Another innovators competition finished and won, like every year since he had met Viktor, had put Jayce in a very good mood indeed.

After offering his partner to go out for a drink--to which the other man had politely declined, muttering something about 'not sleeping for weeks' and 'needing to fix his sleep schedule'--Jayce had decided to swing by the lab one last time to try and get it a bit cleaned up before they started their next project, something that he had only just recently realised they had been neglecting far too much.

The walk to the lab was short, thank God. Although the walk up the stairs was another story. At least it gave him time to think back on the evening, analysing every little moment. Councillor Medarda had seemed impressed, which was a small victory. Not that Jayce cared what she thought. Well, he did, but only because she was a great investor. She was nice too, though, and smart, and--

A soft humming sound snapped him out of his thoughts when he pushed the door of the lab open. His blood ran cold. It couldn't be Viktor, he had seen the man walk home, and it couldn't be Sky, because she never usually stayed so late. So someone else was in the lab, and by the look of the splintered wood of the window, they had not used the front door.

Jayce slowly followed the humming, trying to make his footsteps as silent as possible before his gaze finally fell on your small figure sitting on one of the more hidden worktables, slouched over some papers, eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

He couldn't believe his eyes. You were a child. A child that had somehow managed to scale the walls of the academy and break in, just to... look at the lab?

He somehow managed to get close enough without alerting you, grabbing the back of your shirt and pulling you off the table to face him. "Hey, kid, what are you doing here?"