#s1vs2j

[hexposition]

That's exactly why I like S1 Vik/S2 Jayce so much -- the fact that Jayce is one (or ninety) days away from becoming a feral, disheveled mess makes it all the more plausible that in some timeline, Jayce just. Does that. Without the 'help' of the Arcane, without a promise to other-Viktor, through means other than what happens in the timeline we follow in the show, while Viktor remains as he is in S1 (health declining further, and/or stays Jayce's sassy lab partner).

I really enjoy the thought that Jayce is keeping a careful, tightly closed lid on his impulses, on sides of himself that he sees as 'unsightly' or hindering his own progress. His dream about Hextech was always pure, and he would stop at nothing to see it done, we know this; to my mind it goes without saying that he would make necessary personal sacrifices to achieve it, and we know Piltover is notorious for how much appearances matter. He shaves every day, he accepts Mel's guidance in the political world, he even gets lost in it. His attempts at going against the grain in the beginning are somewhat half-hearted and he almost commits suicide before Viktor stops him and they continue their work on a technicality. That's why we don't see him shave the beard off in S2, it's a representation of Jayce letting go of his image and his status because his goal has shifted from furthering Hextech to fulfilling his promise.

As exuberant and expressive Jayce is, he doesn't seem in touch with what makes him him, only with his superficial feelings and his deep-seated desire to see his dream (and later his promise) fulfilled. I think that's why it's so easy for him to go off the deep end. In the other world, he has nothing much to hold onto -- no Hextech dream, no guidance, there is nothing but ruin and emptiness and loneliness. Jayce is alone, and for the first time he has to go through the world without his shield of purpose.

If, in a hypothetical scenario before the attack on the council, Jayce has to come face to face with a ruined purpose, or himself as a person versus the constant expectations thrust upon his image as Man of progress, as a rising political figure, then... maybe S1 Vik/S2 Jayce can happen more easily than we think!

I love S1 Viktor x S2 Jayce so so much as a trope but sometimes I do have to laugh because technically the time between S1 Jayce and S2 Jayce is like... 3 months