The nod makes him laugh, shaking his head, as he runs out of anything to tidy. He'd smoke as a reward, but he's heard Viktor cough often enough to be more polite than that—not unless he wants to duck down and blow his own smoke up the vent with the rest of it. And he does not.

"How did that happen?" he asks, and while they're at it, broadens the scope: "Did you learn together too? How did you meet?"