Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Shit” Langris cursed, looking at the notification that popped up on his communicator from Captain Vangeance.

“What’s wrong?” Yuno asked, getting up drowsy and shirtless from the bed.

“Captain Vangeance decided that today was the perfect day for an impromptu efficiency report.” He replied, sliding off of the side of the bed and collecting his clothes.

“Efficiency… I don’t know if I can do anything efficiently for at least another few hours..” Yuno slumped back down and put his arm over his eyes. Langris looked back and smiled fondly. He leaned over and kissed him softly on his forehead.

“We’re vice captains, we’re gonna be the ones taking the efficiency report” He said, buttoning up his shirt, “And really it's just going to be me since you don't know how to do it.”

Yuno scowled, arm still over his eyes “I can do it” He was way too competitive for his own good sometimes. “You’ve done them before, I remember the basics.”

“As I would expect from my co-vice captain”

-

“This… this is strange indeed.” Klaus muttered, sitting down for lunch next to Yuno and Mimosa who had already been seated.

“What is?” Mimosa asked, eyeing the sheet in his hands. Yuno continued eating.

“I got a perfect score on the efficiency report”

Mimosa nodded her head thoughtfully, “Strange indeed.” Klaus flushed and hit her head with a wad of newspaper that he somehow got a hold of.

“You deserve a perfect score, so why wouldn’t you get one?” Yuno asked, quirking up an eyebrow.

Klaus looked over at Yuno, “No no, that’s not what I meant. Of course I know I deserve a perfect score. Actually, most here do. We are the golden dawn, of course, most prestigious of all the magic knights squadrons.” He said proudly, but then tilted his head “But, vice captain Langris never gives perfect scores, let alone good scores. It’s strange to say the least.”

“Actually, now that you mention it,” Mimosa took out her report, “I too got a good review. Plus, Mr. Grumpy pants wasn’t all annoyed at everyone and actually tried to help. He even gave me pointers on how to improve my precision and endurance!”

“That’s right, he was awfully nice.” Klaus nodded, “Yuno, you weren't there, but when vice captain Langris was taking the examinations he was uncharacteristically patient and understanding. It was somewhat worrisome.”

“Yeah! Some of the other squad members debated over whether it was because of the food or if he had become possessed by another elf again.”

Yuno continued eating and simply hummed in response. The yellow tarts would make anyone’s mood better, though he personally preferred sister Lily’s nomotatoe soup. Despite being a soup, it still managed to make his throat dry. How nomotatoes managed that he’ll never know.

And thus, the couple’s first night together just so happened to coincide with an impromptu efficiency report. As the senior vice captain, Langris took charge.

His temperament change didn’t go unnoticed by his squad, but it did go over Yuno’s head. He didn’t think much of it.

That is, until it happened again.

This time, it was a meeting that Captain Vangeance had with the other Squad captains where he was authorised to bring along his two vice captains. It surprised them both as they had assumed they'd have the day off, hence why Yuno went to Langris’s room the previous night.

The meeting itself was uneventful, the contents mostly being about budgeting and for the captain’s ears. It confused Yuno why he and Langris had to be here, but seeing as all the other squads brought along two extra each, he assumed there must be something in store.

Once the meeting had ended, Julius brought up the star rankings. Surprising no one, the Golden Dawn were in the lead. What was surprising however was the fact that the lead became overwhelming.

“Nearly 300 stars ahead of the Black Bulls, who are only a couple stars ahead of the Silver Eagle and the Crimson Lion who are tied.” Julius said, “First I would like to congratulate the Golden Dawn for this achievement, it’s truly momentous. Especially Yuno and Langris who I see have earnt a lot of stars by leading their groups to victory and on joint missions. You two make quite the duo.”

Langris and Yuno glanced at each other but neither said anything or even flinched. They remained composed and poised.

Asta, who was there along with Finral, clenched his fists and started making loud noises. “Just you wait, Yuno! I’ll surpass my limits and pass you! I’ll become the next magic emperor!”

‘Impossible’ Yuno thought, but had too much discipline to say out loud amidst such important people. He knew not to endorse his brother’s shenanigans. Their playful banter could wait, though a small smirk did start to form. 

Finral’s eyes narrowed. His older-brother-senses were tingling.

Yami knocked Asta’s head hard and the poor kid started holding his head and mumbling in pain.

“Now now, settle down,” Julius waved his hands towards Asta, “I called this meeting and asked each of the Captains to bring along two of their most trustworthy and powerful knights because-”

“Hold up-” Yami and Jack said in unison and looked at each other before continuing in unison again, “I didn’t know that.”

“Didn’t know what?”

“That we had to choose what knights to bring, that there was a criteria.” Yami clarified, “I just asked who wanted to come with and Asta is always eager," He pointed backwards at Finral, "that's just my ride.”

“Keh keh” Jack keh’d, “I just brought along who wasn’t already on a mission. My squad’s been neck deep in cases lately. So these two are dunces.”

The two green mantis mages slouched and sighed.

Nozel’s eye twitched, “Do you two never read the messages left on your communicators?”

“Communicators can do that?” Yami asked, genuinely surprised.

“Keh keh, I thought the holograms of the people we were contacting were high tech enough.”

“Wait, that’s the communicator?” Yami and Jack stared at each other.

Nozel and Fuegoleon shared a glance at each other, both utterly done with the situation.

Charlotte sighed, “Men.” Rill nodded.

Captain Vangeance simply stood beside his vice captains, calm and ever wearing his soft smile. Yuno is still impressed at his captain’s resolve to this very day despite knowing this was most likely a common occurrence.

“Alright then,” Juluis cleared his throat, “The members you brought today need not be who take part in the program I was going to initiate.” He turned to Marx “Also make a note that we need to hold a seminar, for anyone in the magic knights who did not receive formal education, to educate them about basic technical terminology that’s relevant to their position. Especially for important positions like captains.” Marx nodded.

Yuno wondered if he needed to attend the seminar. Asta definitely needed to, but he already knew most things thanks to his co-vice captain.

“Right. As I was saying. I believe that a great part of the Golden Dawn’s success is from Captain Vangeance’s initiative to appoint two vice captains. At first I didn’t see the necessity, but seeing as how much paperwork is to be done for the mammoth squad that is the Golden Dawn, I soon found it only natural. Not only that, but the squadron has better leadership and has been performing better lately as well. Captain, is there anything you would like to add? I’d love to hear from you as well.”

Captain Vangeance nodded, “The Golden Dawn always prided itself on its efficiency and precision. Most members are powerful on their own and that’s exactly why they need strong leaders as role models. At first I wasn’t going to assign a second vice captain either, but after appointing Yuno I didn’t want to relieve him of his position since the squad seemed to really resonate with him. There’s no doubt Yuno’s a very capable mage, and his strive for becoming number one is exemplary motivation for those under him. Langris has always been a good vice captain and no doubt will continue being so and thus I decided that they can be co-vice captains. It was a little rough at the beginning, but soon they worked well together seamlessly.”

“Langris, Yuno? Have anything to add?” Julius pried.

After a second of silence, Langris decided to respond on their behalf. “Back when I was vice captain alone, it was difficult managing the paperwork and still being in the state of mind to lead the squad effectively. Admittedly, I didn’t do the best I could have. With Yuno as a co-vice captain, the load's lighter and  much easier to handle. After showing him the ropes, we’ve both been able to do the paperwork and our follow up duties as vice captains interchangeably so that at least one of us is with the squad aiding in training at all times.”

Yuno glanced at Langris and then at Julius before nodding in agreement.

There was no need to mention the fact that Langris used to double check everything Yuno did since, in his words, ‘how could a peasant like you possibly know how to do this?’. It took him a few weeks before he deemed Yuno worthy of not needing proof reading. That’s when Langris really started having less work to do.

Nozel nodded as well, “I do imagine that the Golden Dawn undoubtedly has far more legalities to adhere to seeing as they’re the largest squadron.”

“That’s right,” Fuegoleon agreed, “Quite honestly I’m surprised Langris had been able to handle it alone for so long. Even with it being divided into two, I’m sure it’s still a huge task.”

“We are the Golden Dawn, nothing is too big of a task for us.” Langris replied, earning a proud smile from Captain Vangeance, though not many could make out the difference from his previous smile. Yuno could, though. And so could Langris. That’s all that mattered.

“Wait a minute, what's this paperwork you lot are talking about?” Yami raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah we never do paperwork,” Asta added.

Finral became nervous and started shaking his hands defensively “No no we do paperwork, don’t listen to them!”

“When? I’ve never seen any paperwork” Yami turned to Finral, who put a hand behind his head.

“I’ve done them, we don't have much paperwork since our team’s so small and I’m fairly certain I’m the only one who could do them so I never bothered you guys…”

“Why you little-” Dark magic started swelling up behind Yami as Finral cowered in front of him.

“Wind it down, wind it down.” Julius motioned, “Good job Finral, and Marx, please move up that note into the urgent pile.” He then smiled, “Right. My point. I’ll just get to it right away to avoid interruptions. I wanted all the squads to do something similar.”

“Similar? What do you mean?” Rill asked, tilting his head.

