Chapter Text
[ December 14th, 2017. ]
It was late at night. The digital clock on the dashboard read 12:25 in garishly green numbers. The roads were slick, and small patches of ice glistened in the stark street lamps. Snow still fluttered from the clouds but at that point it was just flurries, the individual flakes glittering in the headlights like so many sequins dripping from heaven. In the backseat of the car, Angus slept, his head lolling slightly each time they hit a pothole in the highway. Taako’s eyes were fixed on the road, having turned off the radio and rolled up the windows hours ago. His grip on the steering wheel had lessened, but he still seemed impossibly tense.
It was silent, there, except for the whirring of tires on the road and the deep, steady breathing of the child in the back, but the feeling in the car was of anything but peace. It was almost oppressive, and Kravitz’s breathing felt strained as he tried to match rhythm with Angus.
Nobody spoke.
And then, Taako opened his mouth with a sharp intake of breath, and he said, “Go on, ask me. I know you want to.” His voice was impossibly quiet.
Kravitz sighed. “Taako, why--why are you doing this? What I said is hardly a fact. It’s barely even a theory, you could get there and find that… that the worst has happened, and the whole journey will be purposeless, and you'll just have to… to grieve all over again.”
There was a pause. “Because.” Taako’s voice trembled. “I can't believe she's gone.”
There was a long, long moment of silence. Then, Taako’s breathing hitched and a tear trickled down his face and dripped off his chin. And that was the only indication Kravitz had that Taako was crying. “Taako--” Kravitz began.
“Don't,” Taako hissed. He didn't take his eyes off the road. “Don’t say a fucking word.”
Kravitz hesitated. Then, softly, he said, “I’m sorry.”
It was quiet again. The windshield wipers squeaked on the glass, the tires whirred, Angus breathed. Another tear dripped from Taako’s chin. Kravitz’s fingers tapped on his thigh. “Do you…” Kravitz paused, nervous to say anything. “Do you need, like, a tissue? Or something?”
Taako sniffed angrily. “Yeah, sure, I'll take a fucking tissue,” he said. Kravitz took one from his backpack at his feet and handed it silently to Taako, who swiped it from his fingers and used it to forcibly scrub the tears from his face.
A very long silence followed. The squeaking of the windshield wipers was growing a little bit irritating. Kravitz didn’t comment on it.
Eventually, to break the tense silence, he asked, “Are we… are we going to stop somewhere to sleep?”
A long, long pause. “Why?”
“Because you should sleep, Taako, and I think Angus would appreciate sleeping in a bed for a few hours as well.”
The mention of the child made Taako’s expression soften. “Yeah, I guess that’s not a bad idea. Could you grab my phone and text the group chat? It’s unlocked. Just let ‘em know that I’m gonna try to find a motel.”
“I--yeah.” Kravitz took the phone and opened the messaging app, easily finding the thread and sending a quick message. “There, I, it’s done.” He put the phone back where he’d found it (a cupholder, which was full of loose pennies) and fell quiet once more.
Silence reigned again for a while.
A sigh whooshed out of Taako, and instantly the atmosphere seemed to lose a good portion of its tension. “Sorry,” he muttered. “Didn’t mean to, uh. Snap at you.”
“It’s okay,” Kravitz said graciously, a small smile on his face. “You have every reason to be angry.”
A small huff of something like laughter ghosted out of Taako’s mouth, and he used the tissue to wipe at his eyes again, smudging his eyeliner even more than it already was. “Yeah. I’m--I just--I don’t want you to think I’m like this all the time. Kinda ruins the whole ‘apathetic and aloof’ brand I try to uphold, y’know?”
Kravitz grinned. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell.”
And then Taako surprised Kravitz, and he grinned back. It dimpled his cheeks and his chin and scrunched up his nose and stretched his freckles and crinkled his eyes and it was the most beautiful smile Kravitz had ever seen, even with the smudged eyeliner and the red-rimmed eyes and the dark bags sitting beneath, and Kravitz realized, a little belatedly, that he had a little bit of a crush.
The motel they found was shady (at best), but it was better than nothing, and once payments were made and rooming arrangements were decided upon, everyone retreated to their respective rooms. Originally, Kravitz was concerned that he was going to end up rooming with someone he didn’t know, but Taako grabbed Kravitz’s arm and said, “And you’re rooming with me’n Ango,” so that was decided upon.
