Magnus stayed in the kitchen well into the night, telling his housemates the most interesting of stories he had from his years fighting the people who had killed his grandfather.

It wasn't till nearly three in the morning that he stumbled into his room, tired and sleepy. Magnus stopped at the threshold of the door and stared at the teenager in his bed. Lucien's red colouring was a shock of vivid colour on a white pillow. Half of his face was hidden under a thin blanket and the other half was a peaceful mask of sleep.

The fire mage tiptoed quietly into the room and lifted the blanket. He paused when he saw Lucien's state of undress. The teen was wearing only a pair of pyjama trousers and was shirtless. Magnus was mildly annoyed at himself because he was now overthinking every scenario that had anything to do with the redhead. He climbed into bed and closed his eyes, conscious of Lucien's deep breathing beside him.

____

When the fire mage opened his eyes, Lucien's side of the bed of empty. All the years he'd been gone, his room had been kept untouched and waiting for him to come back and integrate as if he had never left.

Rousing himself from bed, Magnus found a pitcher of cool water on the nightstand. A crisp white paper note peeked out from under the jar.

You had a visitor. Mina was asking for you. I told her you had a late night.

Lucien's note was written hastily but he had a strong cursive reminiscent of Alka's. The fire mage crumpled the note and burned it out of habit. Mina had been sleeping over at her relative's home in Elysium and Magnus hadn't had time to break it off cleanly with her as Artemus as suggested.

The fire mage languidly stretched his body and undressed for a cold bath. Thinking back to the night, he remembered being half awake and grabbing something cool in bed.

"Knock knock," Alka called out from outside the door.

"Come in," Magnus wrapped a towel around his waist and called out.

"Have you- oh, should I come back later?" Alka asked the half-naked fire mage.

"It's fine. Did you need something?"

"Yea, I need your help with some weeding." A twinkle of mischief shined in the plant mage's eyes even as he smiled innocently.

"Weeding?" Magnus folded his arms and regarded the plant mage. What was Alka up to?

"Hurry, I've got lemonade."

Magnus decided his shower would have to wait for after labouring in the sun and sweating with Alka.

____

"Look at that," Alka stood beside Magnus and surveyed his kingdom of plants like a proud monarch. "Do you see what I see, Magnus?"

"Vegetables," Magnus blandly replied. "Lots of vegetables."

"Not just any vegetables. These are-" Alka crouched and gripped the leaves of a carrot plant that was growing at his feet. "-unique hybrids." When he yanked and pulled out a carrot root, it wasn't the normal orange coloured carrot that they were used to seeing. The monstrosity in Alka's hand, a pink coloured carrot covered in long transparent hair-like roots, began to squirm as if trying to escape.

"What the hell is that?" Magnus said with disgust. The carrot was trembling and the hairs on it were moving like they were alive.

"This," Alka proudly presented it to the fire mage, "is the result of many years of my hard work."

Magnus wasn't surprised. This was standard fare for the plant mage. "And what does it do?" He curiously Alka.

"It makes Salem's creations taste more palatable!"

The fire mage made a sound of understanding. The endeavour was a worthy one.

"Anyway, the weeds are ruining my plot."

From the corner of his sight, Magnus spied a redhead heading towards the house. Lucien had arrived home from wherever he had been.

"Magnus, do you know that Luci is interested in you?" Alka asked in a sudden shift of topic.

"Yes, why does everyone know about it?" Magnus bent down beside Alka and began working.

"Red had made it obvious. Only you couldn't tell because of how blind you were to Luci's adoration for you."

Magnus sighed because the idea of it confused him. "He's seventeen," he reminded Alka.

"I know. He's dated men and women older than you, Magnus."

"Doesn't make it right."

"All I'm saying is that you shouldn't treat Lucien like he's actually seventeen."

The fire mage stared at Alka with reproach. Why shouldn't he treat the teenager like one?

"Nevermind," Alka said to Magnus. "Forget I said anything." The noon sun shone on them harshly and they both already sweating. The plant mage wiped a few beads of sweat from his forehead. Nights were cool but the days were turning hotter.

"Why does everyone think it's okay for a grown-ass man like me to be seeing Lulu?" Magnus questioned his friend. "It's just a crush. He'll get over it."

Alka held his tongue. It was a crush but did crushes sustain for so many years despite the absence of the man being crushed on? Magnus was a special existence to Lucien and everyone could see it. When they were all sharing dinner last night, the redhead had been unable to look away from Magnus. If the fire mage missed such obvious signs of Lucien's feelings then the missed connection was all on him.

"What should I do, Alka?" Magnus asked. "I dont know how to tackle this- whatever this is."

"Don't ask me," Alka told him. "I'm the worst person you could go for relationship advice. Ask Rowan maybe. He has a sensible head on his shoulders. But considering he's like Luci's father, it might be weird asking him."

Magnus smiled at that. Rowan had always been more sensible than all of them put together. He made a good pairing with Syryn, the craziest of their circle.

"Anyway, Luci is coming. Try not to act weird, Magnus."

The fire mage turned his head and saw the redhead walking towards them. Lucien was wearing a rough sleeveless shirt and cotton pants, the perfect clothing for weeding in the hot sun.

"Alka and Magnus," he called out when he neared the duo. "This scene makes me recall the day we met at Maple."

Magnus was reminded of the small princely looking child with big apprehensive eyes and quiet maturity. Now Lulu was tall and lovely, wicked and quiet, hiding secrets in his eyes that had the fire mage wondering with curiosity.

"Doesn't it?" Alka grinned at the redhead.. "I'll be right back with some water. Why don't you guys reminisce about the past until I'm back?"