*coughs Loudly* One Of Jayvik's Cheesy Dates? *cough Cough*

*coughs loudly* One of Jayvik's cheesy dates? *cough cough*

Setting: Mod AU, Chicago

———

When Viktor had moved to America for his PhD, he knew exactly three things:

1. University of Chicago is an amazing school with a world-renowned engineering department.

2. Chicago is a much larger and louder city than Prague.

3. Apparently deep dish pizza is a big deal here

Now, after living in the Windy City for little over a year, Viktor now knows the following:

1. Chicago is much, much, much (much) colder than Prague, like a lot colder.

2. Jayce Giopara-Talis is the love of his life.

3. The Museum of Science and Industry is the greatest place on earth.

Viktor stares at the space shuttle as if he is seeing the face of God. He knows it’s a replica, but that’s not the point. The point is that amazing piece of machinery went to the moon! And made it back!

“Can you imagine it? Getting to go up to space?” He says to Jayce, who is reading the summary about moon rocks beside him. He doesn’t respond, Viktor nudges him with his cane. “Jayce.”

Jayce’s eyes shoot up to meet Viktor’s like a dog that just heard the jingle of car keys. “Sorry hun, what’d you say? Hey, did you know that no lunar samples have ever been in contact with Earth’s atmosphere? They would immediately start to oxidize and degrade so they’re kept in nitrogen chambers and—“, Jayce pauses, smiling sheepishly, “You had a question.”

Viktor chuckles and presses a kiss into Jayce’s bicep. Most of their conversations typically follow this pattern; with each of them going off on tangents until the other’s focused gravity pulls them back into orbit. Or an asteroid crashes into both of them and they’re left hurtling through space and disjointed tangents together until they both have completely forgotten what they had been talking about.

“I asked what you think it would have been like, to go to the moon.”

Jayce looks at Apollo 11 and chews his bottom lip. Viktor has only seen him do this when he’s deep in thought, turning and rotating a problem in his mind to get every possible angle.

After a moment goes by, he says, “it must have been both terrifying and exhilarating. Like, here you are, a harbinger of progress and a new age. You’re literally going to the fucking moon, for gods sake!”

Viktor tries his best to look guilty as a mother shoots them a glare and covers her child’s ears. Jayce doesn’t notice, continuing, “But at the same time. You genuinely don’t know if you’re going to make it back. All you’ve got is the scratchy voice of a guy all the way down in Houston, telling you everything’s alright. And then next to you, some guy who’s practically a stranger, who you have no choice but to trust with your life, but he’s just as scared shitless as you are. But it’s way better than being all alone up there.”

Viktor hums, still partly transfixed by the stars reflected in the gold foil of the space shuttle. “What if it were us in there and we were going to the moon?”

He expects a joke about his terrible motion sickness and aversion cramped spaces, not: “Oh baby, if it were us, first thing I’d do is write our names in the dirt. No wind up there, so it’ll be there forever.”

4. Viktor is going to marry this man.