Gifts From The Heart

Bracelets

It was a slow day with nothing much to do, Magma  had been cleaning up his weapons to stave away the boredom and restlessness that buried itself under his skin on days like this. 

When the sun was high, and he was well and truly running out of things to do, little Suika came rolling up to him, pulling at his arm and telling him that Senkuu wanted him for something. 

Magma obliged with only minimal grumbling. Senkuu probably just wanted the blonde to move stuff for him, a normal request at this point. It beat just sitting around anyway. 

Suika insisted on holding his hand the whole way, making Magma have to bend down while he walked. He didn't say anything about it, mostly because he knew Kohaku would have his skin if he was less than civil with the kid. 

He did notice a strange bracelet dangling from Suika's wrist, it was braided with colorful strips and a shiny stone dangling from it. 

Magma shrugged it off, it was no weirder than her having a melon on her head. 

She pulled him into their little camp outside the village, though he shouldn't call it little with all the stuff here. 

Suika pointed her small hand to Senkuu, who was sitting under the inviting shade of a large tree, he had a look of concentration as he fiddled with something. 

"He has something he wants to give you!", Suika said, bouncing on her feet. 

Before he could ask what she was so excited about, Suika ran off giggling in the direction of Kinrou and Ginrou, who both were obviously going out of their way to not look at him. 

Magma scowled at them, but left it alone in favor of joining Senkuu. 

When Senkuu saw Magma approaching, he gave the large man his signature smirk. It made Magma's chest clench, but he paid it no mind.

"It's about time, you big oaf.", Senkuu drawled. 

Magma bristled at the nickname that Senkuu has started calling him. 

Senkuu pat the ground in front of him, "Sit."

Magma huffed, and crossed his arms, but he plopped himself in front of the smaller man nonetheless. The shade was far more welcoming than the harsh sun. 

Senkuu reached forward and grabbed Magma's large hand in his own slender one. 

He placed Magma's hand on his thigh, palm up, and wrapped something around his wrist. 

Senkuu laughed in victory when he tied it off, and lifted Magma's hand up showing off the bracelet wrapped around the large man's thick wrist. 

The braided strips were dark red and brown, with a pretty orange stone tied in with it. 

Magma's eyebrows furrowed, "Why did you give me this?"

Senkuu shrugged, his sharp eyes seeming to dig into Magma's mind, seeing everything, "The stone reminded me of you, and I figured you prefer this than me just handing you a rock."

Something in Magma twisted at those words, and he coughed, not really knowing what to say. 

He heard giggling from behind him, and he whipped his head around, seeing Ginrou snickering from over Kinrou's shoulder. 

The small blonde saw him glaring, and he ducked further behind Kinrou. 

Coward. 

Magma stood quickly, and briskly walked away from all of them, heading back to the village. 

All to aware of the sharp eyes digging into the back of his skull. 

___

One thing most people didn't know about Magma was this; he didn't like being in debt to anyone, for any reason. 

So he found himself trying to braid a bracelet like Senkuu had done. But his fingers were clumsy, unlike Senkuu's elegant hands that seemed to dance over anything he does. 

Magma dropped the bracelet, groaning in frustration. His hands weren't meant for such delicate work. 

He stared at the messy work, and he pulled it apart again. Ready to try once more. 

The thing was, it didn't really feel like a debt. 

But, he felt as though he should give something to Senkuu as well.

He looked over at the shiny red stone. One he spent hours looking for, trying to find the perfect one that matched Senkuu's eyes. 

Maybe he was just trying to one-up Senkuu? 

No, this didn't feel like competitiveness either. 

His face felt warm and his chest thumped loudly, Magma dropped the bracelet again and knocked his fist against his chest. 

Why did it do that when he thought about Senkuu?! It was so annoying. 

Magma picked the bracelet up once more, focusing solely on it until he could fully ignore the thumping of his chest and the twisting in his mind. 

It was easier that way. 

___

Large red eyes blinked at Magma in confusion, going from the messy bracelet he held out in his broad palm to the blondes beet red face that he refused to turn towards Senkuu. 

Slowly a teasing smile spread across Senkuu's face, "Aww, did you make this just for me, Magma~?"

The flush on Magma's cheeks deepened even further, and he pushed his hand against Senkuu's chest, "Just take it, stupid sorcerer!"

Senkuu hummed and plucked the bracelet from Magma's hand, and slipped it on. 

It was to big, messily braided, stone to heavy and weighing it down. It looked a little ridiculous hanging from Senkuu's slender wrist. 

"I love it."

Magma looked at him in surprise, it clearly wasn't nearly as good as Senkuu's handy work, "What?"

Senkuu stepped forward, "I said I love it, meathead. What, can't understand basic speech anymore?"

Magma fumed a little at the teasing, but it evaporated when Senkuu pressed his lips against Magma's cheek. 

Weird. 

It made the feelings intensify, but in a good way. 

Senkuu is most definitely a sorcerer and he cast a spell on Magma's body. 

Magma was snapped out of his thoughts when a bunch of voices started speaking at once. 

"Way to go, Senkuu!!", Ginrou and Suika cheered. 

Kaseki spoke wistfully of young love, and how he had to make something to commemorate the occasion. 

Chrome and Kinrou seemed torn between being happy for Senkuu and glaring at Magma. 

Kohaku only shook her head, "Seriously Senkuu? Him?"

Magma was no coward, but he ran away from that as fast as possible. With Senkuu's laughter ringing sweetly in his ears. 

He'll comeback later, when they aren't being spied on. 

Maybe he could make a decent bracelet by then. And get another kiss.