Archive of Our Own ^beta

The thing nobody tells you, about fighting a giant magical monster in the middle of the city, is that civilians in the area will always totally forget about fleeing from danger and instead take their phones out to record the chaos. Though, Marius probably figures nobody tells you that because it’s not like fighting giant magical monsters is a common enough occurrence to warrant cautionary remarks. Still, the phone thing is really annoying. Case in point—

“Sweet Caster!” A woman exclaims. She stands at the sidewalk, pointing her phone up at where Marius is flying with his winged boots.

“Ma’am!” Marius stops mid air to make frantic shooing motions at her with his staff. “It’s really dangerous here right now, I’d advise you to please evacuate the area.”

“Oh, but my daughter is such a huge fan of yours,” she says. Right, Marius has seen online that his magical boy persona is super big with teenage girls these days.

“That’s great to hear but—” In the distance, a loud, monstrous screech rings out. Marius lands back on the ground and physically starts pushing her towards a more secluded and protected alleyway. “—you should really leave.”

The woman blinks owlishly at him “Can I get your autograph first? For my daughter, that is.”

“What part of DANGER IMMINENT are you not getting, lady!?”

“Oh, I’m sure it’ll be fine,” the woman waves her hand dismissively. “You always save the day, after all.”

Marius feels his eye twitch.

“Stay in that alley, please!” Marius tells her, flying back up in the air. “And don’t come out until the Serpent’s been dealth wi—”

Before Marius can finish his sentence, he’s hit with a huge, powerful, glittery beam of energy.

The blast hits him in full force, sending him careening from the sky and crashing into a nearby street lamp, denting it with the impact. Marius groans. Sure, the magic imbibed in his cutesy armor absorbs most of the blow, but fuck does it still hurt like a bitch.

While he’s shaken from the attack, the Serpent finally reveals itself. A giant, winged creature with ruby red eyes flies back out into the open from where it was hiding in the clouds above.

“You’ve got this, Sweet Caster!” The woman cheers from the sidelines, still recording. “Get back up!”

And get back up Marius does. Because he’s a magical boy now, and magical boys aren’t allowed to lose.

“Hey, reptile!” Marius calls out to the serpent. It locks eyes with him menacingly, and Marius points his staff at the beast. “Your rampage ends here!”

The serpent’s response to that sadly isn’t a fun or dramatic quip. It just blasts more glittery death at Marius.

If he knew that he’d be in messes like this regularly back then, he would’ve never touched that damn book that started all this…

-

[Three month earlier]

See, this all started back in the dusty basement library under the Von Hagen Estate.

It’s a large, sprawling archive of immensely rare books and documents, with records spanning back to god knows when in the past. Marius didn’t go down there often. Being alone in a dark, cold, creepy basement brought back not-so-stellar childhood memories, after all. But a history assignment for one of his classes referenced an old book that he swore he once saw the original copy of. Curious to see if he was right, he goes down into the library to search for it.

He doesn’t end up finding the book he was looking for. Instead, as he’s exploring the shelves, his gaze is drawn towards a thick tome in the darkest corner of the library that looks like it’s glowing.

And, well…what else is Marius supposed to do upon seeing a glowing old book? Not touch it? Be for real.

He totally touches it.

An unnatural gust of wind blows through the library as the book shot out of the shelf and opens itself, streaks of lights erupting from its fluttering pages and zooming out of the room. Marius watches in awe, shock, and sublime confusion, but before he could even wonder what the hell was happening, the book falls to the ground, supposedly normal once more.

“Huh,” Marius says out loud, picking the book up. “Weird.”

He was fully ready to dismiss the entire occurrence as a very strange stress-induced hallucination and just forget about it, but that plan shatters when he goes to bed that night and has an even stranger dream.

In this dream, Marius finds himself in the basement library once more. Except instead of it being shrouded in darkness, it’s instead doused in light. It looks almost celestial now, and Marius marvels at his surroundings. Then his attention is caught by something else entirely.

There, floating in the center of the room, is the book from earlier.

Except it isn’t just sitting there alone.

Coiled around it is a giant serpent. Its scales are purple and its eyes glow with indigo light.

“Um,” Marius says. This is a weird dream. He’s never dreamed of giant snakes before, and he doesn’t exactly know what to do. “Hello?”

“Greetings, Marius von Hagen,” the serpent bellows out, its low voice echoing eerily against the walls of the room and the confines of Marius’ skull, as if it’s speaking both verbally and directly into his mind. “I am the Aquarian Serpent of Divine Protection, a trusted ally of the von Hagen bloodline. I wish we could have met under better circumstances, but alas, a crisis is now upon us.”

“What…are you talking about?”

“I am referring to this—” The serpent raises its tail to trace its tip against the cover of the book. “When you touched this ancient tome, you unleashed the great powers of chaos trapped within it.”

“You mean…those lights that flew out of it earlier?”

“Precisely,” the serpent says. “This book contained magical beings known as the Serpents of Mischief. Your ancestors, centuries ago, had sealed the serpents within to protect the world from their evils, but you, unfortunately, had released them from their prison.”

Marius shuffles from foot to foot nervously. “Uh. Sorry?”

“Sorry is not enough in this case, Marius von Hagen.” The serpent moves its huge head to look at Marius straight in the eye. “You now bear the responsibility of your bloodline to capture the Serpents of Mischief once more.”

Marius stares at the serpent, and a lightbulb goes off in this head. “Oh! So this is a Cardcaptor Sakura type of dream! Weird…I haven’t rewatched that anime since I was a teenager.”