And he had nothing to worry about.
Except, of course, for the alarming way his cheeks, ears, and neck heated up to impossible levels when Taako grabbed him and dragged him along. That, he quickly recognized, was going to be a long-term issue.
Angus trailed behind Taako as they went to find their room, his eyes half-closed, pulling his small suitcase along behind him. He looked exhausted. As soon as Taako had unlocked and opened their door, Angus was inside, his shoes off, his glasses on the bedside table, and his face buried in the pillow. Taako didn’t even have a chance to check for bedbugs; the kid was out like a light.
He checked the other bed and it was fine, so it didn't matter anyway.
Kravitz stood awkwardly in the doorway as Taako set about unpacking the toiletries he needed and retrieving his pajamas from the suitcase. There were two beds, and Angus seemed determined to keep his all to himself.
There was one bed.
“Um, I'll--you can have the bed,” he offered. “I just need a pillow and a blanket and I'll be fine.”
“Are you kidding?” Taako snorted. “Just sleep on the fucking bed. No chivalry required.”
“I don't want to impose,” he argued weakly.
“You won't be. Just sleep on the bed like a normal person. I'll stay on my side and you stay on yours and nobody will have any problems.”
Kravitz thought that sounded reasonable enough. So he changed into his pajamas and climbed onto the bed, staying as close to the edge as possible. After a few minutes he felt Taako get into bed on the other side, and then Taako turned out the light and the room went pitch-dark.
It didn't take long for Kravitz to fall asleep.
Taako had an Issue, he realized very quickly as he laid in bed, waiting for sleep to come. Kravitz was very cute. Criminally so. And he was sweet? And he didn’t act like most guys did around Taako, with their creepy stares and creepier smiles. And he didn’t even treat him like glass!
It was unfair.
There was a crack in the blinds, and silver moonlight shone through. Kravitz breathed steadily on one side of Taako, and Angus was soundly asleep on the other side. Looked like Taako was the only one with any trouble sleeping.
Kravitz was… nice. He was very nice. He was hot, and he was nice to Taako.
Taako didn’t want to think about the last time he met a guy who was hot and also nice to Taako. He didn’t turn out to be so nice in the end.
Yikes.
To distract himself from thoughts about the last guy he got a crush on, he pulled out his phone and opened the article he had saved. His own face, slightly modified and framed by neatly-dyed hair, smiled at him from the screen. She looked so happy. He wished he’d gotten to see her grow up.
But this was no time for introspection. He closed the article quickly and searched the name of the lab Lup and her husband were working for. A lot more stories of the event popped up. Excellent. There were plenty of suspects--most of the lab, in fact, except those who had obvious alibis. But none of the theories or suspicions quite lined up. There was a piece missing, something obvious.
“Why destroy the bodies?” Taako mumbled. “They were already dead. Why burn ‘em up and then leave them lying around?”
Kravitz’s theories from earlier came into Taako’s mind once more, as if he wasn’t constantly thinking about them. The autopsy was performed at the lab, which was unconventional already. Whose idea was that?
He opened an article. Skimmed it. Closed it. Opened another. Skimmed it. Closed it.
Opened it.
He scrolled back almost to the end, and there it was--a photo. Two people, eerily identical, standing next to each other, arms crossed in mirrored poses of confidence.
Doctors Edward and Lydia Avringe, two medical biologists at the laboratory, performed the autopsy on the remains of Doctors Lup and Barry Hallwinter. “A freak accident,” Lydia is quoted to have said, distressed. “They were excellent scientists here.”
“It’s truly a terrible thing to have happened,” Edward added in a later interview. “I can only imagine how much they could have contributed to our institution.”
“Edward and Lydia,” Taako whispered. “Edward and Lydia.”
“Freak accident”?
“This doesn’t line up,” Taako said, almost too loud, then his head whipped over to where Kravitz laid. Still asleep. Angus, too.
Taako saved the article and set an alarm, then he put his phone down, turned onto his side, and closed his eyes. He let his breathing line up with Kravitz’s, deep and even, just a few feet away.
He fell asleep with the image of his sister’s smiling face in his mind.
Barry was crying. He’d been crying for quite some time, soft little sobs muffled behind his gag. Lup tried to give him as much comfort as she could, but she couldn’t say anything, she couldn’t move. It was torture --almost more tortuous than the probably-several-days they’d gone without water or food. Almost more tortuous than the knowledge that their kidnapper was going to murder them as soon as the case was deemed unsolvable.