“You don’t need to appoint two vice captains, of course, but it would be best if you started re-thinking your current system for any faults or things that could be remedied. And, I thought the best way to do that would be to have a few knights from each squadron go to another squadron to see how they do things and take inspiration, or help them improve that squad. Thus the need to bring your best mages. I assure you that this exchange program will only last however long it needs be, say maybe a few weeks.”

“Pardon my interruption, Julius.” Captain Vangeance started.

“No please, do go on.” The latter prompted.

“Would it really be beneficial to send over our best? I would much rather have my vice captains taking care of my squad as they normally do and send other just as qualified knights to gather intel.”

“I agree with Captain Vangeance,” Charlotte added, seeming to not mind agreeing with a man if it meant it was the captain of the Golden Dawn, whom she always thought was more dignified than most other men, “Who will lead my squad while I’m not around? I can’t possibly leave it upto a mage who doesn’t have the same leadership qualities.”

“That’s right, magical ability aside, experience is what matters.” Julius agreed, “It is true that I’m taking away your most experienced mages from your squads, but they will be replaced with experienced mages from the other squads. This is so that both sides can experience the highest authority in each respective squad. It wouldn’t be a very fruitful experiment if a knight just joined as a member and went along with however things go. If possible I would exchange captains, but I imagine you are all far too attached to your squad to allow for that.”

Julius brought out the star ranking list “I’m going to club the squads together based on their rankings, so that means that the two highest ranking squads will exchange members so that the level of magical ability is roughly the same.”

“That means two of my guys have to go lead the royals at golden dawn? You know they’re all misfits, right? You think the pompous rich kids are going to listen to them?” Yami asked, to which Captain Vangeance spoke up, smile never leaving his face.

“I assure you, my squad has the ability to display discipline and will not disobey my command.”

Rill tilted his head, “Oh? I never thought that’d be a problem considering one of their vice captains is from Hage.”

Yami looked over at Yuno who was as stoic as ever. Sometimes he found it hard to believe that Asta and Yuno were both brought up together in the same place. Regardless, he sighed.

“That kid doesn’t really act like it, does he? Plus, he's like a prince or whatever, right?”

"Yeah, sure, but they didn't know that when he became the vice captain!" Rill argued, "Plus, his blood may be that of a prince, but his upbringing was that of a peasant"

“I suppose it's true that Yuno does have a certain dignity to his stride that the members of the Black Bulls don’t. Regardless, I doubt there will be a problem. If there is, I guess this is the experiment to fix it.”

“That’s right, Captain Charlotte!” Julius nodded. “Yuno, anything to add?”

After a second of silence, Yuno responded “Not really.”

“Oh come on kid, you can do better than that” Yami nudged.

Yuno stared blankly.

Captain Vangeance turned his head slightly towards Yuno and urged him to go on as well, so Yuno decided he should say something.

“Well, when I first arrived, the Golden Dawn members weren't too happy about a peasant, let alone a peasant from the forsaken realm, joining their squad. They told me that even though I was selected by Captain Vangeance it didn’t mean that I was accepted right away into the squad. That didn’t really matter to me at the time, I just did what I needed to do to fulfil my duty as a magic knight and slowly I earnt their respect. I’m not going to lie and say that it would have been the same had I been from a reputable family, but the Golden Dawn doesn't discriminate. They allowed me to prove myself and I’m glad they did.”

Asta frowned but refrained from voicing out. He never thought anyone would underestimate Yuno, he couldn’t imagine what that must have been like. Asta had just assumed that the Golden Dawn had an initiation similar to the one that Black Bulls had and Yuno had knocked it out of the park.

Growing up, Asta always felt protective over Yuno despite the fact that he could protect himself just fine, if not better. It wasn’t always like that, and Asta would be damned if Yuno brings up the fact that he’s no longer a child.

“Sounds like discrimination to me, but it seems like you don’t mind so I guess I can’t complain.” Yami shrugged. Just what he expected from that stoic kid, of course he didn’t care or notice people not taking him seriously. He didn’t need them to, he took himself seriously and had a goal in mind. Yami didn’t know which of his members would show a similar resolve surrounded by royal level magic.

“Alright, it's settled then.” Julius let out. “Please make sure to choose members who are not only experienced and strong, but can also be accommodative and work well in their new environment.”

“Yes sir!”

And the meeting continued until the post meeting get together.

The Captains and most of the vice captains who were of age went downstairs to the bar while a few stayed in the room filled with food. Among them were the golden boys and the black bulls duo.

Asta marched up to Yuno and Langris who were chatting near the tarts, munching away. 

“Yuno! Why didn’t you tell me?”

Yuno looked down at Asta and stared. “Tell you what?”

“About the Golden Dawn bullying you! Why didn’t you put them in their place!?”

“They didn’t bully me”

“It sounded like they bullied you to me! Ki doesn’t lie!” Asta crossed his arms over his chest, proudly.

“Impossible”

“Knowing you, you probably just didn’t realise they were bullying you. What did they say about you?”

“What does it matter then?” Yuno blinked.

“Huh?”

“If I didn’t even notice, it wasn’t very effective bullying”

“HUUUUUHHHHH!!??” Asta’s jaw dropped. Finral came over, apologetic.

Langris simply watched, munching on his tart. He seemed unfazed and didn’t engage. Finral sighed and picked up a tart too, watching as the brothers from Hage reunited after god knows how long.

“Did he actually get bullied?” Finral asked, looking at the Hage brothers.

“Oh yeah, big time” Langris said like it was the most normal thing in the world, “Anyone who wasn’t a new recruit used to ignore his existence, that is until they saw how deserving of the Golden Dawn he actually was.” He continued eating his tart.

The underlying message was clear: the Golden Dawn bullies the new recruits that they think don’t deserve to be in the best Magic knight squadron. It was their messed up form of hazing.

Finral wondered for a second if there were any other members of the Golden Dawn who were deemed unworthy and were subjected to bullying. They sure sounded like a friendly bunch, he chuckled to himself. But it only lasted a second as he realised Langris answered him like a normal human being, like, a well rested and good tempered functioning member of society. He didn’t grumble or hiss at him, nor did he call him any rude names like he usually does.

FInral decided to test his luck.

“So, how are things going, baby bro?” Finral died inside. He didn’t know how to have small talk with his brother.

Langris looked over at his brother and raised an eyebrow. “Good.”

Usually he’d respond with a ‘what is it to you?’ or a ‘why do you care’. Even at his very best, he’d only ever mustered up a ‘fine.’

So Finral definitely believed him when  he said things were going good.

“Been sleeping well, then? Didn’t realise you had so much work to do before now, sorry.” Finral said, apologetically.

“Stupid brother, don’t apologise like you could have controlled it.” Langris said, and Finral didn’t miss the lack of malice, “Yes, I have.”

The older smiled. “Glad to hear it-”

“And you?”

“Hm? I’m sorry, what was that?” Finral blinked.

“Have you been sleeping well? Taking care of yourself?” Langris asked, tart no longer in his possession. “Black Bulls may be small, but I doubt that with the things they get upto they have very less paperwork”

“Oh you’d be surprised actually,” Finral said, “The accountants at the capital are fed up with our squad and will literally accept anything at this point” He smiled, “I’m very well rested, thanks for asking.”

Langris blushed and looked away. Finral could get used to this. It was nice seeing his brother, for once, content. But Finral could only attribute so much of his contentment to his extra sleep. Something was up, his older-brother-senses were tingling.

“You know, Yuno, it doesn’t matter anymore. As long as you're happy” Asta said with pride, “I can see that you have members in your squad that you can trust! Just like how Noelle trusts me!”

Yuno blinked twice before smiling softly.

“And I can tell, he trusts you too! It’s nice when it's mutual” Asta nodded to himself as if he was saying something very wise.

“I know” Yuno said, glancing at Langris and Finral talking before turning back to Asta, “You should talk to Noelle.”

Yuno didn’t know much about Noelle’s feelings for his brother, but if they were anything like his feelings for Langris then they were definitely not that of typical squad mates. Yuno found himself thinking not for the first time that this ‘Ki’ was a funny thing.

He never thought that he’d be more emotionally adept than his brother.

“I already talk to her, she’s in the black bulls, silly! Honestly, Yuno!” Asta laughed, slapping Yuno’s arm playfully.

“Impossible” His brother was hopeless.

The two eventually joined the conversation between the other set of brothers. It was pleasant; and suspicious. Yuno didn’t let that go over his head this time.

In fact, now that Yuno thought about it, there had been many opportunities today where a sly remark or a rude comment could have been dropped by his boyfriend. Instead Langris had been… polite. He had greeted the other vice captains and even refrained from interjecting Captain Yami when he talked rudely about the Golden Dawn. He doesn't even seem to be interested in ridiculing his brother. It’s not like Langris hasn’t done all of these things before at a captains meeting. Yuno had heard all about it from the other during their many paperwork sessions where they had nothing but each other's stories as company. 

Yuno wouldn’t let something like this get past him twice. He knew something was up, his boyfriend was a great guy, but not a polite guy. He was friendly with him only on good days and let out his frustrations on others. After some deliberation (and a small detour where he thought it was the suspicious yellow tart that made his boyfriend act that way before concluding that that wasn't the case) Yuno finally understood.

