Saccharine Secrets - Magna x Luck

3.

Magna wakes up with his throat unfathomably dry and a dull ache all over his body. His eyes shoot open as he scans his environment frantically, nothing that he doesn't recognize it yet it feels distinctly familiar. He's on a small and uncomfortable white bed in a pale blue room, and there's something attached to his arm and sending fluids into his body. He notices other beds nearby, mostly empty or obscured by a thin sheet that hides whoever's lying in it. Before panic can take hold of him completely, he relaxes when he spots a familiar head of blonde hair peeking out from under the blankets of the bed right next to him.

He remembers now. They went to the Underwater Temple as a team to retrieve a magic stone, and they ended up fighting one of the members of the Third Eye. He was a buff, beastly man named Vetto that spoke in harsh tones and hardly seemed human. He and Luck fought tooth and nail, but they barely did any damage all while they were sent to the brink of death. Their last act of desperation was a joint attack, tapping into the beginnings of Combination Magic and launching one big explosion at him. He doesn't know whether it worked or not, but the fact that they're very much not dead means that it at least brought some time. They must be in a hospital of some sort, then.

"You're awake, Magna?" A soft voice takes him out of his thoughts and he looks towards the direction he heard it from. Luck is on his side and facing him, looking at him with one eye since the other half of his head is still bandaged up. "Took you long enough, heh."

"S-says you, idiot. You look worse off than me." His voice is incredibly hoarse, so it barely even gets his point across. He can tell as much when the other boy's body shakes in quiet laughter. "Can you even see straight right now?"

"Don't need to. Your mana..."

Luck trails off, but Magna knows what he's referring to. The other boy's ability to sense mana is so strong that it trumps most of his other senses. It's easy to get him to calm down by just being in his presence and lighting a small flame, so he does just that. Luck hums contentedly and scoots closer, nearly falling to the floor in the process. Magna just mutters a scolding under his breath and sits up so he can pull their beds closer together, thankful for the wheels at the bottom that makes it easy to accomplish without much strength.

The only thing that Luck prefers over his ability to sense mana is his sense of touch. Casual affection is so common coming from him, yet it's mostly reserved for Magna alone for some reason. It might be because he's the only damn one who can actually put up with it. The other boy's hands wander so easily once he's in reach, and one of them ends up clasped around his hand as he intertwines their fingers easily. Magna stares at the ceiling in contemplation, and Luck taps on his knuckles absentmindedly as he speaks up.

"Can we do that again next time?"

"Do what?"

"That last attack. Our last attack." Magna glances at Luck to find that there's a serious look on his face, yet there's excitement crawling from under his skin. The errant spikes in his mana say as much. His ability to sense mana is nowhere near as intense, but he's grown to be particularly attuned to Luck's mana. "It was powerful. It can be more powerful."

"I..." There's a lump in his throat, and an admission he doesn't want to make. It's crept up on him this entire time and is only now rearing its ugly head, making itself known ever since his helplessness in the fight against Vetto. "I don't think it can."