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The tangle of wires and scrap metal in Ral’s hand coughs out a few tragic sparks, like a fizzling death knell. He turns it around to see if he can pick out some kind of miracle fix, but it's quickly obvious that he’s all out of luck on this one.
Oh well. It was barely a side project anyway, really just something to tinker with that fit into Tomik’s rules on what experiments are allowed in their home. Something about “not setting the place we live in on fire, Ral, this isn’t an Izzet lab and I don’t want you burning down the entire street because you got caught up in something interesting”. Ral hadn’t had a solid rebuttal for that, and only partially because Tomik is an expert in word manipulation.
Luckily, this particular project barely made any kind of explosion at all. Just a bit of static, basically.
“Hm, guess I’ve gotta shock this one up as a failure.” Ral can’t help the upward twitch of his lips at his own joke. He glances at Tomik, who doesn’t even look up from his papers. “Tomik, did you—”
“Yes, I heard you.”
Ral narrows his eyes, but Tomik doesn’t give any indication that he notices. Rude.
“Are we already losing our spark?” He tries for a grin, but still gets no response from Tomik. Well, fine. If he’s busy, then he’s busy. Ral’s well aware of how much responsibility is on Tomik’s shoulders, especially while Kaya’s off-plane.
Apparently, oligarch ghosts aren't any more willing to do actual work in death than they were in life. Seems like kind of a boring afterlife to Ral, if he’s being honest, but he’s willing to work on the assumption that this is one of those Orzhov things he just doesn’t get. The idea of being a ghost really just doesn’t appeal to him. Sure, some opportunities for new experiments would open up, but he’d have to rely on other people to do all the tangible work. He doesn’t know if he wants to spend that kind of time around someone intangible, nevermind asking someone else—
Wait. “Tomik, are you going to turn into a ghost?”
Tomik still doesn’t look up from his work. “I wasn’t planning on it this evening, but I can check my schedule.”
Ral rolls his eyes, but he doesn’t bother to hold back an amused smile. “You just love harassing me, huh?”
“You were the one who said I needed a hobby,” Tomik says, absently. It’s clear that nothing but work is going to hold his attention, possibly for the rest of the night. Oh well. The ghost thing will have to be a conversation for another time.
Ral tosses his failed project back and forth between his hands, letting his thoughts drift so as not to disturb Tomik. All jokes aside, he really doesn’t want to stand in the way of Tomik’s work. Orzhov bureaucracy might be about as far from Ral’s area of expertise as it’s possible to get, but he’s still proud of Tomik and happy to support him. He knows the same is true for Tomik, which always gives his heart the best kind of shock.
And it’s nice to be able to talk about guild business now, even if they still don’t do it that often. Nice to feel like they’re properly part of each other’s worlds. Like there’s nothing to hide.
It would be even better if the cost for that openness hadn’t been what it was, but there’s nothing Ral can do about that now. He’s spent more time than he wants to say considering it from all sides, but there’s no solution to be found, no time machine he can build to take it all back. Nothing he could’ve done at all, maybe, given the information he had at the time, but…
It’s impossible not to get caught up in how it was him, in the end, who brought all those planeswalkers to their deaths. It was his beacon, even if that’s not how he meant it to be used. He brought them here. Maybe Bolas is the one who trapped them, but if Ral hadn’t made that call—
Something hits him on the head and snaps Ral out of his thoughts. He blinks, taking the room back in, and sees a crumpled up ball of paper and a look on Tomik’s face that he doesn’t quite know how to categorize. Ral snags the paper and straightens it out, jaw dropping. “Did you just throw a contract draft at me?”
“Well, what was I supposed to do?” Tomik’s voice is a mix of flustered and defiant. “You weren’t responding when I said your name, and I could tell you were getting in your head about something.”
He’s certainly not wrong about that. “Yeah, and I appreciate you knocking me out of it, but—Tomik, you’ve literally stopped me when I had my tongue inside of you because you were starting to lean against the desk and you didn’t want to disrupt your papers.”
Tomik pulls off his glasses and rubs them against his robe, even though Ral knows they’re already clean. “Well, maybe I care about your mental wellbeing more than I care about my papers.”
“But sex still ranks below paperwork?”
Tomik meets his eyes at that, clearly exasperated. “Ral, I—”
“I love you.”
Tomik’s mouth hangs open. He looks the most purely stunned Ral’s ever seen him. Ral can’t stop grinning. The warmth inside of him is as bright and hot as any lightning bolt he’s ever shot.
“What?”
It’s a whisper more than a word, and something in Ral aches at the idea that Tomik didn’t already know. Maybe they haven’t said it, but surely at this point it’s obvious.
“I love you, Tomik. Even when you’re harassing me. Maybe especially then, though honestly I’d be hard-pressed to actually pick when I love you the most. Although, depending on what the parameters are, I might be able to—”
It’s probably for the best that Tomik kisses him then.
Later, lying with his head on Ral's chest in their afterglow, Tomik waits.