The first time he heard about Langris being sweet was from Klaus and Mimosa after their examination. That is, right after they spent the night together. And now, Langris was awfully nice after last night. Yuno finally understood.

And once Yuno discovered this power, he knew, with all the seriousness that was completely unjustified, that he had to use it for the good of his squad.

“What’s that determined face for?” Langris asked, looking up at Yuno. “You think you can fix the mess that is the Black Bulls?” He raised an eyebrow, talking about the fact that Yuno would most definitely be chosen for going on the exchange program.

It was a sly remark, but there was no malice behind the words. It was simply a joke.

Yuno smiled.

–

Asta and Noelle were Black Bull’s chosen representatives after considering that they wouldn't be pushovers, useless fighting bots, hot headed delinquents, angry sister lovers, drunkards, gluttons or indecipherable. And although Nacht would take any excuse to leave the Black Bulls, he didn’t want to take on the brightly lit up sunshine palace that was the Golden Dawn base.

Captain Vangeance greeted them on their arrival and introduced them to the squad that were present. Even if they didn’t want to be led by the two Bulls, they sure didn’t show it and followed their orders. It helped that their Captain had briefed them ahead of time.

Noelle expected them to be stuck up as they were in the lead by such a large margin, but soon she discovered that they really didn’t care about the star rankings just as the black bulls didn’t care. They simply did their duty and earned what they earned. She changed her mind about thinking that they wouldn’t get anything out of this experience after that.

“W-what’s all this?” Asta asked, looking at the long scroll that never seemed to end.

Alecdora looked down at Asta for a second, not sure how to respond. “It’s the list of duties of the vice captain, of course.”

“Hmph, Bakasta!” Noelle crossed her arms, “Stop looking like that, it makes it seem like you’ve never had any responsibility before!”

Asta gulped and took the scroll and both him and Noell went through it. Paperwork, due dates, training sessions, assignments, squad meetings- the list just went on.

How did Yuno have any time to earn stars if he was stuck doing all this!?

“If you have any queries about how things go around here, feel free to ask me. I’ve been assigned as the senior to guide you.” Alecdora said, handing over a communicator. “Even if something is truly urgent, don’t contact Captain Vangeance before coming to me first. He’s very busy”

Asta wondered whether Captain Vangeance was busy with shitting all day like Captain Yami was.

-

“I’m not going to lie, Yami” Captain Vangeance said, accepting Yami’s belt in exchange for a few more chips, “I was surprised you sent over Asta and Noelle to our squad”

Yami plunked down on his side and drew four cards “eh? Why?”

“I sent my vice captains, so that means Asta and Noelle need to take over their role” He replied, drawing four as well, “It’s just that I doubt either of them have ever done anything remotely related to leading a squadron like the Golden Dawn before. As you said, they’re quite judgemental and will not respect you if you don’t deserve it. Of course, no one expects them to replace their beloved vice captains, but if they don’t at least live upto the high standard set, then-”

“I WIN!” Yami prematurely laid out his cards, only to have William reveal his winning deck. Yami sighed, “It’ll be fine, don’t worry your pretty head over it. They’ll simply surpass their limits”

-

“Stop stressing out" Yuno said blankly.

"I'm not stressing out." Langris replied, pacing around the yard in front of the black bulls base. 

Yuno raised an eyebrow, unconvinced. "You look like you're stressing out to me"

"Well, can you blame me? The golden dawn is in the hands of a peasant and a disowned royal" Langris continued pacing, "Had i known they'd be the ones to be sent I wouldn't have agreed to any of this"

Yuno decided not to remind him that they didn't have a choice in the matter.

"Hey, I'm a peasant too." Yuno reminded, "and Noel has been chosen by the water spirit. I think she's more than capable."

"No, Yuno, you're a prince. Asta is an actual peasant- and Noel has never had such responsibility in her life."

A light smile formed on Yunos face as he plopped himself down in front of his pacing boyfriend with a small gust of wind. "Oh? did you only date me because you found out I'm the prince of spade?"

Langris tuted, "No, of course not." He crossed his arms, "But I only dated you because you acted like a prince, all dignified and polite. I would never date a peasant like Asta."

"No one's asking you to date Asta"

"I- You know what I mean!" 

Yuno smiled, "Relax. For right now you're not Vice captain Langris of the Golden Dawn. You are Langris of the Black Bulls. Your job right now is to learn from and improve the black bulls, nothing more nothing less."

Langris steadied himself and nodded. "You're right, let's do this thing."

With determination, both stalked upto the front door and knocked.

and waited.

aaaand waited some more.

Was anyone home?

Then after what felt like an eternity, the door started to slightly open. A wild Grey popped out.

"S-Sorry, w-we’d thought y-ou would come a-a little later t-todayy" She flustered, ushering them in.

"Most of the squad's out right now" Vanessa clarified from the couch, "Only me, Grey, Henry, and Finral in house today"

"Where might the rest be?" Langris raised an eyebrow, "As far as I'm aware there aren't any missions handed out today"

He got a simple shrug as a response. "Your rooms are in the back, by the way. You'll know em when you see em. Welcome to the bulls, make yourself at home" She smiled back, before turning around and chugging her drink of choice.

Langris and Yuno shared a glance before deciding to settle in first. They headed down the hallway until they noticed two rooms. One had 'Finral's brother' written on the door, and the other had 'Asta's brother'. Why they couldn't use their names beat them.

Langris went into his assigned room and Yuno stood outside for a second. It had been a while since he had slept in his own room, so he quickly glanced around the hallway before joining Langris in his.

-

"So, how long have you been shagging my baby brother?" Finral asked Yuno, glaring at the poor boy trying to enjoy his food.

It was the next day and all the black bulls had made it back to base, along with their captain. (Mangna, Luck and Zora were still out on their training arc and refused to come back before they had surpassed their limits) Everyone was sitting at the dining room table for dinner and enjoying the sheep's cooking when Finral suddenly popped the question. 

Captain Yami raised an eyebrow, clearly amused. Venessa wasn't surprised, she was the one who suggested the idea to Finral, afterall.

Charmy's jaw dropped.

Langris flushed bright red and covered his face with one of his hands for a moment before glaring at Finral. "Brother!"

Finral only continued, "So? how long? What have you been doing to my innocent little baby brother?"

"He's older than Yuno, Finral" Yami added, still very entertained. Did Vangeance know about this? He made a mental note to tell him later.

Yuno simply looked up with his usual serious face, "If you're asking how long we've been dating, it's been almost a year and a half now."

Finral glared, "that's not what I asked"

"Two months" 

Langris's head dropped on the table with a thud. Yami chuckled at his embarrassment and Vanessa petted his back.

Finral's eye twitched, "At least lie, you bastard. How could you say that so casually"

Yuno blinked and stared at Finral for a second before going back to his food. This kid had worse social skills than Langris.

Finral had to admit he was relieved Yuno knew what shagged meant considering Asta didn't even know what a date was. But then he became concerned that this man who knew what shagged was was dating his brother. Unacceptable! And oh dear God he had been shagging his baby brother for two whole months! right under his nose!

He was fuming, as he so clearly made the squad aware when Yuno and Langris were no longer in the room.

"He deserves better than that guy"

"You mean the guy who grew up with Asta and his amazing upbringing? The four leaf Clover prodigy? The vice captain of the Golden Dawn? The one loved by mana? the only person who was able to break free of the elfs control? The prince and rightful heir of Spade? The only owner of two grimoires? The one chosen by the wind spirit?"

Finral narrowed his eyes, "Yes, him."

Captain Yami chuckled, and took a swig of his beer, "Kid, your grumpy ass brother pulled in a keeper. He even waited a year before doing it, that's some next level self control that even you and your playboy self don't have."

Charmy stumbled forwards, and face planted on the floor “What does your brother have that I don’t!??” She wailed.

Gauche simply continued looking at his photo "Marie would never date any stupid boy, she's my angel, sent from above. Yes, Marie could do no wrong."

Finral crossed his arms over his chest and scowled, disappearing into a portal.

Yami sighed, "Now who's gonna show me the bathroom?"

-

"Yuno you bastard," Langris glared at his boyfriend, who didn't understand why he was being yelled at, "that was my brother, you hear me? Not Lady Finesse"

"But i thought you had a good relationship with him now"

"yeah, I do. But he's trying to make up for the fact that he wasn't around when I was younger now." Langris said, and he continued with a sigh as he saw the blank face he was given, "He's becoming like Asta now"

"uh oh"

"Yeah, ‘uh oh’' Langris glared, "Imagine what Asta would do to me if he found out what I do to his little brother Yuno who needs his protection at all times. Think that, except take away his whole rivalry concept and the acceptance of the fact that you can indeed fight on your own"

"I'm going to be killed in my sleep tonight"

"Yeah."

"So, I have to sleep in my room then?" 

"...Yeah."

Yuno smirked, "I sensed hesitation there-"

Yuno was made to sleep in his room. 

"You really messed up this time, Yuno. Getting kicked out of his room and everything" Bell scolded, "How are you that unaware of common courtesy?"

