Arson of the Heart

by Sasha L. Miller

  "Now I'm laughing at you," Lajos told him cheerfully, turning to beckon to Professor Jacia. She looked far too amused that there was an insufferable shadow mage perched on Toma's desk.

  "Can I borrow him, Jace?" Lajos asked diffidently. Toma made a noise of protest, nearly smacking Lajos for his impertinence.

  "Only if you do something productive with him," Jacia said easily, and Toma groaned, wondering why the professors seemed to be ganging up on him.

  "I know just the thing," Lajos said, grinning mischievously. Toma flushed, opening his mouth to protest—he couldn't skip his classes, not on Lajos's whims.

  "You're far enough ahead that you don't actually need to attend class to ace the exam," Jacia told him, smiling a little. "And I know you'll be here next class anyway. Lajos…" She smirked knowingly at Lajos. "Just make sure he gets to his next class, hmm? Tarain isn't as forgiving as I am."

  "Yes, ma'am," Lajos agreed smartly, winking at her. He stood up quickly, scooping up Toma's knapsack before he could get a word in edgewise. "Come on, then."

  "I don't like you at all," Toma complained, getting to his feet reluctantly. Lajos just snickered, giving Jacia a nod as she returned to the front of the room. Toma flushed a little as he followed Lajos from the room, well aware of the curious stares of the other students.

  "What are you doing with me?" Toma asked as they entered the mostly empty hallway.

  Lajos just smirked at him, completely untroubled by the weight of Toma's bag.

  "It's a surprise," Lajos said cheerfully, guiding Toma into the stairwell with a gentle hand on his back. His touch lingered for a few seconds more than were necessary and Toma stifled the urge to set Lajos's shoes on fire or do something stupid like lean into the touch.

  "I think it'll be good for you, though," Lajos continued thoughtfully, his steps soundless on the stairs behind Toma. "Get rid of some of the tension in you."

  Toma flushed, vividly recalling the way Lajos had held him a few nights before, pressed close against Lajos's broad chest. No way, he decided firmly. No way, and he'd set Lajos's balls on fire if he tried it.

  Maybe.

  *~*~*

  Lajos restrained himself from laughing as a flush crept up Toma's neck. The poor boy was wound so tight, it probably wasn't sporting to tease him so.

  Lajos really couldn't help himself, though. Toma was adorable, so surly and annoyed. He only wished he was going to relax Toma the way he was implying. That would be fun…but too soon.

  "Go left," Lajos directed, amused when Toma looked confused. They were headed away from the lecture halls and in the wrong direction for anything but the casting hall.

  Something the Kajal university didn't have, so Toma probably didn't realize some of the things the building included. It was a plain, huge building, with a domed ceiling that rose high above their heads. The outside was constructed of some pale, beige rock, and the doors were propped open invitingly.

  "Ever been here?" Lajos asked as they approach and Toma's surliness melted away to be replaced by curiosity.

  "No," he answered absently. "What is it?"

  "Casting hall," Lajos answered, giving Toma a little nudge to get him walking again. "This is where the lower years practice their spellcasting until they can use it without setting themselves on fire."

  Toma stifled something that could've been a snicker, biting his lip as they entered the lobby.

  "Fire casting is on the second floor," Lajos directed, guiding Toma in the direction of the staircase instead of letting him gawk at the shining, polished stone of the lobby.

  "Why are we here?" Toma asked, frowning at him over his shoulder as he climbed the stairs. "I don't set myself on fire anymore."

  "No, but you looked like you were going to set someone else on fire," Lajos said cheerfully, snickering when Toma blushed.

  "I can set you on fire," Toma muttered, looking cross again. Lajos made a note to make sure Toma got back to his room at a more reasonable hour tonight, provided Toma camped out in his office again.

  "So you're going to let off some steam and I won't have any important limbs roasted," Lajos said, grinning and leading Toma down the hallway. Most of the practice room were in use, but near the end one of the smaller rooms was empty.

  Completely empty, not even a stick of furniture. The walls were slightly ashy, giving the white stone a grey appearance. Toma entered the room slowly staring curiously at the walls.

  "How many mages did it take to make these rooms?" Toma asked, looking slightly awed. "And to maintain them?"

  "The professors all pitched in. I think they also hire mages from town when the protections get especially low," Lajos answered, amused.

  "Huh," Toma muttered, walking the perimeter of the room. He paused when he reached the door again, frowning at Lajos. "What am I supposed to do?"

  "Conjure fire," Lajos said, gesturing at the wide-open space in front of them. "Burn the hottest fire you can, get rid of a little tension."

  Toma muttered something Lajos thought might have been insulting before turning to face the room. Closing his eyes, he took a slow, deep breath and a point of flame burst into life across the room.

  It was behind a barrier similar to the one that protected the room, Lajos realized, impressed. He couldn't even feel the heat as Toma's fingers twitched and the flame swirled into a bright orange color, twisting and turning restlessly.

  Toma's eyes were still closed, and Lajos was torn between watching the flame and watching the calm spreading over Toma's face.

