two birds | arcane viktor ♡

𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘳𝘦 to help

Sparks scatter around Viktor's form as he does his inventions at his own desk, the safety helmet protecting his face and his eyes from it. The window is left open to let out the steam his stool was producing. There are experiments everywhere, he doesn't even bother cleaning up the papers and notebooks that were all over the floor.

The sun has probably set already, they couldn't tell because Zaun always stays dark and tinted green, they only rely on the clock to tell the time and the lamps to light up the underground city.

Ica sits on the bed with goggles on despite not having any interest in watching him work. "Better safe than sorry." Viktor said as he hands it to her, though she wished she could plug her ears instead as the noise of him working were more distracting than the sight of him. She was able to stay focused nevertheless, filling the pages of his notebook with messy, undistinguishable sketches of designs. Viktor had little to no hope that she would think of something actually possible to build, but he couldn't afford wasting time, it was better than nothing.

Just a while ago, after waking up to eat the snacks Viktor's mother gave them, he suddenly remembered why the idea of making water filters was so familiar to him. He wasn't technically stealing Mrs. Monvener's idea because he had thought of it long ago when he was younger, the only reason why he have yet to start building it was because he lacked materials, those that are only available for actual inventors. He was quick to inform his bestfriend about this, to which she immediately replied with a suggestion.

"Come to my school."

"What?"

"Our laboratory's free to use for students, they can provide us materials we need, if they don't have it then we can just buy from the shops."

"These materials are not really...obtainable for us. Especially since we're, uhh." He motions his hand back and forth between them. They're teenagers, not exactly the kind of people they would give things that are only for professionals.

She mused, tapping on her chin. "Then I suppose we'll have to think of something else?"

Letting out a disappointed sigh, he opened his drawer to pull out an unfinished contraption along with a tool. He really liked the idea, he was a bit excited too, this was his chance to show Piltoverans, no, people in general, that he can create something helpful. But Ica was right, he could just wait until he's older.

"I still want us to build our invention in our lab, though." She continued speaking when Viktor gave her a look. "I mean, think about it. We won't have to worry about gathering unwanted attention when we try to carry it up to Piltover. Worst case scenario, it could get stolen and damaged."

"You seem to be forgetting the fact that I am not a student in your school nor am I from Piltover."

A smile grew on her face, a smile that gave Viktor a bad feeling. "I'll buy you a uniform. You can fake being a student-"

"No-" He cut her off in the middle of her sentence, his tone warning her.

"-and act like you just enrolled in. No one would notice! I think it's a good plan."

Sighing once again, he knew this was coming. "No. It's a risky plan. If we--if I get caught, it's going to get us in trouble."

She laughed through her nose, half-lidded eyes teasing him as if he said something ridiculous. Though that's exactly what she thought. "I've never heard of someone getting in trouble because they pretended to be a student."

"Yet." He corrected her, to which she replied with a roll of her eyes.

"They're not going to send you to prison for wanting to learn."