Yuno simply shrugged and finished signing his letter to Hage. Bell looked over his shoulder and hit his head.

"Write a bit more, Yuno!" Bell crossed her arms, "they barely hear from you, this is the only form of communication they get!"

Yuno had really been trying to elongate his letters more often now. Langris had taught him how privileged he was to have such a loving family who wanted to know more about his life, but Yuno just found it very difficult to pinpoint things that may be considered interesting for the people back at Hage to read about.

"I don't know what else to write"

Bell tilted her head and thought, "Why don't you write about how you exposed your secret relationship to the entirety of the black bulls?"

"Is that really something interesting? Would they be interested in reading about that?"

"Yes! That's going to literally be the only thing they find interesting in your dull letter about general duties"

Yuno didn't think so, but Bell always seemed better at these things than he was. She was the one who noticed his feelings for Langris and set them up, afterall. So he was inclined to trust her judgement.

-

"Did they arrive? Is it from Asta?" Nash excitedly asked as sister Lily collected the mail.

"This one seems to be from Yuno," She said, to which all the children's faces dropped, "What's the matter?"

"Yuno's letters are always so boring though"

"Yeah, all he says each time is that he's safe and that he's doing well on missions. He barely even talks about his cool position as Vice Captain!"

Sister Lily smiled, "Now now, he's very busy. He may not have the time to be detailed, we can't complain." She took it out, surprised by the number of pages being more than one, "oh my…"

"Are we sure that's from Yuno?" Recca asked, but judging by the fact that the text was legible, they all knew the answer.

Since the children could now read, they all peered over sister Lily's shoulder to read together. Their eyes only widened as they read on.

-

"He has a boyfriend!?" Father Orsi's jaw dropped as Recca relayed what she had inferred from the letter at dinner time.

"He's been in a relationship for over a year now apparently," She nodded, "and they've been keeping it pretty secret from the rest of the Golden dawn too"

"except Captain Vangeance who found out right away, and now the black bulls to whom Yuno accidentally exposed them to" Hollo added, "Apparently his boyfriend's brother is very protective and Yuno is scared he's going to be killed tonight," he chuckled.

Nash picked at his nomotatoe, "he had his whole secret relationship drama to talk about, and instead for the last year all we've heard about is his mission summaries" he shook his head, "Classic Yuno"

Father Orsi was still processing this new information, "My Yuno is growing up so fast," He sniffled. "What about Asta? Any news from him? Has he got into a relationship too?"

"I doubt it," Nash rolled his eyes

"Not that we know of, no" Sister Lily answered, "We only got a letter from Yuno this time, none from Asta"

"Wait, none from Asta?" Father Orsi's eyes widened, "is he okay!?"

Everyone chuckled, "Yuno mentioned something about switching squads and roles," Recca said, "My guess is that Asta got Yuno's job and is finding it hard to keep up"

"Yeah, and it explains why Yuno's letter was longer than a paragraph," Nash said, thinking that maybe he should give Yuno a break for never writing more. 

-

"Oy kid, where are you going?" Yami asked, looking over at Yuno who was heading outside.

Yuno stopped and replied without looking back, "Training"

Then, out of nowhere, a wild Luck appeared.

"OOO Yuno! wanna fight? You're a wind mage, right? right? I'm lighting, wind and lighting are a good pair!" He smiled, a crazed look in his eyes.

"I'm not going to be practising wind magic today" 

"why not? Wind magic is very fun to fight with" Luck said, taking on a boxing stance and punching the air.

"I'm pretty confident with my wind magic, I'm going to work on my star magic."

To that Yami looked over, "What about your wind spirit? Won't she need training too?"

Bell popped out of Yuno's grimoire and fluttered to his shoulder, "Did someone say my name?"

"I've already practised enough with Bell, I need to improve my star magic now"

Bell nodded, "Though i would like to become one with Yuno and practise some more, we have gotten quite good at it already"

The practice was evident with the new look of the wind spirit. Her hair had grown longer and was neatly clipped back while her dress was adorned with a few more embellishments. Her wings were larger and more detailed now too, so much larger that she had to push them down so that she could sit properly. It was clear she had matured a fair bit as well.

Yami shrugged, "Alright then, go and train then"

"I'm still willing to fight if it's star magic! I bet it's even cooler!"

"My star magic isn't as refined as my wind magic, I'm not very used to it," Yuno said, continuing to head out. 

Finral, who was sitting next to Yami, then got up.

"Oy, where do you think you're going?"

"I'm going to go see Yuno practise his star magic"

"heh? Why?" Yami asked, continuing his drink.

"Didn't you hear? Mr. mana loved prodigy isn't confident in his star magic abilities, have you ever heard him doubt himself? This is the perfect chance to see him fail!" Finral smiled and teleported away.

Yami didn't think the kid sounded like he doubted himself, he sounded like he was just stating facts. But Yami didn't care enough to interject and simply continued to mind his own business.

"Star magic: black hole" with a flick of Yuno's wrist his second, spade, grimoire opened up and  began to glow. A small black blob formed under his palm that he sent into the sky. it warped the space around it before fizzling out and dissipating.

"Whoa, what was that!? Star magic can do that?"

"It was just a hunch Yuno had," Bell responded, "It's gotten bigger! That's my Yuno!"

Yuno braced himself on his knees. The spell required a lot of mana concentrated in one place, it drained him of a good amount of magic. But being loved by mana meant that his reservoir was still fairly full.

"What would happen if it hit me?" Luck asked, still excited.

"Well, Yuno hasn't targeted a human before, but it sucked in a whole tree once" Bell answered, landing on Luck's head. Once she did, he stayed uncharacteristically still, earning a satisfied pat from Bell.

Finral's jaw dropped. Is this what he called out of practice!? seemed to him like he had practised quite a lot. 

"Hey, doesn't it kinda remind you of Langris's spacial magic? " Vanessa asked.

Yuno looked over, "Yeah, we train together quite often. I learnt a lot from watching him." He stayed silent for a while before turning over to Finral, "Langris is really very talented. It's not easy controlling mana like that, and he does it so flawlessly. You can tell he's put a lot of effort into it"

"You know that's not a compliment right? You're practically saying that I worked hard for my mana" Langris said, amusedly. He had just returned from dropping off some papers at the capital. (Of course Yami made the other spacial mage who came to the Black Bulls base run an errand as an errand boy.)

"But you did, didn't you?" Yuno said, "You should be praised for the hard work you put in"

Langris sighed and landed on the ground, "Once a peasant, always a peasant" Yuno frowned, but Langris only softly chuckled before trying to head inside.

"Oh no you don't," Finral stopped him, "You're here, so now you have to entertain Luck. He's been waiting patiently for a fight"

Luck beamed.

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my life" Langris said, clearly not interested.

"serves you right for shamelessly flirting in front of your brother" Vanessa muttered, since she was only near Yuno, he was the only one to hear. He looked over at her, confused. She only shook her head and chuckled in response.

"C'mon, go on" Finral motioned. Langris looked at him with a face as if to ask, 'are you serious?' to which Finral made a 'don't I look like I'm serious?' face.

"If you want I can do it instead" Yuno offered, seeing the disinterest in his boyfriend's face.

Before Langris could reply, Captain Yami came out. 

"Nah kid, you ain't gonna fight anyone with your star magic. Especially since we don't have our anti-magic kid with us right now." He sensed the insane mana and could make out from Yuno's ki that he didn't have full control over it yet. As much as Yami was all for taking risks, he couldn't let that risk involve Luck: a deranged fighting bot that would very well fight to the end.

Yuno would have never used his star magic on another human being yet. He wasn't that irresponsible. But he decided he didn't need to voice that out loud. 

"Mr. vice captain number one, you can team up with your brother and fight against Luck and Vanessa." Yami decided, then turned to Yuno, "And you, learn to surpass your limits as you fight against me"

Vanessa sighed, "I just came out here to see Finral get mad, I didn't want to train too"

Langris sighed. Captain Vangeance specifically told them to obey the captain of the black bulls, so out of respect for his captain he went along with it.

"Alright, let's get this over with." He said, walking towards Finral. "Never fought with another spacial mage before, this is going to be a new experience"

"Oy, Finral. Transport them to that dessert and don't come back until there's a clear winner" Yami instructed.

"Yes sir!" Finral opened up a portal and Luck eagerly hoped in. For once, Finral wasn't complaining about the size of the portal, whether that be because it became easier for him to handle or because he was in front of his brother is besides the point. Vanessa followed inside with a grumble and Langris walked in as well.

"We'll be back before lunch!" Finral guaranteed before disappearing as well.

"Well, now it's your turn. You're gonna transport us to our location, I'll give you the directions."

Yuno nodded, "Yes sir, but I believe it will be more efficient for you to tell me where to go now so that i don't have to stop in the middle"

Yami raised an eyebrow, "Your transport is going to be that fast? Last time i saw it the speed was manageable"

"I've been practising" Star magic was a form of light magic so with the help of his second grimoire he was able to transport from places to places at an inhumane speed. He needed this because he often made trips to the spade kingdom for various formalities that they requested of him. He tried to give up his crown, but they refused so he couldn't exactly deny visiting when they asked.