“I don’t know what that is,” the serpent squints at him.

“It’s okay, I totally get where this is going now,” Marius grins. Now that he knows the basis of this dream, he figures he can navigate the rest of it swimmingly until he wakes up back in reality. “Well, continue on with your speech!”

“I have the faintest feeling you aren’t taking this seriously,” the serpent sighs, “but you will understand the true gravity of this crisis soon enough.”

The serpent conjures a magic staff from thin air, and it floats towards Marius. Marius takes it, feeling a sudden rush of…something, fill his body.

“With the Serpents of Mischief on the loose, you must capture all these serpents so I may seal them once more. And to do this, you must take on the mantle of magical girl,” the serpent says. Then, it pauses. “...or boy.”

“Magical boy? That’s not as catchy.” Marius frowns.

“Traditionally, this title and the powers I will bestow onto you were only entrusted to women, but seeing as there are currently no women of von Hagen blood, you’ll…have to do.”

“That sounds vaguely rude…like I’m a bargain bin magical girl—boy.”

“Eh,” the serpent waves its tail in a dismissive manner. “Whatever the case, I hope you’re ready to take on this responsibility.”

“Sure,” he shrugs. “This is just a dream anyway, it might be fun.”

Turns out Marius was wrong on both accounts, for when he wakes up, it’s to the sight of a pocket-sized version of that giant serpent floating in front of his face.

“Good morning, Marius von Hagen,” the now tiny serpent greets.

“Oh, no. Oh no no no. Are you serious? You can’t be serious! This has to be a—an extended dream, a dream within a dream, a—”

The tiny serpent ignores Marius’ panicked rambling, summoning that same magical staff from Marius’ dream. The serpent coils itself on the end of the staff as it floats in front of Marius’ face, and he finds himself inexplicably drawn to it, as if it’s calling for him.

“Take the staff, Marius von Hagen,” the serpent orders him, its voice now ringing in Marius’ mind. “Awaken your powers within.”

Entranced, Marius grabs hold of the staff.

Lights begin to dance around him, as he floats up into the air, surrounded by…pink and purple sparkles? He looks around at his body, seeing that he’s now covered in multicolored lights. When the lights dissipate, he’s no longer wearing his nightly loungewear that he went to bed in. No, no, he’s now in what is undeniably a magical girl outfit.

Er…magical boy outfit.

“Oh my god,” Marius quickly darts his gaze between himself and the tiny floating serpent. “You’re forreal. This is forreal.”

“Indeed it is,” tiny serpent says atop the staff. Only now is Marius awake enough to note that its voice is no longer loud and bellowing, but instead…high pitched, like an itty bitty cartoon mouse.

“Do I really have to wear this?” Marius looks back to himself and the pastel, lolita-style clothes he’s now in.

“It is the traditional armor of magical girls, and it is imbibed with magic that will both make it impossible for people to recognize your true identity while also protecting you in battle,” tiny serpent tells him. “I took the initiative to suit the outfit to your chosen gender.”

“Sorry, not to diss on the outfit, but I’m having trouble believing that these short shorts will protect me in battle.”

“Whether your believe it or not, it will do the job when you are out on the battlefield as a magical boy.”

The reality of the situation is starting to finally sink in for Marius. The serpents, the magic, the mission to seal a bunch of evils back in the book. Oh god.

“I can’t be a magical boy!” Marius holds the staff close and shakes it vigorously, jostling tiny serpent off it, much to its dismay. “I don’t have the time, I have so much shit to do in my life already!”

Tiny serpent makes a little ‘hmph!’ noise. “That is irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.”

“That’s easy for you to say, Snakey!”

Tiny serpent, now dubbed Snakey in Marius’ head, hisses at him. “I am the Aquarian Serpent of Divine Protection, and you will address me as such.”

Marius narrows his eyes. “Snakey.”

“You are insufferable,” Snakey says, using the tip of its tail to massage the side of its head. “Whether you like it or not, you are obliged to take on this responsibility until all the Mischief Serpents have been captured once more. If you do not capture them, they will cause strife and destruction upon this city you call home.”

“Fuuuuck,” That doesn’t sound good. Marius sighs, flopping backwards onto his bed. “...you said Mischief Serpents. Plural. How many are there?”

“All in all,” Snakey summons the ancient tome in front of itself, and the pages flip open one by one, showing archaic illustrations of the different serpents and their various powers. “You unleashed twelve agents of chaos.”

“Cool, twelve seems like a manageable number,” Marius hums. At least it isn’t like 151 Pokémon. “Catching them all should take like, what, a few weeks?”

“That depends on your own skills and willpower, Marius von Hagen.”

“Fine,” Marius sits up, looking at Snakey with determination in his eyes. “Let’s do this, then.”

—

[Back in the present]

A few weeks? Ha! Marius vastly underestimated how much of a pain in the ass these damn Mischief Serpents were.

Speaking of pain!—

“Can this serpent quit it with the sparkly beams of death!” Marius groans, getting up from the dumpster he just got unceremoniously blasted towards. Thankfully, he doesn’t have to dust himself off, because in addition to protecting his squishy organs, this magical boy outfit also has the uncanny ability to stay clean and pastel perfect no matter how hard he gets pummelled. At least he doesn’t have to worry about magical laundry.

“This eleventh serpent is known as the Serpent of Havoc,” Snakey says from where it’s coiled on Marius’ staff. “It’s main power is causing destruction.”

“Yeah—” Marius gestures around to the absolute mess it’s created of Stellis’ downtown CBD. “—I may have noticed!”