  The flame was a deep purple now, prelude to the blue he'd seen Toma conjure the other night. Sure enough, the flame twisted into itself again before turning a bright, sky blue. Lajos grinned faintly, remembering the shock on Epsen's face when his soaked dummy had gone up in bright blue fames.

  The flame across the room crept towards blue green and Lajos's eyebrows crept up. Surely if Toma could conjure green he'd have done that the other night?

  Apparently not, however, and Lajos grinned as Toma's flame flicked green for a long moment before extinguishing with a snap and a crackle.

  Toma sighed and the barrier between them and the other half of the room collapsed, sending a wave of heat rushing over Lajos. Toma muttered a few spell words halfheartedly, feeding energy into the much-depleted barrier spells. Lajos smiled, amused; he'd never seen a student do that, ever.

  "Feel better?" Lajos asked cheerfully and Toma obligingly flushed. He shrugged, looking tired but less cranky. "All right, next stop."

  "Next stop?" Toma asked warily, and Lajos opened the door to the hallway, breathing a sigh of relief at the markedly cooler air.

  "Yep," Lajos confirmed, grinning but not elaborating. "Trust me."

  Toma sighed loudly, but he didn't protest. He even smiled a little, glancing back into the little practice room curiously.

  "So can I use these rooms any time? Or only with a professor in tow?" Toma asked, stumbling a bit as he let himself into the stairwell.

  "We'll it's good form to go with a professor, but higher level students don't need to. Since you're six weeks from graduating, I think you qualify as a higher level student," Lajos explained cheerfully, following Toma down the stairs. "And if you always repair the shields when you're done, I can't imagine anyone will complain."

  Toma nodded, frowning briefly. "You don't have to carry my bag. I'm not a girl."

  "Huh, and here I thought we'd burned the cranky out of you," Lajos observed as they entered the lobby again. He hitched Toma's bag higher but made no move to relinquish it. "This is my ransom. I know you won't run off while I've got it."

  Toma rolled his eyes, poorly stifling a yawn. "I wouldn't run off," he denied. "Where are we going?"

  "To the café," Lajos said, taking a small measure of pity on Toma. "Feed you and get you coffee, that's the next step in my nefarious plan to put you in a better mood."

  "You don't have to put me in a better mood," Toma said. "I'd get over it eventually and I probably wouldn't actually se
t anyone on fire."

  "Can't take that chance," Lajos said with a straight face. "I don't think anyone would be happy if you incinerated someone with pretty green flames."

  Toma made a face at him. "Don't tell anyone that. I get pestered enough for blue flames."

  "It'll be our secret," Lajos promised, unsurprised Toma wanted to keep it secret. He was also pleased because Toma had trusted him enough to display it in front of him. "Come on, they make the best scones at the café this time of day."

  Toma laughed quietly, pushing his hair out of his face and following him out of the building. Lajos surreptitiously watched every movement, trying not to imagine how much more relaxed Toma could be and the various off-limits methods Lajos could employ to make him that way.

  Because, after all, they wouldn't be off-limits ways for too much longer.

  *~*~*

  Toma was working diligently at the second desk—his desk, as Lajos was beginning to think of it. It wasn't a class day, so Toma had been there since Lajos had let him in. He'd been thoroughly settled in the hallway before Lajos had arrived, and Lajos was seriously contemplating giving him his own key.

  There were only two weeks left before the accolades examinations. Final exams for the semester's courses would take place this week, and then there'd be a free week before the accolades examinations. Lajos didn't really think it was very fair to subject students to finals and then accolades, but none of the other professors seemed too concerned.

  Of course, none of the other professors had pretty fire mages squirreled away in their offices either.

  Toma was so intently focused it was a little scary. Lajos had a devil of a time making sure he ate and didn't work through all his meals. It was also hard to make Toma sleep properly—Lajos lost track of time himself and he thought Toma might have stayed up in his dorm studying a few nights after Lajos had walked him back.

  Lajos was mostly disappointed that he'd had to sideline his plans to get Toma into bed; Toma was far too distracted and too stressed for Lajos to do more than tease and keep up with his flirting.

  Lajos's own classes were finishing up as well, giving him a deluge of final papers and exams to grade. He'd had to push his research aside for a bit to focus on his classes. It really was unfortunate that he hadn't had occasion to meet up with Toma earlier in the semester. He really could use a nice distracting tumble.

  Hopefully after exams, Toma would stick around long enough for Lajos to proposition him. He was relatively sure Toma's plans were still ambiguous—the last time he'd asked, a week ago, Toma had stared at him blankly before telling him seriously that he wouldn't hesitate to set Lajos's hair on fire if he didn't stop with the interruptions.

  Lajos had maybe made a pest of himself that day.

  He'd been good today, only interrupting Toma to make him eat a plateful of lunch. Toma had done so quickly, taking an actual break from his books to eat. Probably so that Lajos didn't interrupt him all afternoon to make him eat.

  "Well, damn," Toma muttered, dropping his pen and flexing his fingers.

  "Taking a break?" Lajos asked, smirking as he set aside the essays he wasn't reading in favor of mooning over Toma.