"Very well then, we're heading to Gunhg's cove. It's just north of Kiten, you couldn't miss it, big rock the shape of a boar makes it pretty visible"

Yuno nodded and held out his hand. Both his grimoires flipped open and a carriage of glowing wind was formed. 

It was similar to but distinctly different from his previous wind ship. This one seemed more narrow and light. It had a thin see through bit at the top that wasn't the characteristic green.

Yami chuckled to himself. This kid couldn't control the explosive star magic so he infused it into his wind magic. His ki told him that this was muscle memory at this point, so the mage made this integrated spell look and feel effortless, though Yami knew something of this manner had never been done before in history. Julius would be screaming if he saw this.

Maybe this kid was more like Asta than Yami had first imagined, them growing up together didn't seem so far-fetched any more. It was clear they both valued hard work and pushing past pre-defined boundaries. In fact, it was probably Yuno who made Langris ease up a bit on rules and regulations.

Luck probably sensed it too, but both Yuno's ki and mana had grown a lot over the years. He was definitely a formidable opponent now and Yami made sure not to take him lightly.

Both got into the carriage. Yuno looked back to see if Yami was secure and glanced at him as if to say 'hold on tight'.

Before the other could react, the carriage was suddenly in motion. The outside world became a blur and in less than a second they had reached their destination. The carriage disappeared and a small gust of wind steadied Yami so he wouldn't fall. Yami made note of the fact that Yuno did not summon steadying wind for himself.

Yami was in a state of shock for a second. They had just gone from the outer part of the capital to the furthest point in the kingdom in less than a second. 

"woah, kid" Yami chuckled, patting Yuno on his back, "this speed rivals teleportation magic! You're giving my errand boy a run for his money!"

"Spacial magic is unique, I can't compare" Yami didn't miss the hint of fondness that was in his ki, though his composure on the outside revealed nothing.

"Alright then" Yami cleared his throat and got into a fighting stance, whipping out his new katana, "help me break this one in, will ya? Show me what you've got."

Yuno nodded and got into a fighting stance too. He held out his hand, "Star creation magic: sword of infinity" , a beautiful blade manifested in his hands, and he took on the stance of an experienced swordsman.

"You learn fast, don't you? Since when have you been practising with a sword?" Yami mused.

Yuno charged forwards and his blade met with Yami's, "From the first time i created a sword with my wind magic"

"from then!?" Yami smiled as he narrowed his eyes, "then i won't go easy on you, kid!"

with a flick of his wrist, Yami pushed Yuno away and quickly infused his katana with dark magic before slashing it forward.

Yuno slashed his sword up just in time to nullify the blow, and in his moment of regaining his balance, Yami striked again.

Yuno barely managed to stop it with his other hand, summoning up a puff of stardust. He steadied himself and narrowed his eyes.

In the time he steadied himself, he infused the soles of his shoes with Star magic, allowing him to move at an insane speed. Yami didn't expect this and received the first wound of the match.

"Well, it looks like you have a few surprises up your sleeve, huh?" Yami smiled, "Dark magic: mana zone."

Yami closed his eyes and allowed the space around them to fill with dark magic.

Yuno grunted as Yami flung himself through the air and got repeated hits on Yuno. 

"Star magic: black hole" he conjured up a small Black hole, but it was only able to suck in one of Yami's attacks and dissipated quickly. 

He compared the best he could, fending Yami off with continued assaults of Black Holes. A few hit, but the vast majority missed and disappeared into the darkness.

‘It’s no use’ Yuno thought. Yami could sense his ki and moved accordingly. What’s more, he was also sensing the amount of mana Yuno was letting out so that he could also let out just a bit more in order to nullify his attack without depleting his magic. ‘So this is the level of the Captain of the Black Bulls.’

Frustrated and out of options, Yuno reached for his clover grimoire.

"Oy kid," Yami said, landing a shot on Yuno's face, "Surpass your limits, don't rely on your wind magic. Control your star magic"

Yuno wiped the blood off of his face before opening his eyes. He clenched his fists and held out his hands.

"Star magic: mana zone!" Yuno shouted, a new page glowed with a new spell. To Yami's surprise the grimoire next to the star mage seemed to be filling up a few pages instead of just the normal two.

Yami didn't expect his mana space to be suppressed, especially not by someone who just learnt how to do it with his new magic, though he already mastered it with wind. But, despite that, Yami still stopped and took on the same stance as Yuno to try and heighten his mana space. Call it intuition or just ki reading, but Yami could sense that Yuno was not going to yield until his zone prevailed.

Both stood in grunted motion, trying to surpass the other's mana. Yami knew, however, that when it came to a battle of mana, there was no way he could beat a prodigy with royal blood who slaves away like a peasant.

In a matter of seconds the black mana space of dark magic was engulfed by the eerie star magic. Since Yuno had experience crafting up a mana space before, his star mana space was also very well put together. When Yami asked Yuno to control his Star magic and surpass his limits, he didn't expect him to surpass it this much. He chuckled to himself.

To Yami's shock again, Yuno wasn't finished. Another page in his grimoire started to light up.

"Star creation magic: Constellation ursa major!" He held out his hand. A large bear manifested. Its teeth were blindingly white and its body was a mingle of stardust and light. It looked heavenly and like something right out of the kingdom of the gods. Yami smirked.

it charged at him. He tried to slash it with his dark magic, but it just got sucked right in. Instead, he physically dodged. In order to cut through it, he  had to overwhelm it with mana, but his mana wasn't as strong as Yuno's and he had already drained a good amount of it.

That meant that he had to concentrate his mana into a single slash, like his dimension cut.

Yami closed his eyes and concentrated on the bear's ki. It was faint, but Yuno had managed to breathe life into his creation. Slowly Yami's grimoire started to glow as a new spell wrote itself out.

"Dark magic: Fine dice!" He yelled, cutting up the bear in a chequered formation. If he couldn't overwhelm the mana by his magic alone, he would do it with repeated slashes. He sighs as he had gotten the idea from Jack.

Yuno was breathing hard. If he wanted to become the next magic emperor and best Asta, he couldn't afford to lose now.

But his whole body ached and felt like if he moved another step, he would crumple into a million pieces. The captain of the black bulls landed one too many hits on him. His mana space was starting to weigh on his stamina as well.

Yami was out of breath as well, "Ready to give up, kid?" He asked, in between breaths.

Yuno opened his eyes and had a determined look on his face. "Not yet." His grimoire lit up once more as a new spell started to emerge. If he couldn’t move, his magic could move for him.

"Star creation magic: Golden armour!" He braced his body with his star creation magic to hold himself together. "it's not over yet."

Yami smirked, "Alright then, kid. Surpass your limits!" He yelled as he charged.

Yuno gripped his sword and flew into the air, replicating the techniques Yami had used a few moments before. He adapted it to his leaner form and speedier moves, allowing Yuno to land a couple shots on the Captain.

He chuckled in response. 'fast learner indeed'

"You're gonna have to do better than that to surpass me, kid!" Yami grinned, "Dark magic: Fine dice!"

Yami slashed through Yuno, but his armour was barely scathed. Yami's eyes widened as Yuno appeared behind him with his sword at Yami's neck.

He smiled, still panting hard, "You- " he said in between breaths, "you hid your mana, did Asta teach you how to use ki or something?"

Yuno retracted his sword and let down his mana space, "I don't know what ki is," he said, out of breath, "but yes, i hid my mana. I knew you were depending on that to attack."

"well done, kid" Captain Yami congratulated, "You held up your own against a Captain"

"I'm the vice captain of the Golden dawn. It's only expected." Yuno simply stated, "If I'm to be the next magic emperor, this is bound to happen."

Yami chuckled at his blunt answer. "Well, I'm beat. Transport us back to the base" He said, stretching.

Yuno nodded and summoned his carriage again. Yami was surprised he still had the mana in him to do that. It took about a minute to reach the base.

Once they landed safely, as soon as Yuno's feet touched the grass, he plopped face first into the ground.

Ah, there it was. The exhaustion. 

Langris saw Yuno and rushed over. Seeing as Langris wasn't surprised at all, Yami called for a healing mage. He'd be lying if he said the mage was only for Yuno as he too felt blood dripping down his body.

"This happen often?" Yami asked.

Langris nodded, lifting Yuno up to take him inside, "He's not good at taking care of himself"

Yami chuckled. He's one to talk. By the time Langris was inside, a portal opened up and two healing mages made their appearance. They were surprised to be at the black bulls’ base.

Yami motioned inside the base while one tended to his wounds. 

"Excuse our confusion we just thought-"

"You'd be sent to the Golden dawn? Yeah, I got that. The two golden vice captains are in the base"

The healing mage sighed. Something told Yami that this wasn't the first time this mage had been called to heal the vice captains of the golden dawn. The thought of Langris awkwardly explaining that Yuno over did it again amused him.

Once the healers were finished, they bid their farewell and left. 

Yami walked up to Finral. "So? How'd the training with your brother go?"

"Langris and I worked well together" Finral smiled, "It was nice, felt like we were family"

Yami put his hand on Finral's head and squeezed, "that's nice and all, but how'd the training go?"