“I suggest you concentrate your powers less on dealing your attacks and more on deflecting its own attacks back at it,” Snakey advises.

“You couldn’t have told me that earlier, huh…” Marius mutters, getting back into a battle stance.

Before he can fly back up into the air and resume his battle with the Serpent of Havoc, Marius hears heavy and hurried footsteps making their way towards him, as if someone is running towards all the destruction instead of away from it.

“I swear to god, if it’s that lady with the phone again—” Marius turns to look at the approaching figure, and he groans when his eyes recognize just who it is.

Not again.

“Hi, Sweet Caster!” Luke waves, smiling sunnily as he approaches. “Need some help?”

“I do not!” Marius flies towards Luke, stopping him in his tracks. “What the hell are you doing here? Did you not see the—” Marius points to the side where the Serpent of Havoc is blasting energy beams all over the street. “—the that!?”

Luke pouts. He honest to god pouts “I did see it, which is exactly why I’m here. To help!”

Because that’s what Luke’s been doing ever since Sweet Caster made his public debut. Every single time a Mischief Serpent shows up, Luke Pearce is bound to show up at the scene of the crime to give Marius an absolute heart attack. The first time he showed up, he honest to god introduced himself like a boy scout, talking about how he was in the area and wanted to lend a hand.

“I don’t need your help! I need you to get out of harm’s way and let me do my thing!”

“Do you…” Luke says slowly. “...not like seeing me?”

Marius wants to strangle him. “It’s not that, it’s because you’re a civilian, Luke! And every time you show up, there’s a huge ass giant snake that could hurt you!”

“I keep telling you not to underestimate me!” Luke exclaims. “I might not be a magical boy, but I can help out!”

“Not this again…” Marius groans. “Look, this is the last time I’ll tell you this: for your own safety, stay out of my way!”

The Serpent of Havoc chooses this moment to fix its gaze on Luke, and it unhinges its maw to shoot a blast of iridescent doom straight at him.

“Luke, watch out!”

“Shit!—”

Marius surges forward, flying towards Luke at full speed and pushing him out of the way of the blast. The energy beam that would’ve exploded Luke into tiny glittery smithereens instead hits a nearby car as Marius and Luke tumble to the ground. Marius holds Luke’s body close, hoping he can shield him well enough as they skid across the asphalt road.

They eventually come to a stop, and Marius looks at Luke worriedly.

“Are you okay?” Marius breathes out.

“I’m…” Luke blinks blearily. “...fine.”

And he seems to be telling the truth. Aside from a few cuts on his face from the asphalt, nothing else seems to be amiss, and so Marius breathes a sigh of relief.

However, now that he’s made sure of Luke’s safety, Marius slowly realizes the position they’re in.

Luke is on the ground, and Marius is on top of him. Marius can feel the rise and fall of Luke’s chest, the rapid beat of his pulse, and the soft warmth of his breath. Luke’s eyes widen, as if he too had just realized how close they were, and Marius witnesses Luke’s gaze quickly dart to his own lips.

Time feels like it slows. For a moment, the destruction around them washes away, and Marius’ attention is solely on Luke and how Luke looks at him with yearning in his eyes. Marius can’t look away. He—

“Ahem,” Snakey coughs. Loudly. It uncoils from Marius’ staff and looks at him with an unimpressed expression. “Sweet Caster, there is still a giant serpent to take care of.”

“R-Right!” Marius shoots up, getting back on his feet and frantically stepping away from where Luke. “Luke, you should! Get to safety! Bye!”

Marius flies back up into the air with his winged boots and sets his sights back on the aforementioned giant serpent, trying to forget the way Luke looked at him.

…No, not how Luke looked at him.

How Luke looked at Sweet Caster.

Because Luke would never look at Marius von Hagen like that.

—

Ever since Marius became a magical boy, his life has gotten beyond complicated. He has to juggle his work at Pax, his responsibilities in the NXX Investigation Team, his assignments for grad school, and now, whenever a fucking Mischief Serpent wants to mess up his already messed up day-to-day schedule, Marius has to set aside time to fight the damn overgrown snakes into a state weak enough for Snakey to seal them back in the ancient tome.

…How much sleep is Marius getting these days? Don’t fucking ask. The coffee machine is his new best friend, these days.

Still, Marius can handle the extra work. He’s the king of taking on extra work, after all. But the thing about this whole magical boy situation that really feels complicated is…Luke. Because…

Somewhere along the way, Marius had fallen in love with Luke. If anybody ever asked him how it happened, he wouldn’t be able to name a specific moment or grand realization. He was simply…allured. In every way. Every single about Luke had Marius entranced. Luke’s heroism, his stubbornness, his cute laugh and how it’d light up the whole room, his heart of gold that never falters, the list goes on. The more Marius got to know Luke, the more he uncovered endless facets of the good detective that ensnared Marius’ heart further.

And how did Marius decide to deal with that? Confess, perhaps?

Ha! Don’t make him laugh. Marius is taking this secret to the grave, thank you very much.

He has to, because he and Luke aren’t…like that. They’re close, yeah. They’re pretty tight buddies. They’ve got a super platonic, super Just Bros relationship. But that’s where the line is drawn. Luke only sees Marius as a friend.

Which drives Marius crazy because Luke has the most obvious crush on Sweet Caster.

“There’s our lover boy!” Rosa announces when Luke enters HQ’s meeting room.

Marius is in the pantry, hunched over the coffee machine (his dearest companion, his most trusted confidant…) but he lifts his head to see Luke nervously stutter at Rosa’s greeting.

