Ink & Ashes // Arcane Fanfiction Viktor x Reader

15

You stifled a yawn in the crook of your elbow and looked over the horizon with bleary eyes. "Beautiful sunset."

"Hm? What- Oh, yes. Lovely."

Viktor spared the view a fleeting glance and you a tired smile before returning to the paperwork splayed across his lap. 

Countless shades blue and purple and pink and orange of  blurred into one another to form an effortless ombre of sky. Pink clouds blended almost seamlessly with the vibrant hues, distinguishable only by the faint smudges of shadow along their sides. The world was glazed in a dark kind of light, the kind that lingered after long days.

Your fingers itched to capture the image somewhere, immortalise it on paper, but the graphite pencil that sat in your hand could do the colours no glory. You mourned the lack of your watercolours, having left them at home.

Soon, the sunsets would begin to grow rare. Winter had melted away, leaving only a slight bite to the night air and a closet full of unused scarves. The days were growing longer, moon growing scarce. As much as you were a sucker for sunsets, you weren't dedicated enough to stay up into the ungodly hours to witness them.

Sighing, you stretched your stiff arms, casting a glance at Viktor as you did so. He sat hunched opposite, brow low, scouring over a complex equation of some sort judging by the snippets of mumbled thoughts you caught. He frowned, squinted, then scribbled something out, lead scratching against paper.

You didn't want to disturb his work, but you still wanted to do something. Sitting still had never particularly been your forté.

You twiddled your pencil between your index finger and thumb, searching for inspiration.  Looking around the little nook, you discovered you were surrounded by not-fun-to-draw darkness on both sides: the tunnel and cogs on one, the darkening cityscape on the other.

You were never too good at drawing people. They all either looked the same - had the same eyes and jaw and mildly pensive expression on their face - or moved around too much to get a jist of what they actually looked like. That's why you liked landscapes. They were still, unmoving save for the tiniest of details.

But Viktor was still. He moved in acute, subtle movements, barely noticable. You thought back to your first encounter, in which your initial thought had been something along the lines of 'He'd be nice to draw'.

It wouldn't hurt to try, right?

You brought your knees up, resting your sketchpad against them and effectively hiding it from view. Then, after a moment's inspection, you twirled your pencil into place and began.

You stole quick glances here and there, checking the proportions. Gradually, the rough outline took shape. The light began to fade, so slowly you didn't really notice until you had to squint.

After the best part of half an hour spent sketching, you looked up for the bajillionth time.

And, for the first time, he was looking back.

You blinked. Caught.

He frowned, though the curve of his lip was tinged with something humorous. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Nothing," you replied too quickly to be inconspicuous.

A crease appeared between his eyebrows. "Is there something on my face?"

"No."

"Then why are you-"

You eyes unconsciously jumped to your page and, to your dismay, his sharp gaze caught the small movement.