Chapter Text
"Hey, Judar," Hakuryuu started to speak, a deathly serious look on his face, "Look at this."
Judar lifted his head in response from where it sat on Hakuryuu's lap, rising carefully as to not let his loose locks get caught under a rogue body part, and tilted his head to get a look at the paper in Hakuryuu's hands. Judar readjusted himself against Hakuryuu's shoulder as he stared at the paper. Though his eyes lingered over Hakuryuu's fingers as he held it before he could register the words he was supposed to be looking at.
"Ah, humm," Judar tried to figure what he should say after skimming the letter, "You've been invited to a New Year's party."
"We've been invited, Judar," Hakuryuu corrected, "Since Alibaba is hosting it, calling it the first new year of the new world. It says on the invite I can bring a plus one, and he obviously knows I wouldn't bring anyone other than you, which is probably why he didn't bother sending two invites here."
"Either that, or he doesn't want me there and hopes you'll bring a girl instead." Judar replied lightheartedly.
"Then he shouldn't have invited me. I'll only go if it's you," Hakuryuu said. "...But that's if we even decide to go in the first place. I don't know. Do you wanna go?"
"Do you not wanna go?" Judar asked.
"It's not really that I don't..." Hakuryuu replied, letting his response hang in the air and leaving Judar to fill in the blanks on what he meant.
But if Judar knew Hakuryuu as well as he thought, which he did, he understood the what the dilemma preventing Hakuryuu from giving a satisfactory answer was. Hakuryuu was never one who enjoyed partying, preferring to sit on the sidelines and not risk his dignity by trying to fulfill multiple different social expectations at once. Of course, Judar thought such a trait was just fine, himself being the type who only really cared for to go to such events because of the free food that was available. Whether they went to Alibaba's dumb gatherings was of little consequence to Judar. But Hakuryuu would sulk over the feeling that he was missing out, even if he tried to tell himself that he preferred staying in every night anyway, and would likely be in a bad mood all night whether he went or not.
Invitations are troublesome, Judar thought, when it came to Hakuryuu. But it was probably for the best if Hakuryuu didn't ruminate over his fear of missing out, so...
"I wanna go and make fun of Alibaba's shitty party. Take me to it, Hakuryuu?" Judar asked.
Hakuryuu exhaled, looking relieved. "Yeah. I guess we can go."
Judar smiled.
“It also says to dress nicely, so you probably shouldn’t wear the same dirty shirt you’ve been wearing for the past week.”
“Shut up,” Judar whined, slapping Hakuryuu’s arm. Hakuryuu snorted.
“I’m not ready for this,” Was Hakuryuu’s complaint, one week later, staring at the inventory of clothing he pulled out of his wardrobe. None of them were particularly stunning compared to his usual attire in the first place. Hakuryuu knew what kind of clothing complemented his face and hairstyle and he basically stuck to requesting that sort of outfit every time he went out to get a new piece tailored for him. The plan for the New Year’s party he was to attend tomorrow had been to wear something a little nicer than usual out of his wardrobe, have his hair put up with a rather elegant hair piece, and be satisfactorily dressed up without going out of his comfort zone.
But that wasn’t going to work. Hakuryuu might admit easily that he was not the most impressive person in any field, but that didn’t mean he did not want to appear impressive, or at least impress one or two people when he went to an event with a rather large attendance.
“What’s wrong?” Judar asked, floating down on his staff from the ceiling after Hakuryuu spoke out loud. Hakuryuu sighed.
“I don’t want to wear any of these. The only one that catches my eye is my black dragon robe, but it’s far too worn out. And aside from that, it’s got too much history from our days at war with my family. Wearing it to a party seems distasteful.”
“I liked those days,” Judar commented, wondering how much history his clothes must carry, then, “But I guess I can see why you wouldn’t wanna wear it there.”
“I just don’t want to appear the same as always,” Hakuryuu sighed, “Should we even go at this point?”
Judar thought it was cute, how Hakuryuu could get put down by such small things, knowing he’d probably brush off such fashion worries as pettiness later.
“That’s enough to make you not wanna go?” Judar received a scowl from Hakuryuu in response to his question. Judar watched as Hakuryuu started to neatly put the clothing he had taken out away, waiting for him to speak.