“W-What? Lover boy? I don’t—”

Rosa grins at him, full of mischief and glee. “I saw you on the news yesterday, when they were covering the latest Serpent attack. They played the bit where you totally had a moment with Sweet Caster!”

Luke’s face reddens in realization. “That was—! I had no such thing—”

Vyn sits regally in his favorite arm chair and leans forward, always happy to join in on messing with people. “Oh? So we all just collectively hallucinated it when Sweet Caster pushed you out of the way of an attack?”

“And fell on top of you,” Rosa adds on.

“On national television,” Vyn smiles.

“And then you totally gave him heart eyes! Right, Artem?”

“I—” Artem, who’s been standing at the side color coding paperclips, freezes awkwardly. “—suppose Luke did give Sweet Caster…a Look.”

“See!” Rosa crosses her arms proudly. “If even Artem noticed that you were giving heart eyes, then you were being really obvious.”

“I did not give him heart eyes!” Luke hisses. “I was just!—admiring how he protects the city!”

“Uh huuhhhh,” Rosa says. “So was that admiration in your pocket or were you just happy to see him?”

“Rosa!”

“Marius, back us up here!” Rosa calls for him.

“Sorry, I’ll have to sit this one out,” Marius says, joining the rest of them around the meeting room table, bringing his fresh cup of coffee to his seat. He yawns. “I was really busy with work yesterday so I wasn’t able to catch the whole shebang on the news.”

“Awww. That sucks, you should’ve seen it, it was super cute. Luke is like, Sweet Caster’s number one fan.” Rosa elbows Luke in the side. “This is like, what, the eighth time you’ve met Sweet Caster?”

“I don’t know, I don’t…keep count,” Luke mumbles softly.

Luke might not be keeping count, but Marius sure is. Yesterday was indeed the eighth time Luke had put himself in danger while offering help to Sweet Caster, the eighth time Marius had panicked seeing Luke out on the battlefield, and the eighth time Marius had to deal with Luke’s obvious infatuation with Sweet Caster as well.

Marius is so tired. He takes a big gulp of his coffee.

The Relentlessly Tease Luke Session dies down shortly after that, and the team proceed with their regular meeting. Once that’s wrapped up, Vyn and Artem say their goodbyes and leave, and while Marius is packing up his own stuff to head out, he hears Rosa hilariously start teasing Luke all over again.

“Next time you tooootally accidentally bump into Sweet Caster again,” Rosa says. “You should have flowers. Make him feel special, you know?”

“No, Rosa,” Luke groans, embarrassed. Then, quieter, he says, “...Even if I did bring flowers, he’d be too busy fighting to actually receive it…”

Marius’ curiosity gets the better of him, and he cuts in.

“I don’t get it,” he says, trying to make his words casual. “What’s the big deal about Sweet Caster anyway? Like, why are you so obsessed with him?”

“I’m not obsessed…” Luke says. “I just…I think it’s really cool how he keeps Stellis safe, is all.”

Marius snorts. “Captain Morgan keeps Stellis safe too, but I don’t see you stalking him.”

“I am not stalking Sweet Caster.”

“You kinda are,” Rosa hums. “Like, a little bit. Teensy bit of stalking.”

“I just!—” Luke stutters, looking increasingly worked up as he tries to find words to explain himself. “He’s—He’s fighting all these magic evils all alone. That…doesn’t sit right with me. He shouldn’t have to do this alone, and that’s why I keep trying to help him.”

Marius ducks his head, hiding his rueful smile. That’s Luke Pearce for you. Always the hero.

“I get where you’re coming from, but maybe you should stop showing up to every battle, Luke,” Rosa tells him. “The things he fights are dangerous. They aren’t human criminals that you’re used to, they’re magical monsters.”

“She’s got a point,” Marius nods, hoping that Luke will listen to the, It would be a huge worry off of Marius’ shoulders if Luke actually stayed away from the danger, instead of running headfirst towards it. “I bet Sweet Caster would rather you stay away and take care of yourself.”

Luke rolls his eyes, “That’s rich coming from you, Mister Not-Getting-Any-Sleep-At-All-These-Days.”

“What can I say, I’m a busy man,” Marius drawls easily.

“Still…” Luke fixes his gaze on Marius, looking concerned. “Don’t think we haven’t noticed how much more tired you are these days. Try to get some rest tonight, okay?”

“Alright, alright,” Marius concedes, trying to will away the warmth in his heart blooming at the fact that Luke cares about him. “Your wish is my command, detective.”

—

It’s two days later when the twelfth and final Mischief Serpent awakens.

He’s at Luke’s place. They met up to binge and heckle a bunch of B-movies, and Luke sits at his bed determinedly putting together a list of the best worst movies to watch. As he does that, Marius sits on the beanbag, trying and failing to watch the news because his eyelids just feel so heavy right now.

“Dude,” Luke appears by his side, gently nudging him. “If you’re gonna sleep, you can take the bed.”

“No, no, I’m awake, I’m up!” Marius shoots up, smacking his face a few times.

Luke takes a seat on the other beanbag, looking at Marius with concern in his eyes. “You didn’t have to come over if you were tired, you know…”

“I’m not tired.” Marius yawns.

“Really now,” Luke raises an eyebrow.

Marius sighs, leaning back in the beanbag. “Okay, fine, you got me. I’m exhausted. But I—” I missed you, he doesn’t say. Ever since this whole magical boy thing started, he hasn’t had much time to spend with Luke, aside from when he and Luke bump into each other when Marius is being Sweet Caster. Which, kinda feels like it doesn’t count, since Luke doesn’t know. “—It just feels like it’s been a while since we last hung out.”

