. They'd hung out nearly everyday after Jayce had called her back.

"Your project is looking good," she said. "I'm sure your professor will give you a good grade on it."

"Thank you! I hope so. Viktor and I worked hard on it."

"How much did Viktor do?"

"Well, he drew the blueprints. Originally, he sketched out ideas and all the mathematical equations. He also did some of the slides for the presentation"

"And, you?"

Jayce blinked. "I helped decide which design and equations to use. I also helped come up with more ideas for it. I did the rest of the presentation slides."

Mel gave an unreadable expression, glancing in the direction of Viktor's room.

"And now he's just laying around?"

Jayce shrugged. "I'm not sure. Wouldn't blame him if he was, though."

"If you say so," she muttered quietly, shaking her head. "Anyways, turning away from the topic of him, what're you doing this weekend?"

Jayce shrugged. "There's a football game on Saturday. Besides that, I'm not sure. Might force Viktor to go out to that cafe again."

"Why don't you take me instead?" Mel asked.

"Huh- Why would-"

Mel cut him off. "I mean, he'd probably be tired and all after all he does during the week. Whatever he does."

Jayce shrugged a bit. "I like hanging out with him. Besides, it gets him out and lets him breathe in the fresh air."

Mel scowled a bit. "I see. You two are quite close, aren't you?"

Jayce nodded. "He's one of my closest friends now."

"Are you, like, gay?" Mel whispered the word gay like it was a secret.

"What? No! No, I'm not," Jayce laughed awkwardly. "I only like women."

"Alright, alright, just making sure," Mel chuckled a bit.

The two sat there talking for a while, laughing at the jokes they made. The time ticked by and Mel eventually left. Jayce got ready and slipped into his bed, slipping off to sleep.

_______

Jayce and Viktor walked down the sideway, carrying on a steady conversation. Viktor held the blueprints in his hand while Jayce carried his laptop. They had fallen into a ritual of walking together, Jayce always holding the door so Viktor could walk through carefree.

Jayce now sat over by Viktor, even when not working on the project, keeping him company in the class. James thought poorly of that decision, always making a point to comment on it.

"Jayce and Viktor, you two are up now," Professor Heimerdinger called, gazing up at the two.

Jayce noticed Viktor tense up, the grip he had on his pencil tightening a bit. Jayce set a hand on his back for a moment, hoping to relax him a bit.

"We got this, we're prepared," he whispered.

Viktor inhaled, before relaxing. He gave a determined nod, scooping up the blueprints he had into his hands. Jayce stood and made his way down the lecture hall to the front, Viktor at his side. After setting up the blueprints and plugging the laptop into the big screen, Jayce and Viktor began explaining what their project was about. Jayce was impressed by Viktor's passion for this project. He had let Viktor go over the blueprints and equations involved, explaining everything there was to them. It was almost memorizing. When he finished, Jayce picked up where he left off.

At the end, Jayce glanced over at Viktor who gave him a confident nod, whispering quietly.

"I think we sold it," he chuckled, turning his gaze towards Heimerdinger.

"Very well, my boys!" The professor praised, clapping quickly. "Truly interesting and inspiring!"

Jayce smiled, nodding his head. With Heimerdinger's words, the two gathered up their stuff, heading back up to their seats. James leaned over, holding out his fist for Jayce, who gladly bumped it. He dipped his head to his friend as they passed him. Viktor flopped down onto his seat with a sigh of relief.

"You looked like a natural, Viktor!" Jayce said, patting him on the shoulder. "I told you we had it. You were inspiring!"

Viktor chuckled, waving his hand in the air, as if dismissing the compliment.

"You're the one who stole the show," he said. "The presentation and your further explanation of HexTech was wonderful."

Jayce shook his head. "True, but you're the one who came up with the ideas, sketches, blueprints, and helped with the presentation. I just refined and helped with some parts of it."

"True, but you still did good at explaining it," the smaller man responded.

"Oh, come on!" Jayce said, rolling his eyes playfully. "Just let me compliment you for once!"

Viktor laughed, shaking his head stubbornly. "Never, Talis."

"You're too stubborn sometimes."

"Eeh, maybe, but that's just who I am."