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Magna hits the ground hard, pain erupting from his shoulder that causes him to cry out. He momentarily remains there, trying to focus on breathing and clearing the haze from his vision.
It's the sound of Luck's own cry of pain that has him trying to get back up.
He ignores the way his arm and shoulder protest painfully at the movement and wobbles onto his feet.
Their opponent has a crushing hold on Luck's leg, swinging him around and throwing the lightning mage into a nearby ruin wall.
The lightning mage cries out again when he crashes into the wall. Magna is moving before he even registers it.
"Luck!"
****
Magna places the last of the emergency bandages he carries in his satchel on Luck's face right above his eyebrow. He applies a significant amount of pressure to the bandage with his thumbs in an attempt to slow the bleeding.
"Are you mad at me, Magna?" Luck asks, never one to mince his words.
"What do you think, dumbass?" he replies, with obvious frustration in his voice.
"I didn't get hurt that bad."
"I told you to wait for me so we could ambush them together! If you had listened we wouldn't be in this mess," he grumbles.
Luck smiles like there isn't dried blood all over his face. The lightning mage hovers closer and presses their lips together.
Magna should be used to this by now, and yet every time their lips touch he still feels the same eager and surprised sensation as he did the first time they'd kissed.
He should also still be pissed off at his idiot of a boyfriend for nearly getting himself killed; for not listening to him and causing Magna so much trouble.
But… deep down Magna knows he isn't any different from Luck. He likes to fight, likes the warmth of the flames in his hands and the adrenaline pumping through his blood in the midst of a deadly battle.
And he loves Luck precisely because they share that same need to live life on the edge, chasing after intense battles and action.
Magna can't bring himself to stay mad at him. It doesn't help that kissing Luck always seems to distract him from everything else.
He'd been surprised by how quickly the blonde had taken to sharing affection like kissing. The fire mage got the feeling it was because Luck could pour every ounce of love and gratitude into the press of their lips and their tongues.
Even now he gets the sense that Luck is trying to thank him through his actions rather than words…
He didn't think it was possible for him to fall even more in love with his best friend, but everyday Luck was proving him wrong.
****
Their opponent moves to approach him. With his good arm Magna sends a barrage of timed exploding fireballs at him as a distraction and continues running toward Luck who's trying to push himself up from the ground, one of his legs at an awful angle.
Magna doesn't make it to him before their inhumanly strong opponent is grabbing him by the throat.
"Foolish!" the man spits with narrowed eyes as he tightens his hold around Magna's neck.
Magna grabs at the guy's hand with his good arm, desperately trying to pull it away.
"Let him go!" he hears from behind him and Luck is suddenly there kicking the guy's arms with his still intact leg.
His lightning magic doesn't even seem to faze the guy.
"Ha!" the man laughs. Using his other arm he punches Luck away and then throws Magna in the same direction.
****
Luck's fingers are uncharacteristically gentle as he brushes them through Magna's hair. The fire mage finds himself leaning into the touch, his cheeks red from both the warm bath water and the attention from his fellow Black Bull. They're the only two in the communal bath right now and Magna has the urge to prop something against the entrance to make sure it stays that way. This was nice and he would be royally pissed if Asta walked in on them.
Luck shifts his movements and instead combs Magna's damp hair down so it's all in front of his face.
He laughs like the little gremlin he is. "Haha! If I told you to keep your hair like this all the time, would ya?"
Magna sighs and works on pushing his hair out of his face, "No way, brat."
Luck grins mischievously. "Oh yeah? Yesterday you told me you'd do anything for me."
Magna ignores his slight embarrassment when he recalls saying just that in a heated moment.
"I draw the line at my hair."
"Awww, c'mon! I wanna show everyone else. It's funny!"
"That's exactly why I'm drawing the line there. What about you, huh?" he puts a hand to the side of Luck's head, letting his fingers brush through his hair. "Your hair's getting long."
"It is?" Luck asks, pulling a strand of it in front of his face to see.
"You gonna ask Vanessa to cut it for you?" Magna asks in return, casually.
"Uhhh, why don't you cut it for me?"
Magna blinks. "Seriously? I thought you liked having Vanessa do it."
"I do, but I want you to this time. It'll be fun!" he exclaims with a dangerous and excited smile.
Fun? Magna laughs. What was Luck gonna make him chase him around with the scissors or something? He feels silly for looking forward to whatever insanity Luck had in mind; silly and stupidly happy.
He uses his mana to heat up the bath water around them and pulls Luck closer.
"Alright, but you'll owe me," he says with a sly smile.
Before Luck gets the chance to, Magna leans in and kisses him. The blonde wraps his arms around Magna's shoulders with a smile on his lips.
****
Magna sees stars behind his eyelids as his head hits the ground. Nonetheless, he grinds his teeth together and forces himself to open his eyes. Luck is on the ground almost right beside him, his face scrunched up in pain and his lightning magic armor only remaining in a few spots.
The fire mage feels the ground vibrate as the guy walks towards them. He's reminded of their fight with Vetto so long ago. No matter how much they trained and improved, it always seemed like someone stronger was just around the corner.
It hurts like hell, but Magna begins crawling over to Luck.
"Luck," he says as he inches closer. "It's all or nothing."
Luck's sharp blue eyes meet his; a silent conversation passing between them. Eventually the lightning mage nods, reaching a hand out so Magna can help him to his feet.
****
Magna moves slowly and carefully as he tries to get free from under the bed sheets without waking Luck. He’s nearly there when the lightning mage’s arms suddenly tighten around him and pull him back against him.
“Luck,” Magna hisses as he turns to face the other mage in his hold and struggles to pull away. “We’re gonna miss breakfast. I’ll bring something up for you, just let me go.”