“I mean, yeah, I feel that too, but there’ll always be a next time,” Luke reassures him. The concern doesn’t leave his gaze though. “What’s got you so overworked these days anyway?”

“Pax stuff, you know how it is,” Marius waves his hand dismissively. It’s the excuse he’s always been giving every time Luke asks, and he feels like shit lying to him, but it’s not like he can just tell the truth now, can he? If he did, he’d first have to ensure that Luke doesn’t think he’s a crazy person, and second, they’d have to unpack Luke’s crush on Sweet Caster but his totally platonic feelings for Marius. Marius…doesn’t know if that would mess up their friendship, and he doesn’t want to risk it. He doesn’t want to risk Luke.

“Isn’t there anybody who can help you out?” Luke asks. “Like, manage the workload and shit?”

Marius laughs softly, shaking his head. “These are the types of things only I can do, Lukey.”

Luke is silent for a while, and when Marius looks at him, he’s got an adorably worried frown on his face.

“Stop looking so upset,” Marius leans towards him to poke his cheek. “I can handle it. I always do.”

“Doesn’t mean I have to like it,” Luke says, gently grabbing Marius’ wrist to stop his poking and moving close to him. “Because I don’t. You having to do all of this stuff alone…I wish I could help.”

Marius’ chest fills with warmth.

“Just you inviting me over helps out enough,” he tells Luke, and he means it. However, the moment feels much too solemn, filled with unsaid things, so Marius decides to diffuse it a little bit. “I’m just glad you aren’t tired of my pretty face yet.”

Luke doesn’t roll his eyes, like Marius was expecting him to.

Instead, he holds Marius’ hand and squeezes it gently, earnestness and heart out in the open. “I’d never get tired of you.”

Marius can feel his pulse speed up. Only now does he realize how close they are, seated next to each other and leaned in close to one another.

In moments like these, he wonders if he’d made the right assumption, about Luke. About Luke only seeing him as a friend. But Marius simply can’t let himself hope because all that’ll do is set himself up for more heartbreak.

Luke blinks at him, his gaze charged with…something. Something Marius can’t read.

And then he quickly rears back, letting go of Marius’ hand and falling backwards onto his ass.

“Woah, are you okay?” Marius stands, helping Luke up. “What was that?”

“Nothing, nothing, I just—” Luke rambles and trails off. Quietly, he says, “—I had this weird sense of deja vu.”

Marius has no idea what he’s talking about, but before he can ask, the news program on Luke’s television flashes the BREAKING NEWS title card before a harried newscaster shows up..

“This just in!” The newscaster says. “Yet another magical serpent has appeared in Stellis’ Central Plaza, surrounded by a hoard of mindless doppelgangers!”

Uh oh.

“I have to—”

“I gotta go—”

Marius and Luke stare at each other, having spoken at exactly the same time, and Marius wants to smack Luke.

He shouldn’t be headed anywhere, but Marius knows without a doubt that Luke is going to run straight towards the chaos. But it’s not like he can tell Luke off, lest he jeopardize his secret identity.

“We can—” Luke says, quickly shrugging on his jacket. “We can hang out again tomorrow!”

“Cool, tomorrow, totally,” Marius nods, grabbing his bag. “So I’m just gonna. Go.”

“Yeah, me too. Um.”

“Bye!”

“Okay, bye!”

Totally not suspicious behavior from the both of them.

—

When Marius arrives at the plaza, all civilians have thankfully been evacuated by the local authorities. So all that meets his eyes is this bizarre sight—a giant serpent, coiled around the statue in the middle of the plaza, surrounded by an absolutely huge crowd of people shuffling aimlessly.

Marius sneakily hides behind a bush and surveys the crowd. They all look human, but the move eerily, in uneven starts and stops, like puppets. When he looks closer, he’s able to see the unnatural look of all of their eyes too. None of them have eyes that look alive. Instead, each and every one of the doppelgangers have eyes as gray as an overcast sky.

“Alright, Snakey,” Marius speaks to his staff. “Which serpent is this last one?”

Snakey dutifully uncoils from the staff and summons the ancient tome, its pages flipping open to a section titled—

“The Serpent of Mimicry,” Snakey informs him. “Its preferred method of mischief is to create doppelgangers and act as the original being to subtly sow strife in the lives of its victims.”

“Subtly? There’s a whole big and unsubtle crowd of them right now!”

“Well, the serpent had just awakened after centuries of being sealed. The excess energy it collected over the years must have resulted in this…anomaly.”

“Well,” Marius hums. “If its only powers are making doppelgangers, then this should at least be a way easier battle than the last Serpent of Painful Exploding Glitter.”

“Its name was the Serpent of Havoc—”

“Don’t care!” Marius sticks his tongue out at Snakey. “Now, let’s get this show on the road!”

Snakey sighs and coils itself back onto the end of Marius’ staff as Marius flies up in the air, revealing himself.

“Hey, reptile!” Marius calls out, pointing his staff at the serpent.

The serpent lifts its head and opens its eyes, revealing orbs that shine like a kaleidoscope, its colors everchanging. All the other doppelgangers pause their sluggish shuffling, slowly turning their heads to look at Marius.

With their attention caught, Marius grins wickedly. “Well, what are you waiting for? Come at me, bro!”

The serpent unhinges its maw, letting out an otherworldly sounding screech at him. The crowd of doppelgangers ripple with movement as they transform all at once, like a chameleon changing its colors, and before Marius can even blink, all of them have shifted into clones of—

Of himself.