Finral winced, "Good, good," He chuckled, "Langris's power was a bit overwhelming and at first it broke my portals. But then I reinforced them to hold his magic. We defeated Luck and Vanessa by a mile, though I don't think Vanessa was seriously fighting. She was a bit drunk" Finral wiggled out of Yami's hand, "And Luck sensed Langris's magic from a mile away and was able to doge very well, we only landed hits on him by being super fast, it was super fun!"

"Good, good" Yami nodded.

"How was training with Yuno?"

Yami chucked, "He sure is the vice captain of the golden dawn, alright. He made me add a new spell to my grimoire. Even though he didn't have full control over his star magic, it was still very overwhelming. I bet once he masters that as well as he has mastered wind magic, that kid will be unstoppable" he leaned back, "and by the rate he's been learning, that's probably gonna be very soon."

Yami questioned for a second whether wind mage Yuno could defeat him since Star mage Yuno (according to Yuno) needed some work compared to wind mage Yuno. Seeing as how close his star mage self got to defeating him, he wouldn't be surprised. He decided he needed to train Asta more if he wanted any shot at defeating his rival.

Both Asta and Yuno really were polar opposites, now that Yami thought about it. While Asta takes away your magic to corner you, Yuno overwhelms you with his. It was a completely different experience to spar with someone of that level of mana.

Finral was deep in thought. What did this Yuno have that made his brother that attracted to him? Yeah sure, he was handsome and strong and a goddamn prodigy, but what else? He barely talked and was extremely blunt. That too he thought he was better than everyone else and was awfully secretive and-

oh damn. He's basically Langris.  Finral chuckled to himself. Of course his brother would only let down his walls for another man who had similar walls.

Yami didn't know what was going on in Finral's head, but he decided not to question it and go back into the base.

-

Over the next few weeks, Langris and Yuno worked to make the black bulls easier to manage and find. They taught Finral how to efficiently do paperwork, finished off all their backlog, set up an actual connection to the accountant’s office in the capital and set up an account for the black bulls, created little charts and training routines- each hardwired to every member and their weaknesses they noticed so far. 

During the time they had between missions, they would supervise training sessions and advise the members on how to attack and defend. Vanessa grumbled that she had to train, but she’d be lying if she said she didn’t learn a few extra things. They matched up their mana and suggested combinations that seemed impossible but intriguing. Luck wouldn't stop thinking about the possibility of his lighting, water and thread magic that had been suggested by Langris.

Charmy always fussed that she was supervised by Langris all the time instead of Yuno, but even that had been calculated as spacial magic was a better teacher for cotton magic. As much as Langris would love to just hand her over to Yuno instead of being glared at all the time, he wanted the best for clover’s mages.

Finral was often supervised by Yuno since he had experience sparring with Langris, another spacial mage. And because Langris didn’t want to supervise his brother, but it worked out because Yuno used his star magic’s light property to somewhat nullify Finral’s spacial magic’s light property. It worked better against Finral since his spacial magic, though extremely powerful, was weaker than his brother’s. It was good practice for Yuno as well.

Over the weeks, Finral and Yuno bonded over their shared training sessions. Finral even gave Yuno some advice, though Yuno questioned their validity seeing as Finral was yet to get a date.

When the team would get tired and exhausted, Yuno would summon a cool breeze that brightened up everyone’s moods and had them motivated. He had an aura of authority around him that they all grew to admire and respect, following him as a leader. 

Once, Yami tried giving out some advice, but no one even looked at him since they were all busy looking at Yuno and Langris for the next order. Yami's eyes twitched.

 It was always handy during tough missions and times of frustration. Both Yuno and Langris seemed calm and composed even against turbulent missions, it was clear they had a lot of experience. They used their past mistakes to help the Black Bulls not make them as well. Seeing them so motivated pushed the bulls to behave similarly as well.

They truly were vice captains. Yami thought that maybe it was time to get Nacht to do stuff for the Black Bulls too.

“That was awfully quick,” Vanessa said, stretching out her arms as she landed, “Thanks for the advice, Langirs, Yuno.”

They had just returned from the day’s missions in record time thanks to a few improvised Golden Dawn tactics that the two vice captains had designed.

“Mm! That’s right!” Luck plopped down on the couch, “Though I didn’t get to fight as much”

“That too we’re usually very inefficient” Finral scratched the back of his head, “this was probably the first time we used a proper formation instead of just relying on ‘surpassing our limits’”

Langris nodded, “I’m not surprised you lot aren’t very efficient-”

“Now you listen here, Mr. Golden boy,” Yami held out his finger, “Just because we’re not nobility doesn’t mean we can’t be organised and shit”

Langris scowled and was about to lash out, but Yuno elbowed him, so he turned to glare at him before he composed himself. “No, that’s not what I was getting at. The Black Bulls barely have any missions to complete, so you guys didn’t need to be extremely efficient. We can make note of this and assign you guys more tasks since you’re clearly capable”

Finral’s eyes widened as he looked at his brother. He smiled. Langris thought highly of him, of his squad.

Yami narrowed his eyes at the shorter for a second before straightening his back “Well, I guess I have to apologise. You were just trying to compliment us” He then leaned forward, “But make them give us more work and I’ll kill you”

Langris recoiled his face and smiled nervously. But Yuno spoke up.

“Why would you want to waste your time and potential?” He narrowed his eyes, “As a magic knight you have a duty to serve. Getting more work isn’t a bad thing”

“Eh?” Yami looked up, “We do serve, but we also need time to relax. Magic knights are humans too, we need to take breaks and just be free, you know?”

Both Yuno and Langris both tilted their heads. They were foreign to that concept. As vice captains of the golden dawn, their list of duties were far too long to warrant any ‘relaxation’ time. And the concept didn’t make sense to them, why relax when you could be doing something to help?

Seeing them confused, Yami raised an eyebrow, “You guys do know self care is important, right? You guys get breaks, right?”

It was true that Yuno and Langris, by the terms of the golden dawn, didn’t need to work all hours of the day. They simply chose to since it was the best way to ensure efficiency and to solidify their success. Both wanted the best of the best and nothing less.

Ever since they met each other, however, their schedules have been a bit more healthy. Yuno would often take care of Langris and make sure he ate and slept properly instead of just doing paperwork all the time, and Langris would make sure Yuno didn’t overwork himself training for hours on end and making sure he ate and slept properly as well. They even multitasked by making their vice captain duties their little dates. While doing paperwork or regular checks, they would spend time together and talk; work took a bit longer than usual with that, but no one complained. Efficiency wasn’t always the priority, in that regard.

They looked at each other before turning back to Yami. Langris nodded, “We get breaks- and we take them as well”

Seeing his disbelieving face, Yuno nodded in agreement as well.

Suddenly, Bell emerged from Yuno’s grimoire.

“Yuno, dear, I love you, but you need to learn to take care of yourself better” Bell scolded and turned to Yami, “They get breaks, but they never take them”

Finral frowned, “I thought you were getting proper rest now, Langris”

“I am, brother” Langris replied, but Bell was having none of it.

“He is, to some extent.” She proudly flew over to Yuno and sat on his head, petting it, “Yuno here has been making sure your brother has been sleeping and eating well, and he does the same for Yuno. But it’s still not entirely healthy”

Just then Vanessa popped her head round the corner, “Mail! We got mail from the golden dawn!”

Langris nodded, “I’ll look over that-”

“Oh no you don’t” Yami interrupted, “You two aren't gonna lift a finger anymore. Not until you learn to relax and just be free”

“Huh?” Langris raised an eyebrow, “What good is that? We have like 50 mission reports to write and we just adapted Golden Dawn formations. If we had some time to look at everyone’s magic levels and battle strategies, we could come up with something more efficient and tuned for the Black bulls-”

“Nope, none of that is happening” Yami stated.

“But isn't the whole point of this exchange program to learn from us? What good would it be to just stay put and ‘relax’ the whole time?” Yuno asked.

“Well, you gave us an idea, that’s enough if you ask me. You’ve also implemented a bunch of nonsense that I don’t really understand.” Yami pointed, “plus, you guys also need to learn from us. Stop being such stuck up workers and take some time for yourselves”

“That’s idiotic!” Langris’s eye twitched, “Time for ourselves? What good is that!?”

Yami looked at them and then at Finral, “Oy, get the bucket”

Finral stiffened, “T-they’re the vice captains of-”

“Did you not hear me?” Dark magic swelled behind Yami. In a flash Finral had teleported in and out of a portal, holding out a bucket.

Yami took it and stuffed it into Langris’s unwilling hand.

“What am I supposed to do with this?”

“Fill it up with water, grab a mop, and clean the base” Yami said, like it was obvious, “Our usual cleaning boy is off at your base, so you can fill in his shoes”

Langris dropped the bucket, and Yuno used his wind to catch it and set it down on the floor properly. “Do you know who I am?”

“That doesn’t matter in this base, you’re in our territory right now. To us, you’re a newbie.” Yami waved him off while heading towards Vanessa, “Go on, get to it”

A vein in Langris’s face was threatening to pop. Seeing this, Yuno quietly took the bucket and went to fill it himself. Once he returned, he found the cleaning supplies and used his magic to clean the base. In no time, the walls shone and the floor sparkled.