  "Forgot a book," Toma muttered, and Lajos looked measuringly at the tall stack of books that covered the top of Toma's desk.

  "In the library or your room?" Lajos asked, wondering at what point Toma's room could be classified as a library. He had an unhealthy number of books in there.

  "Room," Toma muttered, shrugging. "I'll just add the reference later, I guess."

  "Ready for a break?" Lajos asked, climbing to his feet. It had been a few hours since lunch. Toma could use another break, even if it was just to go raid the faculty lounge for food again.

  "You should keep your own store of food in here," Toma grumbled, but obliging climbed to his feet. He stretched slowly, doing nothing good for Lajos's peace of mind.

  "Then we'd never leave," Lajos pointed out with a grin, barely managing to keep his hands to himself. "I think walls other than these are nice to see sometimes."

  Toma grumbled, but he was smiling a little. His work was probably going well, Lajos decided. Toma was a lot less grumpy than he usually was when he realized he'd forgotten a book.

  "I can't wait for these exams to be over," Toma said fervently, waiting as Lajos locked the door to the office behind them.

  "Me too," Lajos agreed, though he rather thought that was because he wanted to be able to pounce Toma, not because he was sick of the endless end-of-year schoolwork.

  "More bad first year essays?" Toma asked, not even seeming to notice when Lajos steered him towards the faculty lounge with a gentle touch to his back.

  "Partly," Lajos agreed. He really needed to stop torturing himself by assigning essays to the first years. Exams were so much easier to grade.

  "And the other part?" Toma asked, letting them into the faculty lounge easily. It was empty, as it usually was when they made their sojourns there. The other professors were as sequestered in their offices as he and Toma were.

  "Too much work," Lajos groused, pretty sure he didn't want to admit anything yet. "Other things."

  Didn't mean he couldn't tease though. Toma rolled his eyes, heading for the bowl of fruit on the center of the dining table. He picked out a few apples, pushing his hair out of his face absently.

  "What other things?" Toma asked, watching Lajos as he rummaged through the cold box one of the water professors had created.

  Letting his gaze wander over Toma lazily, he smirked a little when Toma flushed. "Other things."

  "Right," Toma muttered, sitting down in one of the dining chairs. Lajos raised an eyebrow, a little surprised that Toma was willing to take a slightly longer break.

  "My eyes are crossing and my fingers hurt," Toma complained crankily. "And I'm a little ahead even with forgetting that book."

  "I know how you feel," Lajos commiserated, pulling out a half-full bottle of red wine and fetching a pair of glasses. "My brain hurts trying to puzzle out some of those damn essays."

  Toma laughed, not looking very sympathetic as Lajos sat down heavily in the chair next to him. Lajos poured a glass of wine for Toma before pouring one for himself, unsurprised when Toma flexed his fingers before reaching for his wine.

  "Here," Lajos said, reaching out as Toma set down his wine glass. Toma shot him a startled look as he caught Toma's writing hand in his.

  "I'm a professional, relax," Lajos drawled, gently massaging Toma's stiff fingers and knuckles. Toma did relax, the frown slipping off his face as Lajos carefully worked loose the tension in Toma's hand.

  "You're good at that," Toma observed quietly, a hint of color in his cheeks as Lajos worked.

  "I am very good at this," Lajos agreed modestly, grinning when Toma just rolled his eyes.

  "I really don't want to go back to work," Toma confessed after a moment, not trying to free his hand even when Lajos stopped massaging. He ran his thumb over Toma's knuckles instead.

  "You could practice your spellcasting instead," Lajos said, grinning when Toma rolled his eyes. He'd been trying to persuade Toma to let him know what he'd be doing for the practical part of his accolades examination, but Toma was stubbornly keeping it secret.

  "You'd like that," Toma said, shaking his head. "You'll have to wait until I take the exam."

  "I don't want to," Lajos said, giving Toma a beseeching look "Surely you have to practice."

  "You might be on the exam board," Toma protested. "No one gets to see it until then."

  "I won't be on your exam board," Lajos reminded him, squeezing Toma's hand gently in reprimand. He'd said that before.

  "You don't know that,' Toma said, rolling his eyes. "Shadow mages are not prescient."

  "No, but if I'm picked, I'll excuse myself for personal reasons," Lajos said reasonably, smirking as Toma's cheeks flushed again.

  "You can do that?" Toma asked, sitting up and curling his fingers in Lajos's hand. "Wait, what personal reasons?"
<
br />   "Yes, I can do that," Lajos answered, more than a little amused at Toma's questions. "It's in case a professor finds himself less than objective in regards to a student, whether he dislikes or is too fond of a student."

  "Oh." Toma mulled this over for a half a second before lifting his chin challengingly. "So you're too fond of me?"

  "Perhaps," Lajos teased, leaning closer. "I don't know, I might dislike you."

  "That's certainly the conclusion I'd come to if you weren't feeling up my hand," Toma said dryly, and Lajos snickered, squeezing Toma's fingers in appreciation of the jest.