Complete with his magical boy outfit and, notably, his winged flying boots.

Fuck.

“What was that about this being an easier battle?” Snakey says.

“Shut up!” Marius yells as the the crowd of Sweet Caster doppelgangers fly up into the air, their arms outstretched menacingly towards him as they zoom through the air, chasing him. Marius flies ahead, dodging them and shooting his own magical attack blasts using his staff at any that come too close.

When his energy beams land, the doppelgangers phase away into mist, but however many fall are quickly replaced by another, and another, and another.

There’s just too many of them! Marius grits his teeth, urging his boots the fly faster.

A doppelganger manages to grab at his ankle, and try as he might, Marius is unable to kick it away. With the extra weight slowing him down, another doppelganger is able crash into his body like a missile, sending him crashing back to the ground of the plaza.

The collision has Marius’ head spinning, his body aching. He sits up, groaning at the tender pain across his body, and he inhales sharply at the sight in front of him: the rest of the doppelgangers landing, slowly trudging towards Marius like a hoard of pastel-y zombies.

Marius gets up, legs trembling, readying himself for what he’s sure is gonna be one hella difficult melee battle. He holds onto his staff tightly, aims at the crowd, and—

Of all things, a gunshot rings out.

A bullet shoots through the skull of a doppelganger in the middle of the hoard, and it wisps away into mist. Bewildered, tall the other doppelgangers turn to look at who fired the shot, parting slightly and allowing Marius to see—

“Luke!?” Marius exclaims, seeing Luke standing there with a pistol in his hands.

“Hi, Sweet Caster,” Luke grins at him. “I told you I could help.”

The doppelgangers waste no time, immediately launching themselves at the new opponent. Luke is able to take them down one by one as they come with expertly aimed shots through the head, but he won’t be able to keep it up forever. Marius gets up quickly, ignoring the pain in his body to make his way to Luke’s side and blast an incoming wave of doppelgangers with his magical energy beams.

“You shouldn’t be here!” Marius grits out, standing back to back with Luke.. “It’s dangerous!”

“In case you didn’t notice—” Luke smoothly reloads another cartridge of ammo into his gun, cocking it and sending another bullet through a doppelganger. “—I can protect myself while having your back.”

“You’re fucking insane!” Marius barks out a disbelieving laugh. “Who the hell brings a gun to a magical battle?”

“I do!”

“Why!”

“Because you shouldn’t have to do this alone!”

For all that Marius hates that Luke is putting himself in danger like this, they do make a good team. Together, they miraculously manage to fight in perfect harmony. Marius takes out doppelgangers in large swathes while Luke shoots any stragglers that get too close. With Marius’ energy blasts and Luke’s expert marksmanship, they’re eventually able to take down the entire crowd of doppelgangers until the plaza is filled only with mist.

Breathing heavily, Marius and Luke look towards the serpent again.

Without its lackeys, the serpent looks pissed.

It uncoils itself from the statue slowly, fixing its kaleidoscopic eyes onto the both of them.

“Do you think a bullet would work for that too?” Luke asks quietly.

“I’ve got something better,” Marius holds onto his staff tightly as he adjusts his stance. “Stand back.”

Luke actually heeds his warning, taking a big step backwards.

Marius aims his staff at the serpent, concentrating a ball of pure energy at its tip before shooting it directly at the beast. It screeches in agony, writhing on the ground as its weakened body succumbs to the attack. Its scales start to crack, its form starts to look wispy at the edges, and its eyes begin to dim.

Marius runs towards it, about to bash it over the head with his staff for the final, sealing blow—

“I, Sweet Caster—” Marius yells the incantation. “—invoke the power of the Aquarian Serpent to capture thee—”

“No, Marius, please!”

A familiar voice rings out.

In the blink of an eye, the serpent in front of him is gone, replaced instead by—

“You,” Marius says darkly, narrowing his eyes at the doppelganger, “are not Luke.”

The serpent makes a very convincing clone of him though. From his sandy brown hair to his signature outfit, even the complicated expression on its face is an excellent echo of Luke’s own.

But its eyes are gray, nothing like the dazzling ruby of the real Luke.

Marius glances at the real Luke, standing a few feet away. He stares at the doppelganger with wide eyes and an unreadable expression, but Marius can’t concentrate too hard on him right now.

“Marius, please, I don’t want to die,” the serpent says. The voice it’s using is Luke’s, tinged in desperation and warped at the edges. Marius hardens his gaze at it.

“Spare me the pitiful begging,” Marius aims his staff at it once more.

The serpent, slowly, grins. “Oh, you’re a tough one, aren’t you? Not even the face of your beloved can convince you?”

“I don’t take kindly to anyone or anything that tries to manipulate me,” Marius says coldly. He summons another ball of energy, gathering at the end of his staff, aimed for the serpent point blank. “Time to go back in the book, reptile.”

He blasts the attack towards the serpent mercilessly, and it screams in the voices of hundreds of people all distorted together as its body phases away, until finally, there is silence.

Snakey uncoils from Marius’ staff, summoning the ancient tome and sucking the serpent’s misty form back into the book.

With a soft thud, the book closes shut.

And it’s finally over.

“Phew,” Marius smiles, wiping the sweat off his forehead. “Another job well done for Sweet Caster!”

Then Marius turns around and stomps towards Luke. “But you! Don’t think I haven’t forgotten how stupid you were just now, what were you thinking charging into this battle!?” He points at Luke’s face. “I always tell you it’s too dangerous, and you were exceptionally reckless joining the fray, even if you had a weapon! What if I couldn’t protect you!?”