“You done already?” Yami lifted an eyebrow as Yuno and Langris stood in front of him. He then chuckled, “didn’t think you’d be faster than that kid. Oh well, I guess now you guys can actually relax.”

Both looked at each other before looking back at Yami, “The paperwork-”

“Your brother’s working on it, probably even done by now”

“Battle strategies-”

“I’ve just sent a letter about it to my vice captain, Zora, Gauche, and Gordon. They’re our brains. We’re gonna sit down together in a few days to discuss it through. Don’t you think actual members of the black bulls can make better strategies?”

Langris stayed quiet for a second, looked down, and then back up again, “the letter-”

“It was from your captain asking how you were settling in. Said he knew you guys would come and try and overwork yourselves here too.” Yami chuckled, “and I'll be damned, he was right. From the moment you guys got here you’ve been working. Time to let off some steam”

“Let off steam?”

“Yeah, like, spend some time together or some shit” Yami thought for a second, “I don’t know, go on a date or something. What do couples your age do?”

Langris looked back at Yuno who shrugged in response. Yami sighed.

“Are you guys even dating? Where’s the romance?”

“We’re technically at work right now, so we stick to professionalism-”

“Okay, rule number one of the Black Bulls base.” Yami states, “Professionalism is condemned. Never think you need to be formal”

“That’s absurd-”

“Rule two. You two need to get the hell out of my room and go do couple shit”

“That’s not a rule-”

“I’m the captain, whatever I say is a rule is a rule. Now, get” Yami said, ushering the two out and slamming shut the door.

Langris and Yuno looked at eachother.

“Wanna train?”

“Yeah sure-”

“Rule three!” Yami sighed as he opened the door, “Didn’t think I’d have to make this a rule, but, rule three. No training or paperwork or any work related activity while relaxing. Gosh, you two are worse than the kid, at least he can just sit idle for a few minutes” He then proceeded to slam the door shut on their faces again.

Both blinked in response.

“What do we do now?” Yuno asked, to which Langris shrugged.

“I don’t know.” He thought for a second, “Captain Yami did suggest we do couple things as a pastime”

“But isn’t anything we do a couple thing? Since we’re a couple?” Yuno asked. Unbeknownst to him, Yami face palmed behind the door.

“I don’t think that’s what he meant.” Langris looked up in thought, “What do couples normally do..”

“We could do paperwork and talk like we normally do” Yuno then looked down, “But no wait,  rule number three says we can’t do any work”

Langris thought about what Lady Finesse would tell them to do. She was his best friend, and she’d often gush about how Langris should do more romantic things with his boyfriend. She would call his relationship weird and would talk about the things normal couples do. Most of them involved jealousy and possessiveness, traits that neither of the golden duo possessed. They trusted each other enough that they didn’t really feel jealous of other people. If they did feel it, then they would have never survived considering the fanclubs Yuno has and the fake relationship Langris has with Lady Finesse to please his parents (until his useless brother stops being useless). But some of her tales were intriguing.

“Ah! I know!” Langris looked up at Yuno, “Couples do this thing where they meet each other's families. Let’s go to Hage and meet your family at the church, I’m sure they’d love to get a visit from you”

They couldn’t meet Langris’s family for obvious reasons.

Yuno nodded and smiled, “That sounds great, let's do that”

To that, Bell popped out. "Yeah, absolutely not"

'Thank god' Yami thought behind the door.

"Do you two not realise how big of a step meeting each other's family is?" She asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"But we're only meeting my family"

"It still counts! They're gonna think you want to take the relationship to the next level"

Langris looked confused for a second before his eyes widened and his face flushed a bright red.

Yuno raised an eyebrow, "So what if they do?"

Bell sighed.

"L-let's try doing something else then" Langris said, recovering from his flustered state.

Yuno thought for a second before speaking, "Alright. Let me take you out on a date"

"hm? But we always go out on dates"

"Finral says those aren't dates"

"Since when did we start taking relationship advice from my brother? And since when were you guys on talking terms?"

"A few training sessions ago" Yuno answered, "But still. I want to take you out on a real, proper date. One where we don't have a stack of papers due in an hour"

Langris smiled, "Okay, yeah that sounds nice" He looked up, "Have a place in mind?"

Yuno nodded, "Yes"

Yami sighed in relief and finally actually went back to his bed. Seemed like Asta's brother actually knew how to get a man.

-

Asta and Noelle had a hard time keeping up with vice captain duties since they were not used to it, but after some help, they managed it fairly well. Instead of focusing on the technical aspects of the Golden dawn, they decided to focus on other things.

For instance, they urged the members to not rigidly follow battle formations alone since there were only so many things you could plan for, and judging by the difficulty levels of the missions at hand, they needed to learn to rely on their intuition and own strength more.

In other words,

“SURPASS YOUR LIMITS!” Asta yelled, swinging around on his sword.

Noelle elaborated, “Don’t try to calculate the best path beforehand, or else you can never be able to face challenges and learn to improve even more!”

They were training with a few members of the golden dawn’s training force. They were the mages who would relay new training strategies to the rest of the golden dawn.

Over the weeks, Asta and Noelle became more disciplined and learnt the duties of a squadron that didn’t involve the battlefield. Being the squad with the most stars, the golden dawn was already pretty solid in its working, however even they could learn from the black bull’s unconventional method of securing victories. They learnt of the phrase ‘surpass your limits’ and even saw it in action as Asta and Noelle surpassed their limits to rival high level mages in the golden dawn.

The Golden Dawn also adopted a few new strategies without a strategy. Most were so used to already knowing what to do that their problem solving skills were rusty, so they trained in that.

All in all, Asta and Noelle left with an impact and with a deeper appreciation for the Golden dawn and their vice captains.

-

"Brother, I need something to wear" 

"Say no more," Finral said, taking out his communicator to call Vanessa.

-

"You look nice," Yuno smiled at Langris.

"You do as well. Bell?"

"Yup. Finral?"

"And Vanessa, yeah"

Both chuckled as they went outside to the front yard of the base where Yuno summoned a wind ship. It wasn't the usual shape. He made it so that it had a nice seat for them to sit on and an open front for their legs to dangle off of.

Langris smirked and got on, getting comfortable on the seat. Yuno patted his pant pocket to make sure his little present for Langris was there before joining his boyfriend on the seat.

The ride could have been as fast as Yuno willed it to be, but it was slow and peaceful. Both mages blissfully chatted while observing the beautiful natural scenery around them. It also helped that the weather was just right.

As they passed through a bed of flowers, Langris leaned over and picked up a few and presented them to Yuno. The wind mage blushed and took them. Maybe his brother was onto something with his strategies, Langris mused.

After a good while, they finally arrived.

"What is this place, Yuno?" Langris asked, clearly unimpressed.

"Welcome to Ultime Volcano" Yuno smiled, and before he even had to tell, Langris equipped himself with mana skin.

"I don't think this is a typical date setting"

"Not right here, but down there" Yuno pointed, "down there awaits fearsome beasts and an even more fearsome hot spring"

"Hot spring, you say? Now that's romantic"

Yuno smiled, "I know, and I've heard that even beyond that hot spring is another even better hot spring. We're headed there"

Langris smiled as well. Both interlocked their fingers and palms as they made their way down. 

Usually, this would be good training for any normal mage. But these were the vice captains of the golden dawn. The journey to the spring was akin to a stroll in the park for the two. The 'fearsome beasts' didn't make an appearance, and the environment was nothing compared to their mana skin.

They made their way over to the first hot spring and then went down a fairly secret tunnel, that took a bit of detective work finding, to the next one.

It was majestic. The walls were slightly illuminated and the water was a little red from the lava, but was otherwise clean and pristine. The high walls and smooth texture really set the vibe for a romantic get together. vegetation hung from the sides and added a touch of green to the area.

Langris and Yuno stared in awe.

"You been here before?" Langris asked, to which the other shook his head.

"Never. Honestly I was starting to think it didn't even exist"

"Hey! You made me come all this way and you weren't even sure if there was anything?"

"I knew about the first hot spring! so there was still that incase this one happened to just be a myth"

Langris chuckled and went upto the edge, squatting down. "Woah, that's steamy" His eyes lit up.

Yuno nodded and walked up behind Langris. The devil in him won and he pushed him in.

Langris gasped for air as he swam up. "Hey!" He chuckled playfully, coming upto the edge to pull Yuno in too. Yuno didn't step back, allowing himself to be dragged in.

Both laughed as they splashed around. A few moments later, they took off their clothes that were weighing them down. Yuno then felt the bulge that was in pocket and remembered what he wanted to do. He quietly took out the box and kept it at the edge along with his and Langris's wet clothes, going back in the water to his boyfriend.

"Ahh, the hot water's really good for your muscles" Langris said, relaxing. They were against the edge of the crater, with Yuno's back against the wall. He had his arm around Langris, who was snuggling up against his chest.

Yuno looked down at his boyfriend and smiled. He looked behind him at the box and pulled it over with his free hand.