Luck makes a show of releasing a big yawn and then says, “Not hungry.”
Magna frowns. “You sure?”
Luck giggles as he curls himself closer to Magna, their foreheads touching.
“You're dumb," he says, his voice brimming with affection.
Magna can't help but smile. “Heh. Gee, thanks, ya jerk. Guess I’ll just let you starve from now on.”
Magna brings an arm up to curl around Luck's side.
“We have to get up eventually though. Captain Yami might have a mission for us.”
“Mmm… I don’t feel like going on a mission right now,” Luck replies.
Magna's eyes widen in brief shock.
“No way you don’t wanna beat the crap out of somebody for once. Who are you and what have you done with Luck?”
Luck's fingers start playing with his hair as he explains, “It’s comfortable here and I can just beat the crap out of you later.”
Magna's eyes soften. Luck is such a little shit but he's so damn cute, he thinks to himself.
“Yeah, well, Captain Yami will be pissed at us for slacking off.”
Luck's eyes suddenly burst open and he grins like a maniac. “Maybe he’ll fight me then!”
Magna uncurls his arm from around his boyfriend to affectionately brush a few strands of hair out of the lighting mage’s eyes with his hand.
“Idiot," he says as he does so.
“Dummy ~ ”
“Moron.”
Luck laughs. “Haha! Kiss me, stupid.”
And Magna does just that, savoring the sweet taste of Luck’s lips. It's easy and comfortable, warm and soft as they kiss under the morning sunlight beaming in through the window. Light breaths and content noises linger in the air as they melt into each other.
“Hey, you know those guys we fought yesterday,” Luck eventually says in between kisses. “What did you think about them?”
Magna pulls away from Luck and asks, “What? Them being all dramatic?”
There was a couple in the group of criminals they’d apprehended on a mission the other day that had made a scene trying to protect each other. Magna didn’t get what their deal was, it wasn’t as if Luck or him were gonna kill them if they just surrendered. Still the two girls had seemed hellbent on not leaving each other's sides, one of them exclaiming that if they were going to die they’d go out together.
"Haha, yeah! But it got me thinking, if I were to choose how I die then I’d want to go out in an epic fight! What about you?”
Magna makes a face at the topic. “Damn, babe, it’s too early in the morning to be this morbid. Well, I guess if I had to choose I’d probably want to go out the same way. I’d be remembered as the manly magic knight that died in the midst of heated combat!”
Luck seems happy about that, pouncing on top of Magna and rolling them over so he’s hovering above him.
“Right?! I wouldn’t let you die in a fight like that though, not without me anyway!”
Magna scoffs at him. “Seriously, can we change the subject? But I guess if I did have to die, I wouldn’t mind if it was by your side.”
And Magna means it with all his heart. As a Magic Knight danger and death simply came with the job, but when he did think about it, he’d be more than happy to die in a fight at Luck’s side. As long as they went out together… He couldn't imagine living in a world without Luck in it.
“I’m awake now so let’s go get breakfast and then spar!” the blonde exclaims.
With all his strength Magna wraps his arms around Luck and rolls them over onto their side again.
“Not a chance! You're staying right here, moron!”
Luck laughs and makes a poor attempt at trying to wiggle out of his hold. “Haha! Awww, you afraid I’ll kick your butt when we spar Magna?”
“Yeah, right,” Magna replies and begins leaving a trail of kisses under Luck’s chin and along his neck, effectively halting the other mage's movements as the blonde hums happily at the affection and relaxes.
****
"Flame-Lightning Explosive Cannon!!" they yell in unison as their combined magic strikes at the enemy with everything they've got left.
The force of the attack causes the ground to shake, the floor beneath them caving in completely within seconds.
All three of them fall into an underground chamber beneath the ruins. In the midst of the fall Magna hears their opponent cry out in pain and then everything goes black.
…
He can faintly hear his heartbeat, exhaustion and pain slowly coming to his senses. For a moment he panics, thinking of his fellow Black Bulls, his heart already aching at the thought of not being able to at least say goodbye to them. He'll miss them so, so much. He just hopes they won't hate him and Luck for leaving them.
Luck…
He gathers the last of his strength and opens his eyes, desperately looking around for his lover.
He hears movement nearby. With a shaky hand he pushes as much rubble as he can aside to see past it. Finally, his eyes find Luck. The lightning mage is currently dragging himself by his arms towards Magna, leaving a trail of blood behind him. Magna is so relieved that the previous panic leaves him, replaced by a sad acceptance.
The Black Bulls will be alright without them. They'll understand when they discover their bodies right beside each other.
Magna smiles sympathetically as Luck makes it over to him obviously in a great deal of pain. He lifts his good arm up and Luck falls against him. He wraps his arm around Luck just as the other mage brings his own arms around Magna.
"Haha, we won," Luck says as he presses his forehead to Magna's, his voice laced with exhaustion.
"Of course, we did. We're Black Bulls, aren't we?" Magna replies with a cocky and tired grin.
He doesn't waste any more time, leaning in to give Luck one last kiss in this world. He'd never given it much thought before, but he truly hopes there's an afterlife.
"I love you," he says as he pulls away.
"Love you too," Luck replies, smiling. "Thanks, Magna, that was a great final fight. I'm really happy."
Magna grins at his words. Somehow he's happy too.
"If anyone had to fight that guy I'm glad it was us... Dying like this with you… is more than fine with me…"
His eyes slowly fall shut as he speaks, the pain beginning to fade away. The last thing he feels is a soft kiss from Luck against his cheek as a bright light appears behind his eyelids.
When he opens his eyes next, Luck is standing in front of him with that dumb smile Magna loves so much on his face, his hand already in Magna's.