Luke…stays silent. His eyes watch Marius’ every move, but he doesn’t butt heads with Sweet Caster like he usually does.

“What, not even going to argue with me?” Marius huffs, crossing his arms.

“It—” Luke says slowly. “When it was wearing my face, the serpent, it didn’t. It didn’t call you Sweet Caster.”

Huh?

“It called you Marius,” Luke says.

Oh.

Fuck.

Fuck.

“Marius?” Luke steps forward, his hand tentatively outstretched.

“I have to go,” Marius stumbles back, nearly tripping over himself.

Luke shakes his head, sounding more urgent, “What did it mean when it said I was your beloved?”

“I have to go!” Marius yells, his heart beating loudly in his chest. He kicks himself up into the air with his winged boots.

“Marius, don’t go! I—”

He can’t tell what Luke was about to say, nor does he see the expression Luke makes when he runs away. He’s too busy shutting his eyes and flying into the clouds, leaving Luke behind and his fears behind.

—

The next day, Marius is back where it all began: the underground library of the von Hagen estate.

In the center of the room, a spellcasting circle is drawn on the ground. The ancient tome floats above it, along with Snakey circling it over and over, supposedly binding the the lock on the tome for another hundred or so years.

There isn’t much for Marius to do but watch, so he leans against a bookshelf and sighs, running a hand through his hair.

“I was expecting you to be happier,” Snakey remarks, pausing his movements to look at Marius curiously. “You defeated all of the Mischief Serpents, after all.”

“Yeah, well,” Marius tilts his head back, hearing it thunk softly against the shelf behind him. “Things just got complicated anyway.”

Snakey hums. “You mean, because of that young man who kept seeking you out?”

“Obviously,” Marius deadpans. Then he sighs, placing a hand on his face. “God. Not only did he find out I’m Sweet Caster, he must’ve also figured out that I—”

Marius clenches his other hand into a fist. He wonders what Luke must be thinking now, given yesterday’s reveal. The hero Luke has a admires on turning out to be none other than the annoying guy he only treats like a friend. Luke must be regretting his crush on Sweet Caster now, huh…

“Ahem,” Snakey coughs. Marius looks up at him. Snakey wrings its own tail, as if nervous. “If I may give my opinion…”

“I’d rather you don’t” Marius drawls.

“Well, you will hear it anyway,” Snakey says, continuing on. “That young man didn’t seem particularly angry or averse to learning your true identity. In fact, it might be healthy if you two, well…spoke to each other about it.”

“...Are you seriously giving me love life advice, Snakey?”

“You seem in dire need of it,”

“Just…just focus on doing your magicky stuff,” Marius sighs. “I’ll be the one to….figure out Luke.”

And by ‘figure out’, Marius definitely means he’ll just ignore it for as long as he can. And if Luke bringts it up, Marius will suggest that they just forget it ever happened.

Hopefully their friendship doesn’t suffer too much from the fact that Marius has feelings for him. Even though a rejection would break his heart into a million tiny pieces, he thinks he’d still be able to survive it. But he wouldn’t be able to survive losing Luke from his life. If Luke becomes distant from Marius, if he stops spending time with Marius because of this…Marius wouldn’t know what he’d do.

“Well,” Snakey speaks up, interrupting Marius’ train of thought. “I hope you ‘figure out Luke’ soon, because he’s on his way here as we speak.”

“...What are you talking about?” Marius says slowly, feeling panic rise in his gut.

“I may have sent him a message earlier using your—” Snakey waves its tail around, trying and failing to remember the word ‘cellphone’, “—your communication contraption.”

“What! You texted him!?” Marius scurries over to Snakey, nearly grabbing the tiny serpent and shaking him around. “You and what fucking thumbs!?”

“Be grateful, Marius von Hagen, I’m doing you a favor,” Snakey sniffs haughtily. “Watching you pine over him all this time has been the most tiresome thing I’ve ever experienced in all my thousands of years of existence.”

“Why you little—” Marius reaches for Snakey, definitely planning to strangle it a little bit, but before he can, he hears footsteps descending down the staircase leading to the library.

“Marius?” Luke’s hesitant voice calls out. “Are you down there?”

Shit!

Luke makes it the rest of the way down the stairs, idling by the library’s entrance and looking ahead.

“Marius,” Luke smiles at him. Then, he looks at Snakey, who Marius was just about ready to squeeze like a wet towel. “And…the magical tiny cute snake. Sorry, am I interrupting like, an important magical boy moment or something?”

“Oh no, don’t mind me,” Snakey flies far, far away from Marius’ grasp. “I can continuing the sealing ritual after you two have…conversed.”

And then Snakey flies away to peruse the surrounding shelves.

“That thing seems fun,” Luke starts cautiously.

“Snakey’s a pain in my ass, that’s what,” Marius rolls his eyes. “If you got a text, that was Snakey, by the way, not me. It’s a meddlesome piece of shit.”

“Oh, no, yeah, it uh, said so in the text that it wasn’t you, but it also said that…it’d be good if we talked.”

“We don’t have to,” Marius rushes to say. “We really don’t have to talk about anything.”

“I think we do, actually.” Luke frowns. “Why did you leave yesterday? I wanted to—”

“What do you mean, ‘why did I leave?’” Marius repeats, smiling ruefully. “I got my secret identity revealed and the fact I have…feelings for you. Of course I ran away. Because…”

Luke steps forward, looking at Marius patiently, earnestly. “Because what?”

“Because you like Sweet Caster,” Marius croaks out. “But…not me.”

