[Ah, so, it's back to this again. He knows it's not easy, to be new here, with Viktor having a head start, then to find out he was being less-than-honest, on top of that? He feels a pang of guilt--unsurprising, that Jayce would take everything particularly hard. But he meant it when he said it earlier--Jayce is irreplaceable, even meeting so many new people from countless other worlds.]
I know how to have friends, Jayce. [Knows how to care about people, ostensibly. Sometimes, however, he's a little lacking in the way he shows it. His sickness and preoccupation with it certainly hasn't helped.] Did you think you were the first?
[Well. Actually. Maybe that's true, at least insofar as an intellectual equal is concerned. Jayce had been the first who could really match him step for step, and he's never stopped being glad for it. Once he had that, of course, what other friends did he need? It certainly didn't help that once he had Jayce, he felt less of a need to perform for the Academy--for Piltover itself--and focused singularly on the work they were doing. A life before Jayce seems like it was lived by someone else, at this point, but it existed nonetheless.
Still, he's not going to harp on it. Jayce has apologized both for the little lecture and for his behavior on the bridge, and though Viktor can't deny that the latter spoke to a broader misunderstanding, the social structure of home and all of the repercussions of it are both behind them now. It seems best to start over, on the same team. They've always been better that way. Viktor indulges the touch, leaning into it a little so their shoulders are touching as they sit on the bench.]
We have a second chance, now. We'll do better this time.
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I know how to have friends, Jayce. [Knows how to care about people, ostensibly. Sometimes, however, he's a little lacking in the way he shows it. His sickness and preoccupation with it certainly hasn't helped.] Did you think you were the first?
[Well. Actually. Maybe that's true, at least insofar as an intellectual equal is concerned. Jayce had been the first who could really match him step for step, and he's never stopped being glad for it. Once he had that, of course, what other friends did he need? It certainly didn't help that once he had Jayce, he felt less of a need to perform for the Academy--for Piltover itself--and focused singularly on the work they were doing. A life before Jayce seems like it was lived by someone else, at this point, but it existed nonetheless.
Still, he's not going to harp on it. Jayce has apologized both for the little lecture and for his behavior on the bridge, and though Viktor can't deny that the latter spoke to a broader misunderstanding, the social structure of home and all of the repercussions of it are both behind them now. It seems best to start over, on the same team. They've always been better that way. Viktor indulges the touch, leaning into it a little so their shoulders are touching as they sit on the bench.]
We have a second chance, now. We'll do better this time.