“Shut up, I know. But it's like, the whole point of celebrating the new year is about having a fresh start and changing yourself and I don’t want to show up and let them all think I haven’t changed at all while they’ve been moving on with their lives working for their country. It's annoying."
It seems silly to try to show that just through your appearance, though, Judar didn’t say. Maybe Hakuryuu was just more conscious of people’s looks than Judar. He could understand it, a little; they were both the kind of person often stared at instead of spoken to. But for Judar, such situations led him to become less conscious, not bothering with the conclusions people made about him. If Hakuryuu needed his clothing for a rare outing to be the conversation people wouldn’t bother to have with him, then fine. He just didn't get how he was going to do that, exactly.
“Should we visit your tailor?” Judar asked.
“I don’t want to push something so last minute on her,” Hakuryuu replied.
Hanging from his staff like a sloth, Judar stretched out as he tried to think of what else he could suggest to Hakuryuu.
“It’d be nice if the djinns weren’t gone,” Hakuryuu spoke before Judar could, staring in the mirror, “If I went with Belial half-equipped I wouldn’t have to do anything else. He may not have liked us for what we did to him, but his taste was pretty good.”
Judar sat straight up, and lost his balance.
“Th- that’s what I’ve been saying for like, the past year!!” Judar stumbled over his words as his spun around his staff and hit the floor, taking Hakuryuu by surprise. “Owowow… I can live with the Magi system being gone, but the djinns leaving the metal vessels and making them useless too was just cruel.”
“You can live with the Magi system being gone?” Hakuryuu asked, still slightly shaken by Judar’s sudden fall. Judar looked up to Hakuryuu and pouted at him.
“That’s what I’m doing by still being here, aren’t I?”
Distracted by this new topic momentarily, Hakuryuu stopped and thought seriously instead of about his petty woes for a moment. It was true, after all, that Judar had taken the loss of his Magi status better than Hakuryuu expected. But it might also be because even without that power, the former Magi were still generally regarded as such by the population, even if they were regular magicians without any special use in the new world.
Despite knowing otherwise logically, even Hakuryuu still saw Judar as his Magi. Or maybe just his in general. Was that wrong of him, now that Judar wasn’t even a Magi? Well, he didn’t know. As long as Judar continues to not mind it, Hakuryuu won’t either.
“Sorry,” Hakuryuu said to Judar, “You’re right. You’re doing well.” Absentmindedly, Hakuryuu put his hand on Judar’s head (who was still on the floor) as if to pat him. Judar’s face flushed, which went unnoticed by Hakuryuu.
"Hey, Hakuryuu," Judar said, with a hint of shyness that didn't fit him evident on his tongue, "If that's the case, could I use some magic I've been practicing on you...?"
Hakuryuu was immediately suspicious. He pulled his hand away from Judar's head.
"Magic for...?"
"To make you look like you have Belial equipped...?" Judar answered tentatively. Looking at Hakuryuu's face, Judar panicked, opening his mouth and digging himself a deeper hole. "It's really just a surface change, you know?! I already knew the basics of it, and there's not much for me to do around here, so when I got bored I started remembering how fun it was before, it just led me to trying it out, so –"
"Judar."
"– it's not that I don't like your current appearance, because it's really cute and my favorite, so don't be jealous of Belial Hakuryuu or anything –"
"Judar, enou–"
"– but I kept reminiscing about those days, you know?! It was the first time you... really trusted me... and you were so confident, and happy, even though you were also clumsy at times... it was really nice then, wasn't it?! Every time I looked at your metal vessel, I got to remember it as a symbol of our bond, and now it's – gone!"
"Judar! Please, it's fine, relax," Hakuryuu interrupted for a third time, crouching in front of Judar and grabbing him by the shoulders. "Where did you even learn the word 'reminiscing'?"
Judar sniffed. "You know, you don't have to treat me like a total idiot every time you realize I know some complicated language."
Hakuryuu paused, still holding Judar from the shoulders.
"I didn't realize that bothered you." Hakuryuu said honestly, a bit taken back. Judar's expression changed to one of complete confusion at himself, as if he was also surprised by his own earnestness.
"Not... most of the time." Judar muttered, looking away. Is he embarrassed? Hakuryuu thought. Well, even Judar had to have cute moments like this.