Luke’s eyes widen, then he shakes his head with a soft laugh. Marius doesn’t quite understand his reaction, too busy being overwhelmed with the sublime shame of vulnerability, but Luke lifts his head once more. He’s got a gentle smile on his face.

“Can I tell you something?” Luke asks. Marius nods slowly, and he starts speaking. “See, there’s this guy I fell for. Everybody with eyes knows about the whole thing, he’s this super popular magical boy that’s been all over the news lately. Something about him felt familiar, like a home I could always return to, but I couldn’t put my finger on why for the longest time. This guy, he was a show-off on the battlefield and he always told me off every time I saw him, he’d always tell me to get out of his way. But…I couldn’t help but admire how noble he was. How he worked tirelessly to ensure that people wouldn’t get hurt. And he did all this on his own, and it didn’t sit right with me.”

Luke takes a deep breath, shutting his eyes as he continues. “Then there’s…this other guy who I also fell for. Way, way before that magical boy showed up, but I kept it a secret. He’s also all over the news most days, but never for the right reasons. He always takes so much responsibility onto his shoulders, he overworks himself constantly, and he’s shit at taking care of himself, but I try to be there for him as much as possible so he knows he isn’t alone in all this, so he knows that he’s got someone to rely on.

Luke takes a few more steps towards Marius, stopping right in front of him. His hand reaches out slowly, slow enough for Marius to pull back anytime he wants to, but he doesn’t run away this time. He lets Luke take his hand, and his hold feels warm like an embrace.

“And guess what? Just yesterday, the funniest thing happened.” Luke smiles crookedly at Marius. “Turns out both those guys are the same person, and I think that deep down, I always had the feeling it would turn out this way.”

“Are you…” Marius breathes out softly, awed and hopeful at each and every one of Luke’s words. “Is this real? You actually—”

“I like you, Marius,” Luke nods, eyes bright and alive. “Whether you’re a magical boy in short shorts—”

“Okay, I totally did not get any say in how my outfit looked like.”

“—or a normal dude who always loses to me in video games—”

“Now you’re just teasing me!”

Luke laughs. “Okay, okay, I am, yeah. But I’m not teasing when I say this: I like you. So don’t…” Luke raises his hand, cupping Marius’ face gently and looking up at him. “...Don’t run away from me, okay? Not anymore. Yesterday, I really wanted to kiss you, but I didn’t get the chance.”

Marius’ face warms. “N-Now is good! Now would be great. To, uh. You know. Make up for it. Lost time, and all that.”

“You’re a bit of a dork sometimes, you know that?” Luke smiles so wide that his sharp teeth show.

Marius raises a finger, “Yes, but I’m a dork you want to kiss, so who’s really losing here, hm, detective?”

“You got me there,” Luke laughs, then he closes the distance between them.

It’s a soft kiss. Lips and against one another, warm and unhurried. When Luke pulls away, Marius immediately chases after him for another, then another, and another. Luke giggles in between Marius’ barrage of kisses, but he can’t help it.

Marius is about to lean in for one more, just one more little smooch, when he’s interrupted by an annoyingly conspicuous cough from the side.

“If you two have finished mending your relationship,” Snakey says, looking much too pleased with itself. “I should continue with the sealing ritual.”

“You just wanted to ruin the moment,” Marius mutters, and Luke hides his face in the crook of Marius’ neck to hide his snort.

Marius and Luke part, but Luke keeps holding onto Marius’ hand. Together, they watch the rest of the sealing ritual happen in front of their eyes.

With Snakey’s archaic incantations, the spellcasting circle on the floor glows brilliantly as the ancient tome slams shut. It briefly shines with spectral chains wrapped around it, before even those fade away into nothingness. The book slowly floats down to the floor, looking like a normal, unassuming book once more, and Snakey levitates it back to its spot in the shelves.

“It is done,” Snakey says, dusting itself off with its tail.

“All’s well that ends well,” Marius smiles, feeling a weight off his shoulders.

“Aww…” Luke says, sounding mournful. “Does that mean I won’t get to see Sweet Caster in action anymore?”

“Yes, thank god—”

“Actually, no,” Snakey pipes in. “There may or may not be more magical evils to fight now.”

“WHAT!?” Marius shrieks, looking at Snakey in disbelief. “Since when!? You said there were only twelve serpents!”

“Yes, but, well,” Snakey uses its tail to scratch at the back of its head bashfully. “The sheer amount of magical power those twelve serpents introduced into the city these past few months may have awakened other arcane evils.”

“And when were you planning on telling me this!?”

“...I didn’t know when the best time would be.”

Luke, at his side, is stifling laughter. Like a traitor.

“Don’t laugh!” Marius groans. “This sucks, I still have to be a fucking magical boy, are you fucking kidding me!?”

Luke just smiles brightly, mischief twinkling in his gaze. “Can I be your sidekick?”

“No!”

“Please!” Luke squeezes Marius’ hand. “I don’t want you fighting this stuff on your own anymore! Whether you’re Sweet Caster or Marius von Hagen, you’ve got me. You’ve always got me.”

Marius sighs, long and loud. Stupid, stubborn, wonderful Luke…

“...Fine,” Marius concedes, watching Luke’s smile grow wide and excited. “But you follow my lead when we’re battling whatever the evil of the week is!”

“Yessir,” Luke laughs, pressing a chaste kiss to Marius’ hand. The gesture is so small but so sweet that Marius feels his worries wash away. With Luke by his side, maybe things will be alright. With Luke by his side, his heart feels so full of joy, so full of light, that it rivals the feeling of magic altogether.