Following Viktor's POV

Viktor's leg hurt more than usual for the rest of the day, no thanks to Jayce. That man seriously had issues, didn't he? All Viktor wished to do was have a nice first day of college at Piltover Academy, but no, that obviously didn't happen.

"I'm stupid for thinking that nothing but positive things would come out of today," Viktor thought to himself, scolding himself quietly.

He sighed. His next class was a sports medicine class. Viktor was tempted to go to the academy's office in his free thirty minutes to switch the class out for a another one, but decided he'd see what it was about. Perhaps it'd be an easy class for him, not that he would usually one to choose easier classes over harder ones, though.

In the back of his mind, he doubted he'd be able to put the class credit to much use, though, seeing as he had an injury that made it hard for him to move around from place to place quickly and fluently. He assumed that people who worked with sports medicine needed to be good at that if they were to help injured athletes.

Viktor checked the time. 12:23. He glanced up and continued limping towards his sports medicine class which started at 12:30.

_______

After his class, Viktor sat still at his desk, waiting for everyone else to exit the room before he did as well. He inhaled the fresh outside air as it hit his face. That was his last class of the day, so he figured he'd head back to the dorm. Though, after walking for a moment, the words he'd overheard in his first class got to him.

"It's so obnoxiously loud."

"I know! At least you don't have to hear it twenty-four-seven."

Viktor sat on a bench at the front of the building, the words cycling through his mind. He bent over, fiddling with his leg brace. He undid the latch to it and brought it closer to him, inspecting it. Perhaps it was time to get a new one. This one was quite old. Though, Viktor didn't really have the extra money to buy a new one. Perhaps he'd pick up a job sometime after his classes.

As he held the brace in his hands, he turned it over, messing with any of the bolts and areas where the parts aligned, attempting to tighten it with nothing but his fingers in hopes it'd be quieter when he put it on next; obviously, nothing came of it. He'd need actual tools in order to tamper with his brace. All he could do for now was put it back on and leave it.

"Well, if it isn't the loudest person at the academy!" A voice called.

Viktor recognized the voice. It was one of Jayce's friends. He flicked his eyes upwards for a quick second, bending down again to reapply his brace. Jayce's friend wasn't along. In fact, there were two other men and Jayce with him.

"Aww, he's not speaking to us," one said, giving a fake, pouty lip.

Viktor said nothing, trying not to feed into their behavior. He would've thought four grown men would act more maturely. Viktor went to stand, reaching for his cane. However, one of the four goons swooped in and scooped it up, stepping back a bit.

"Nice cane you got here, outsider."

Viktor scowled at the word. A mistake. The other picked up on it.

"What? Don't like that word? It's nothing bad," another laughed.

Viktor glared at the grass, leaning on the bench arm for support.

"You all are acting like children!" Viktor said finally, gathering the courage to look up.

"So? What is a weak, crippled outsider like you going to do about it? Chase us down? Beat us up?"

Viktor blinked, his confidence fading at the words.

"I-" Viktor's gaze dropped to the ground. He was silent.

This earned small snickers from the group.

"Listen, all we want to do is look at the cane real quick. No big deal or anything. You don't mind, do you?"

What was the point? They were going to do it anyways, and there was nothing, absolutely nothing Viktor could do to stop it.

"Well?" The guy holding his cane prompted, poking Viktor in the shoulder with it, like he was some wild animal in a cage.

Viktor shrugged. "Sure.."

"Wonderful! Here, Scott, you can look at it," the man replied, handing the cane off to another man.

They were like children at show-and-tell. Passing around the cane and making jokes, mainly about Viktor, right in front of him. Like he was invisible. Jayce laughed right along with them.

A crack caught Viktor's attention.

He looked up to see his cane nearly split in two. The man holding it, James he learned, gave a fake pout, handing the cane back to Viktor.

"Oh, oops, my bad. I didn't mean for that to happen. Everyone makes mistakes. It's all good, right?" He asked, fluttering his eyelashes at Viktor mockingly.

Anger seeped into Viktor's bones and his grip on the bench tightened, his knuckles growing white.

"Aw, little outsider's angry," another man, whose name was Scott, Viktor learned, cooed.

Viktor gazed at the cane, his eyes narrowing a bit. He refrained from looking up.

"How am I supposed to get back to my dorm? I can't put my weight in thi-" He was cut off by Mark, the third guy.

"Not our issue to figure out," he shrugged, grabbing James' shoulder. "Should we go now?"

"Yes! Let's go to that cafe that's just a few blocks down!" Jayce chimed in. "I need to eat something before practice."

If this hadn't happened before, Viktor would've almost not believed it. They were having a conversation like nothing happened. This was the farthest they'd ever gone. He gazed at his cane. Another thing he'd have to replace eventually.

Turning away from Jayce and his group of goons, he began to slowly make his was back to his dorm. Surprisingly, he managed to make it there without falling. He slammed the dorm's door shut and headed for his bedroom, throwing his bag to the side and flopping down onto the bed, letting out a sigh of frustration. He gazed at the broken cane that was still being held in his grip. With a sigh, he stood and walked to his desk, grabbing a roll of duct tape. It wasn't perfect, but it would have to do for now.

After wrapping the broken parts of the cane together with the tape, Viktor sat back at his desk, gazing at the black curtains he'd bought recently. He liked them. They stopped a lot of natural light from sinking in during the days. Light that could ruin his sleep or hurt his eyes while he tried working whenever he began to receive schoolwork.

He muttered to himself, thinking over the words Jayce's goons had called him. As much as he wanted to deny those claims, he couldn't. He saw it first-hand that he couldn't. Maybe if he just tried to stay out of their way from now on, they'll leave him alone.