"Sorry, you're right. You're really impressive, Judar, even if you're also an idiot." Hakuryuu spoke earnestly, wrapping his arms around Judar's neck as he pulled his head into his chest. "We're both idiots. And you can use that magic on me if you want."
Judar shot upright, pulling out of Hakuryuu's grasp.
"Only if you're confident it will work, though." Hakuryuu clarified, embarrassed, "Don't do any weird experimental magic on me."
Judar's face lit up. Hakuryuu noticed that his eyes were still a bit watery. "I thought you were gonna be mad or weirded out that I was trying to learn how to do such a thing, though?" Judar asked.
"Well, not really," Hakuryuu shrugged, "Those times were important to me too, you know? Also, I know you like this face, but if you didn't like my other appearances too, I'd be mad. My face goes through a lot of drastic changes." Hakuryuu gestured to his scar.
Judar laughed at Hakuryuu's poor taste joke. "But you always look like the same Hakuryuu I've always known, you know?" Hakuryuu smiled.
"That's why I wasn't mad or weirded out or anything," Hakuryuu replied, "I know how you are. But."
Judar tilted his head at the 'but' footnote.
"I am mad to only just learn that you were spending all this time practicing new magic and didn't even tell me." Hakuryuu finished, pinching Judar's cheek, "What were you even practicing on?!"
"Ouch, hey!" Judar yelped, "I was practicing on the horses! Geez." And Kougyoku, if she was unlucky enough to interrupt his magic practice.
Judar thought he probably shouldn't mention that part, though.
"Djinn equipped horses..." Hakuryuu tried to imagine it. Judar huffed.
"Most of it was easy, like changing the teeth or hair. It took longer to get the extra limbs right on the first try."
All Hakuryuu could think of was six-legged ghastly vampire horses with bat wings.
"You put them back to normal after, right." Hakuryuu asked, his face pale. Judar scoffed in annoyance.
"Of course I did, Hakuryuu. Don't be so rude. Undoing it was the easy part."
"Oh, thank god."
"But the only part of it I haven't gotten the hang of is how Belial did those extra eyes. I can get the eye markings that were on your arms, but creating another working pair of eyes is even more trouble than creating copies of your arms." Judar continued, clearly interested in explaining his process.
"I'm sure you'll figure it out eventually," Hakuryuu told him, and feeling like he might be praising Judar too much, added, "That is, if you don't slack off just because it's a little difficult."
"Shut up, I'll definitely get it," Judar responded, looking happy. "Not in time for tomorrow, though."
"Oh, that's fine," Hakuryuu conceded, "It'd probably attract a lot more attention than I'm going for in the first place. Speaking of, we should probably leave out the extra pair of arms, too." It was as if Hakuryuu had announced that he was going to cut off all his hair, or something.
"What?! Hakuryuu, I had to create an entirely new subtype of magic to make those possible! I don't wanna waste it!" Judar sounded utterly crushed.
"Calm down, calm down." Hakuryuu waved Judar out of his face, looking a little annoyed, "You can use it to recreate the full equip eventually, just not... in public, okay?" Hakuryuu's ears turned red. Judar's mouth hung open without his realizing. Hakuryuu would always disagree with those who called Judar a moody person, but sometimes... he really was easy to win over.
"...That's fine," Judar replied. How uncharacteristically quiet, Hakuryuu thought.
"So," Hakuryuu began to speak, yet suddenly the air felt awkward. "Do you want to... use it now?"
Judar stared at Hakuryuu.
"My heart's not ready."
"Wha – oh my god, don't say that!" Hakuryuu reacted instantly, "I just want to figure out what I'm going to do with the Belial changes for tomorrow!“
When Hakuryuu realized Judar was laughing at the expression on his face, he felt a bit stupid. Judar titled his head as if he was waiting for Hakuryuu to embarrass himself further. Still red, Hakuryuu let his head fall to rest on Judar’s shoulder.
“Sorry, sorry,” Judar told him, insincerely.
“Just do it.” Hakuryuu mumbled into Judar’s neck. "Before I change my mind."
"Yes, yes," Judar replied easily. Hakuryuu could feel Judar's right arm move from beside him, picking up his red-crystaled wand. Hakuryuu didn't hear the words Judar said next, but he could feel their effect in an instant.
