Viktor x Reader

Twenty-Nine

"Well...", with his little arms crossed behind his back, Heimerdinger eyes Viktor from top to bottom. "I always like to say that great minds can't always be seen by the bare eye. But you seem rather unnoticeable, my young friend."

Viktor sat on a chair, his shoulders lowered and his head hanging low. One of his hands was on his crutch to keep it standing up while the other rested on his leg.

You stood next to him, one hand on his shoulder like you always did when you wanted to reassure him.

This might have been one of the hardest moments in your life.

You knew that this was a moment for Viktor, about Viktor and him alone. He needed to handle this himself.

And you had no doubt that he would be able to handle it in the best ways possible.

Viktor seemed to pick up how nervous you were. It wasn't an every day occasion that you lost your chill.

With a reassuring smile, he grabbed your hand that was on his shoulder, gave it a gentle squeeze and eyed you from the corner of his eyes.

"Don't worry, I will try to answer his questions as well as possible.", he said and turned back to the creature that eyed him like some sort of goods that were up for sale. "If you'll allow me, that is."

With his chin raised and a hand stroking the long strands of hair of his moustache, Heimerdinger fell into a state of thinking for a moment.

Small sounds made his throat tremble.

"Words don't mean a lot for a man of science, isn't it?", he asked and looked around the room. "But research."

"Facts.", Viktor agreed.

One of Heimerdinger's eyebrows rose in surprise.

"Indeed... You know, maybe I did judge too quickly. Tell me, young man, what's your name?"

"It's Viktor, sir."

"Viktor. A name for great people. So tell me, Viktor, what is your profession?"

Unsure what to answer to that, Viktor let his brown eyes wander over the table that he used to work on.

He tilted to the side to make way for Heimerdinger to see and gestured towards the many scraps and metal parts that were spread out across the wooden surface.

Heimerdinger snapped his fingers.

A gush of warm air traveled through the room.

As it touched your face, a familiar shiver chased down your body.

It was the touch of magic.

As if he was a feather, Heimerdinger's feet rose from the ground. Elegantly, he floated towards the table, high enough to see what was on it, and returned to the ground.

"Interesting indeed.", he said, more to himself than either of you and turned around to walk small circles through the house. "Well, young one, tell me about it."

He did a gesture as if he expected a proper presentation.

Viktor locked eyes with you.

You knew that he wasn't a social butterfly, let alone someone who managed to explain his work well. Most of the time he just threw something together and it worked. Everything came together inside his head.

He had tried to explain his work steps a few times to you but with little success since he talked as if you knew exactly what he was thinking.

Even though that was mostly true, it didn't apply to his genius.

That was something you would probably never understand about him. And yet, it was one of the things you found most mesmerising about him.

That and the fact that he had managed to remain polite and gentle even though he was a man of Zaun.

With a soft smile you squeezed his shoulder for comfort and gestured with your chin towards one of his inventions that you were particularly fond of.

A few years back, shortly after moving in together, some punks had broken into the house and had dealt great damage to your arms and hands. In that time it had been hard for you to work, pain had been a constant companion and the nights had been terrorised by nightmares and the fear of being mugged again.

In that time Viktor had build something that was both comforting and dangerous.

It was a small cube, barely larger than the palm of your hand, made of many smaller cubes.

The inside was made of screws and gears.

Viktor eyed it for a moment.

A small layer of dust had already gathered on the surface.

You hadn't used it in a while, but that was because nobody had managed to get into the house ever since thanks to the improvised security system.

Heimerdinger noticed the both of you staring.

With a considerate yet interested gaze, he looked at it himself.

"Don't you want to show me?", he asked in a polite manner. "Don't be shy."

This time, you couldn't help but give Viktor a soft push.

He accepted his fate, took a deep breath, and slowly reached out to grab the object that had everyone in the room in a chokehold.

As the tips of his long, slender fingers stroked the surface, the dust was wiped away and revealed bright, polished metal underneath.

The cube reacted slightly. Small, angular cracks appeared inside the sides, revealing the faint shimmer of blue.

A vibration chased through the tabletop.

You could feel it tingling in your hand.

The smell of salty water reached your nose.

Something chased through Heimerdinger's eyes.

"Is that..?", he stepped closer as if he just had seen a miracle happen.

"It's not.", Viktor said with a smile and showed him.

You could tell by the way his eyes moved that he feared he had already disappointed him.

Without hesitation, Heimerdinger grabbed the cube with both hands to examine it from all sides.

"I can't believe it!", he said. "It looks like magic. It even feels like it. But it's not."

"It's a simulation.", Viktor pressed one of the tiles of the cube. "It's just a fraud."

With a mechanical hiss, the tiles of the cube separated and started to float around a field of energy that caused small lightnings to danced from one metal piece to another.

It seemed almost as if the Arcane was floating right through it.

"But if it's not magic...", Heimerdinger locked eyes with Viktor. "What is it?"

He lowered his eyes, but at the same time reached up to grab your hand.

"Electricity."