"Hey Langris," Yuno called out.

"Hm?"

"You know how Captain Vangeance was choosing candidates for the next Captain of the Golden Dawn, right?"

Langris opened his eyes and looked up at Yuno, "You seriously bragging about being the favourite for the position? Really? Right now?"

Yuno smiled, "No, that's not it. With my new star magic and training with captain Yami I realised something"

"Go on"

"I was barely able to keep up with Captain Yami, and even after the session, I passed out"

"I thought Captain Yami congratulated you, and that you won?"

"On paper, yes. But, even though I was only using my star magic, I'm sure Captain Yami wasn't using his full powers either in fear of hurting me" Yuno explained, "But that's not the point"

"Elaborate"

"Star magic is royal magic, so that means it should have easily defeated Dark magic. Despite that, I just barely skimmed past. I even had to use sneaky tricks to make him let his guard down. Point is, I have a long way to go before I can truly say I've surpassed Captain Yami, let alone Captain Vangeance."

"So you're saying you don't want to be the captain of the Golden Dawn?"

"No, of course not. Of course I want to be the captain of the Golden Dawn. I want to be the magic emperor. And I'm sure I'll do it"

"Then I'm lost, what are you trying to convey?"

"I'm going to work hard, Langris. I'm going to work hard to master my star magic and I am going to master the art of integrating both my magical properties together to form an even more powerful source of mana. I'm going to become not only the Captain of the Golden Dawn, but also the magic emperor." He then smiled at Langris, who was still confused, "And after I do. I'll give up the title to Asta"

"HEH!?" Langris's jaw dropped, "What did you say!?"

"Well, you know how I've been disappearing sometimes, right?"

"Yeah, how could I not when you disappear for days at a time" Langris deadpanned. Yuno lightly chuckled.

"do you know where i go off to?"

Langris nodded, "I asked Captain Vangeance about it and he told me"

"Right, so you know I've been going to spade. The reason is because they're asking me to claim my throne since now the spade devils have been defeated. I've been going there to help with legalities and rebuilding a stable economy, all while still just being a crowned prince. Soon enough, though, I have to take over the throne"

Langris furrowed his eyebrows, "Yes, I assumed as such. But why bring it up now?"

"Your family," Yuno started, "They like Lady Finesse since she has clover royal blood, right?" He blushed and looked down at Langris, "How do you think they'll feel about direct spade royalty?"

Langris processed his words for a second. Realisation kicked in as he widened his eyes and flushed. "Y-Yuno"

Yuno grabbed the box and pulled out a necklace, one designed to match his. It was Yuno's characteristic green instead of blue.

Langris fell in love all over again at the sight of Yuno gently draping the beautiful piece of jewellery around his neck and fastening it.

"I know, for the time being at least, that marriage is out of the question for us," Yuno said, waiting for Langris to look back up at him before continuing. He tightened his grip over his boyfriend's shoulders and interlaced his free hand with Langris's. "But just know. I'm ready. And, I'll wait till the end of time if it means we can spend more time together as a couple. Consider these our rings and vows" He said, pointing to the necklaces.

It meant a lot, considering Yuno never took it off. Langris would never take it off now, either.

Tears formed in his eyes as he leaned into Yuno's touch. He squeezed his hand and smiled while his face remained bright red.

"Yeah, I'm ready too. I'll run away to spade with you when you're ready. Make me a citizen of spade"

Yuno's eyes widened, "But your whole life is here, your job, your friends-"

"Yeah, I know, but my parents are here too." He looked down, "But yeah, my job.."

Yuno rested his head on Langris's, "I'll tell you what. Once I'm king of spade, I'll set up an alliance with clover and will personally come visit you everyday"

Langris chuckled, "That's a bit unrealistic, but we'll figure it out"

"hm, we always do"

"I love you, Yuno"

"I love you, too, Langris"

The two stayed in that position for a while, just bathing in eachother's warmth more than the hot springs. Everything else was secondary. For them, right now, the other was the only thing in the whole wide world.

"As a friend of Lady Finesse, I've got to ask you boys what you think you're doing"

Both got startled as they looked up at the owner of the voice. 

"Former Captain Mereoleona," Yuno straightened his back as Langris leaned away from his embrace, swimming away a little.

"That's rude, Yuno" Langris warned, but the former captain just laughed.

"That's quite alright. What's really concerning is adultery among distinguished couples. Lady Finesse deserves better, Langris"

Langris's eyes widened, "Well, yes I agree, she deserves way better-" 

"It's already been decided" Yuno interrupted, draping his lands over Langris's shoulders, holding him close, "Among their family. Lady Finesse has to marry the next head of Vaude. Both she and Langris's brother are clearly made for eachother. Langris wants none of that."

"Are they not dating though?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

Langris chuckled, "Appearances, parents"

"Lady Finesse knows of our relationship and fully supports us, just as we hers with Finral. Though Finral is really lousy at this kind of thing"

Mereoleona smiled, "Well, then I have no complaints. Carry on then" She winked, laughing as she went to the other side.

Langris grabbed at his necklace and played with it, sheepishly grinning to himself before looking up at Yuno. "It is getting pretty late, why don't we head out?"

The other nodded and obliged. He used his wind magic to dry off their clothes and they put them on, bidding farewell to Mereoleona as they passed.

Once they were settled in the wind carriage Yuno summoned up, Langris elbowed him.

"Hey, let's go eat at a restaurant"

Yuno smiled, but slouched, "would love to, but i don't want to be on the receiving end of Charmy's wrath on finding out we ate somewhere else"

Langris slouched as well, remembering he had a training session with her the next day.

"Yeah, head back to the black bulls base then"

Both leaned into each other, feeling thoroughly relaxed and content. Yuno stopped the carriage in front of a few trees so that they could watch the sunset together, before actually heading back to the base.

Once they were at the base, they were surprised to find it empty. Concerned, they went inside and frantically looked around. Yuno took out his communicator and called captain Yami.

He was relieved when he picked up.

"Yeah, lovebirds? back to the base already?"

"Yeah, where are you guys? Everything alright!?"

"While you were enjoying yourselves, we got into some mean trouble and had to all go. It was brutal"

Yuno and Langris looked at eachother, concerned.

"I'm kidding, gosh" Yami chuckled, gulping down some beer, "We're all at the bar. It's a little far, Finral has a portal here. Having time for yourselves doesn't automatically translate to something bad happening, relax"

They let out a breath and cut the call.

Once it had been cut they laughed at themselves and settled on the couch. Langris layed on top of Yuno and rested his head on his chest.

What a day.

Yuno placed his hand on Langris's back, petting him before allowing his hand to wander down. He looked down at Langris, "May I?"

Upon seeing Langris nod, he reached the hem of his shirt and slid his hand underneath it. Langris arched his back as Yuno gently rubbed circles directly on his skin.

Langris scooted up, running his hands through Yuno's hair as he leaned forwards. "May I?" He whispered, his lips touching Yuno's as they moved. Yuno smiled softly, nodding and pushing Langris down with the hand still on his back.

Both connected their lips and mouths, feeling eachother up as they kissed.

What a day, indeed.

-

"Unreal" Nash shook his head, "Yuno was disappearing off to spade and having little misadventures there and we hear nothing about it!?"

Sister Lily smiled, "We're hearing about it now, at least. Plus, we also finally got a letter from Asta"

The children's faces lit up as they peered over sister Lily's shoulder to read.

-

Father Orsi chuckled, "So Yuno defeated the Captain of the Black Bulls?"

"Yeah, and get this," Recca said, "We heard about it through Asta's letter"

"Asta's? Why would he write about it?"

"Apparently ever since he returned from the Golden Dawn's base, his captain has been making fun of him for not being able to compare to his rival" Nash chuckled, "He's been made to train now"

"Insult to injury, he's training on the routine designed by Yuno" Recca said, earning laughter from the table.

"What did Yuno's letter talk about?" Father Orsi asked, popping a nomotatoe in his mouth.

"His are back to being one page again" Sister Lily sighed, but smiled nonetheless, "But, he did talk about how his latest visit to spade went"

"He's been going to spade!?" Father Orsi mumbled, almost spitting out his nomotatoe.

Sister Lily nodded, "He's been helping out there since those are his subjects, after all."

Nash leaned forwards, "Still can't wrap my head around the fact that Yuno's an actual spade prince. I guess he did always have an air of royalty to him"

Father Orsi nodded, "Yeah, and I guess I should have assumed he's been going to spade. The thought of it is still unreal, especially considering spade is about the size of clover, heart, and diamond combined. Wonder why he’s still aiming for magic emperor” He chuckled.

Sister Lily smiled, “His promise to Asta, I guess”

-

“Impossible” Yuno’s face recoiled as he scanned through the paperwork.

“We were literally only gone for a month,” Langris held up a stack, “How is there so much backlog!?”

Asta always was able to do the impossible. Noelle’s seemed to get the hang of it as well.

Langris and Yuno sighed, clinking their coffee cups. They were about to pull an all nighter- or, judging by the sheer amount of paperwork, a few all nighters. There was a reason they were the most highly paid vice captains.

The improvements those Black Bulls implemented better have been worthwhile.