Hakuryuu head felt heavier, as if a dense fog had invaded his skull and suffocated his brain. He could feel in his peripheral mind that his hair now brushed the base of his spine, while above his temple and under his should blades he could feel new appendages stretching outwards from his body. Hakuryuu noted mentally how the sensation of Judar's magic differed from the feeling of equipping a djinn.
With magic, suddenly these changes became him; like parts of his body were developing from infancy to adulthood in a few seconds. Equips had been much different, feeling as if his body had been scrubbed clean of the life you had lived until then and had a life grow all over in an instant. Hakuryuu wondered, if he could equip again, which one he would prefer between the two. Having lost the ability in what felt like ages ago, it was hard to compare the sensation on his skin.
When his canines became sharper and obtrusive in his mouth, Hakuryuu instinctively open his mouth against where it lay on Judar's neck, causing him to shudder. Hakuryuu noticed and choose not to comment. He was too busy focusing on the feelings in his arms and legs, which felt as if warm liquid metal had been injected into his bloodstream. It was odd, but not terrible. The feeling of his hands and feet becoming colder as they became clawed and almost primal looking was familiar, and for a moment Hakuryuu squeezed his hands into a fist without thinking, as he used do to summon Belial's scythe back when he could actually equip.
When it was finished, Hakuryuu fidgeted in Judar's grasp, trying to shake off any unfamiliar feeling from the magic's effect. The weight in his head was gone, but it was as if it had taken all of Hakuryuu's energy with it. His body had never felt this heavy before.
"Does it hurt?" Judar asked him.
"No. But 'm very, very exhausted suddenly." Hakuryuu spoke honestly, unable to even lift his head from Judar's neck to speak clearly.
"Okay, good. That's normal. Your body burned all it's energy stores for this, so you're gonna feel sluggish and hungry until you get it back."
Hakuryuu only registered how empty his stomach was after Judar pointed it out, the pain of hunger going unnoticed through the heaviness of his body.
"Take me t' the kitchens then." Hakuryuu ordered in a mumbling tone.
"No way," Judar told him. "Sleep first. If you eat and then fall asleep you'll just make your stomach hurt."
Hakuryuu huffed. If he had the ability to think a little harder, he would've argued against Judar acting all health conscious now. "'ine. Bed."
Judar snorted. "You're so agreeable like this."
Hakuryuu tried to kick his leg into Judar as the other lifted him up with magic, but failed to do more than flail a bit. He tried again with one of the wings on his back, and likewise failed again.
"Ugh." Was all Hakuryuu had to say before he lost consciousness.
Judar didn't bother waking Hakuryuu up again until the dawn of the next day.
"So, what d'ya think?" Judar asked, dragging Hakuryuu to the large vanity mirror in their room.
"Uh," Hakuryuu said, "Oh. It worked."
Seeing himself like this again felt like it should be strange, but it wasn't. Hakuryuu duly noticed that Judar hadn't gone all the way with four arms and another set of eyes, but aside from that, he looked exactly as if he was using his metal vessel once more. Albeit as if he was while in sleeping clothes and for some reason Belial had decided not to change them.
Just like with Belial and Zagan, his scars weren’t visible either, but when Hakuryuu touched his face he could still feel where the skin had been burnt and hardened. So, Judar hadn't wanted to completely magic away his scar, how cute. Hakuryuu didn't exactly dislike his scars in the first place, so he didn't feel one way or the other about them being gone either.
"Thanks. I mean…. It’s pretty good, I think.“ Hakuryuu said simply, running his hands through now pure white locks of hair. Judar seemed thrilled. Hakuryuu allowed Judar to bathe in the feeling of being proud of his work for another few seconds. After that, Hakuryuu turned to leave the room. "Let's go get breakfast. I'll make you something with fruit and syrup."
Judar followed behind him without another word. In his giddiness he asked, "Hakuryuu, can I choose your hair and outfit for today too? I’ve had a lot of ideas since yesterday.“
At his question, Hakuryuu remembered the party, and the intent with changing his appearance in the first place.
“Oh, yeah,” He was surprised at himself, for forgetting something he was overthinking so hard yesterday. “You can. I’m not really imaginative enough to know what I should wear with… this.”