He learned early on in their relationship that Ral’s mind is never quiet for long. It’s never bothered him, especially since Ral doesn’t seem to mind if Tomik isn't up for conversation himself. It’s a mutual indulgence of sorts. Ral gets to let his mind run wild and throw his thoughts into the air between them, and Tomik gets to enjoy the show. If he offers commentary, it just seems to thrill Ral even more—which has more than once led to a very spirited second round.
Ral shifts, and Tomik can’t help a small smile. Here he goes. “I’ve been thinking. Now that we’re public, people are gonna ask about how we got together.” Ral’s hand continues stroking along Tomik’s back, soothing and pleasant. Ral Zarek might not be able to live in calm moments for long, but Tomik likes the balance he strikes.
“Yes, that’s likely. Does it bother you?”
“What?” Ral’s hand pauses briefly, then continues. Apparently the idea of being bothered by other people knowing about them is far from Ral’s mind, which is…comforting. “No, not really. I’m just trying to come up with a line about both of us being into laws. It’s right there, you know, science and contracts and all that. I just can’t figure out the best way to put it, and you’re good with words, so I figured you might be able to.”
Tomik’s not sure which part of that to process first, but he gives it his best shot. “…do you plan out all your snappy lines like this?”
He feels Ral shrug beneath him. “Not always. Did it more often than I’d like to admit when we were in the early stages of, uh. This.”
Tomik laughs, unable to help himself. Ral tries to be so smooth, but Tomik’s always found it charming when he gets off-rhythm. “Dating?”
“Yeah, that. Dating, wooing, whatever. I wanted to make a good impression.”
“A good impression, huh?” Tomik props himself up on an elbow so he can see Ral’s face. “Is that why you set my robes on fire?”
Ral gives him a look that’s probably trying to be a teasing glare, but it's far too fond to really manage. “That was an accident, and you know it.”
“Which time?”
“All of them!”
Ral’s voice actually cracks a bit on that, which fills Tomik with syrupy warmth. What an absurd man. Tomik absolutely adores him.
“Yes, I know.” Tomik leans over to give him a lingering kiss. “If nothing else, I think the fires guarantee we’ll never lose our spark.”
He doesn’t get a chance to pull very far back before Ral’s arms are fully around him, rolling them over. As soon as they’re stable, Ral is covering every part of Tomik that he can reach in kisses.
“I really do love you, you fantastic creature,” He says against Tomik’s skin. Tomik laughs, more full of life here in their bed than he once thought he'd feel anywhere. His laughter sets Ral off, until he’s less kissing Tomik than nuzzling against him. The scratchiness of his stubble makes Tomik shiver, and Ral presses one last warm kiss to his neck.
Tomik tangles his fingers in Ral’s hair and pulls him up gently. “I love you, too. You know that, right?”
The look in Ral’s eyes is so openly adoring that Tomik almost can’t handle it. He wants to give this man everything.
“Yeah, I know.” Ral smiles at him, gentle and soft. “I’ve known for a while. You knew too, before tonight?”
It’s a question that clearly doesn’t want to be one. Tomik closes his eyes and lets the moment absorb into his skin, washing over memories of that day. Of Eternals, of corpses, of the unfamiliar feel of a blade and the hyper-awareness of Ral’s mortality. Of the look on Ral’s face when he’d arrived at the Rakdos Pit, wild in a way entirely different than anything Tomik had seen from him before.
“Yes, I knew.” Tomik opens his eyes again and runs his hands softly through Ral’s hair. “I’ve spent so long not expecting that for myself that I don’t think I let myself realize it. But I knew.”
Ral moves in for another kiss, sweet this time, though still electrifying. Oh, Ral’s wordplay really is rubbing off on him. It makes Tomik smile helplessly, all too aware that he’s completely lost on this man. Before long, they’re both smiling too much to keep kissing.
“So you were listening,” Ral murmurs. Tomik pulls back a bit to give him a confused look. “The spark thing. I figured you were just tuning me out at that point.”
Tomik just stares at him, thrown at the idea. He softens after a moment and brushes a few flyaway strands of hair off Ral’s forehead. “I always listen when you talk, Ral. Just because I don’t respond doesn’t mean I don’t hear you. I thought you knew that.”
Ral blinks, like he really didn’t know. Tomik wants to laugh, though he knows this probably isn’t the moment for it.
“Oh,” Ral finally says. There’s a faint flush on his cheeks, and he looks legitimately flustered. “That’s—I mean, I wouldn’t blame you. I know I tend to think out loud sometimes, and you get busy. It’d be fine if you didn’t listen.”
“You know, for a genius, you miss a lot sometimes.” Tomik laughs at Ral’s pout. “I know you understand that I can’t always have an actual conversation, and I appreciate that. But I like listening to your thoughts. It’s…well, you are dashing, but I didn’t fall in love with you just because of your looks.”
The look on Ral’s face is like a collision of wonder and tenderness. “You know, I think you’re the best surprise I’ve ever had.”
Well. Tomik might be the wordsmith between the two of them, but right now he doesn’t have any better response than tangling his fingers in Ral’s hair and pulling him right back in for another kiss. Judging by the delighted sounds he’s making, it doesn’t seem like Ral minds one bit.