“Jayce, what is this?”

Viktor saw the shape of it before he layed his hands over the fabric on top. Peeled it away. And like a magician, the object below it had disappeared.

Twice now, he had covered it back up again, and each time he removed it, he saw nothing. Tried to swat the nothing with his hand, but only met air. He had never known invisibility magic to be so tricky.

He put the fabric back over the spot one more time. It was in the shape of a—

Jayce ran up beside him. “Nothing! Nothing. A gift from a sponsor. It’s meaningless,” he shifted to force Viktor back and his own arms around the thing, “just another petitioner wanting to buy into Hextech cooperation. Using gifts to try to bribe me into a deal.”

Viktor cocked a brow. “This is a most auspicious bribe. Who ordered it?”

It had come in a box, on the doorstep of their lab. No note, no signature. Only the fanciful script of the letter J written in black ink.

“Uh— hah, yeah,” Jayce squinted, “I never caught their name. Or…or the means of my deal.”

He began removing the box and the fabric draped object inside away from the work desk, when Viktor held up a swift and stern hand.

“_Our_ deal, Jayce. Together, yes? Now, show it to me, so we can deduce the mysterious culprit. If they want to dismantle _our_ work, we will show them what for.”

Jayce paused, set it quietly back down. His his ears turned another shade of pink.

“Okay.”

When Jayce lifted the fabric, made of gentle gossamer gold, only then did the object below reveal itself, as if per Jayce’s permission. And, Viktor concluded, hexed with an enchantment meant only for Jayce’s eyes.

A strap.

Black leather, bronze buckles, hammered trappings, and sturdy, expensive stitching. In the center, an O ring.

When Jayce picks it up, it makes a clink clink, waiting for a fitting to be placed neatly inside.

On the back, a message tacked on, easily removable. A white hankerchief, embroidered with script in fine gold thread.

“For tonight, love. Let’s show your Hextech some _real_ progress, yes? <3 -M.”

Viktor shoves a very reddened Jayce aside, in the hasty effort to go throw up in the bathroom.