Judar beamed.
“No.” Hakuryuu stared at the ribbons in Judar’s left hand. “I said nothing stupid looking.”
"Whaaat? It’s not stupid at all. It's like you don't even know me!" Judar complained, combing his hands through Hakuryuu's bangs.
"It's the opposite," Hakuryuu retaliated, "I know you super well. Too well. You're gonna try to put pigtails in."
Judar pouted. "I just want one photo, I'll take them out after."
"No way."
“What do you have against pigtails?”
“Oh, nothing in particular,” Hakuryuu said simply, “Except when I know you’re just trying to put them in my hair to laugh at me when I look dumb.”
“I wouldn’t laugh at you for looking dumb,” Judar lied, “I just think they’re cute, I swear.”
Hakuryuu took a long breath through his nose.
“You already convinced me to wear that robe you got in Reim to the party.”
“But that was the only thing without a back for your wings! And you don’t have to wear your hair like this to the party, I just wanna see it once.”
Hakuryuu knew he wasn’t going to win this.
“…You have 5 minutes before I’m taking them out again.”
Judar didn’t waste time with a reply.
If there was something Hakuryuu could appreciate though, is that Judar was talented in working with hair. Almost instantly forgetting what was even going on, Hakuryuu relaxed into the feeling of Judar’s hands running over his scalp. Each brush through made his hair feel like a silk blanket was being draped and moved around over his skin, and Judar’s nails barely touching the roots of his hair felt like ice, numbing a headache he didn’t recall having.
It was almost a shame how Judar lazily did his own hair with magic everyday.
It was a shame when Judar stopped just before the end of his time limit. Hakuryuu blinked open eyes he hadn’t realized were closed, seeing his hair tied up in two cerulean ribbons, as promised. It didn’t even look that bad, Hakuryuu thought, if cutesy things were his style. He moved his head back and forth, staring at them. It was too bad that they weren’t. He didn’t have a second to react or emote when Judar using a small shell-like object to… flash a light in Hakuryuu’s face? Is that what he meant by getting a picture? Hakuryuu could definitely still feel the years of societal isolation he spent without Judar. It was probably some new invention or another.
“Okay,” Hakuryuu said, blinking his eyes back into to seeing right, “Now we actually have to get ready to go.”
“I know, I know,” Judar waved him off. Hakuryuu sighed, pulling the ribbons out of his hair. Judar watched him with interest as he shook out his hair back to normal. “As I thought… keeping your down is the best after all.”
“Hold on.” Hakuryuu said, giving Judar a confused look.
“Hm?”
“So your ideal look for me is no hair accessories, no makeup, no jewelry, and a short white dress-thing while djinn equipped?”
“Yeah?” Judar didn’t understand how this was question. Hakuryuu sighed.
“Alright. But I still have jewelry I’m going to wear. Ei got me this set of silver with ultramarine bands recently, and you’re going to wear some of it too if you’re still planning to wear the same outfit you wear everyday of the year.” Hakuryuu told him. “Which I know you are.”
Judar’s expression changed. “Hakuei picked them out…?”
“Hey, they’re not ugly,” Hakuryuu informed him, “I’m pretty sure she got Seisyun to pick them out for her. They’re his style.”
“Oh, thank god.”
“Yeah,” Hakuryuu wouldn’t agree with Judar to Hakuei’s face, but his sister’s taste was renowned for being… off.
But now with that cleared up, Hakuryuu suddenly realized he was ready to go for tonight. Taking a couple seconds to process that the frankly terrible task of going to see and interact with a large audience of people was now properly prepared for, Hakuryuu walked exactly four steps, and fell back onto his bed. Judar didn’t say anything and simply crawled onto the bed beside him.
“Huh,” Hakuryuu said out loud, holding his now clawed hand out in front of his face. Neither of them faced the other.
“Are you feeling better about going now?” Was all Judar asked.
“…I am.” Hakuryuu allowed. “Thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank me,” Judar muttered.
“I know.” Hakuryuu told him. When he spoke, a huff escaped his mouth in amusement. “But not just for this. Thank you for still being here. I hope I can make things easier for you, too, you know.”
Judar didn’t say anything. Hakuryuu didn’t need him too.