At least, Lup was mostly sure there was only one kidnapper, although their voice changed subtly from time to time. It was quite confusing, but as far as she knew she was hallucinating.
Don’t worry, she wanted to tell Barry, even though she herself was filled with fear. Don’t worry. We’ll be found.
When Kravitz woke up, it was to the sound of an alarm, so he didn’t register at first that something was different. And then he registered.
Something warm and rather heavy was attached to him. He didn't know what it was right away, still half-asleep, still trying to process his surroundings.
And then he smelled honey and mango and strawberry and he knew. “...Taako?” he mumbled.
Taako began to shift, still mostly asleep, rolling over and away from Kravitz to turn off the alarm on his phone. “Mmmngh,” he said, clearly having no clue that he was just cuddled up to Kravitz. “Why’d I set it so early?”
“What time is it?” Kravitz asked, sitting up. The smell of Taako’s hair still lingered in his senses.
“Fuck o’clock,” Taako said. He stood and approached Angus, who still slept soundly despite the alarm. “C’mon, Ango, up and at ‘em,” he murmured in the sing-song tone parents always adopt for their children. “You can sleep more in the car but you’ve gotta get up so we can keep moving.”
Angus rolled over so he was facing away from Taako and yanked a pillow over his head. Kravitz could faintly hear a muffled “No” from underneath the fabric.
“Don’t be like that,” Taako said, then seemed to freeze for a moment. His hand hovered over where Angus lay, and he didn’t move for a good few seconds. Then he shook his head and said in a much softer voice, “Sorry, motek, but you’ve gotta get up. You can sleep again soon. Promise.”
Angus rolled back over and blinked up at Taako, his eyes bleary. “It’s still dark,” he complained.
“That’s what happens in winter,” Taako said. “It’s awful, I know, but that’s just what happens. God abandons us for a good portion of the year. It’s normal.”
Angus giggled, his voice still thick with sleep but no longer unhappy. “Do we have to wake up the others still?”
“I had them set alarms but it would be smart to make sure they're all awake,” Taako nodded.
“Can I help?” Angus asked, and Kravitz noticed a glint of mischief in his eyes.
“I don't see why not,” Taako replied. “Put on a coat before you go out there though. I'm gonna get dressed before I wake up the dads. Everyone's on this floor. 104, 105, 107, I do believe. Go wild, kiddo.”
“Cool! I'll be right back!” Angus slid out of bed and tugged on his shoes, then grabbed his glasses and ran from the room.
“Hey, hey!” Taako yelled after him. “Coat! Coat, fuck!”
The pattering of his feet was heard running down the open-air hallway a little, then it paused, and then it came back. “It's cold out there,” Angus said, peeking around the door.
Taako facepalmed and handed Angus his coat. “You’re gonna freeze one of these days,” he said, shaking his head.
“No I won't, si--dad! It's not nearly cold enough to freeze a boy like myself!” Even as he said this, he shrugged on his coat, and then he was gone again.
Taako let the door close, turned to.Kravitz with a look of fond exasperation on his face, and said, “Kids.”
“Yeah,” Kravitz agreed, despite having no experience in that particular area.
“I'm gonna get dressed,” Taako announced, and began rummaging through his suitcase. “You mind if I just change in here?” he asked, voice muffled slightly.
“I, uh,” Kravitz said.
“Cool.” Taako stood upright and pulled his pajama shirt over his head, his back to Kravitz.
And what a back it was--lithe and tan and dappled with freckles. Kravitz averted his eyes. “I--sorry,” he mumbled. “I'm gonna--go use the bathroom. Yeah.”
Taako giggled out a laugh. “Can't handle all of this, huh?”
“I'm--uh, no, I just have to--” Kravitz’s face was hot as he climbed out of bed and made a beeline for the bathroom, eyes firmly fixed anywhere but where Taako stood.
Taako was still laughing as he shut the door behind him, but as he stood there and wrestled to get himself under control Taako knocked gently on the door. “Hey, uh,” he said, “did I--I was teasing, yeah?”
“Ye--uh, yeah. I know.” Kravitz took a deep breath. This was no time for stupid crushes. “It’s okay.”
“Oh. Good.” Taako sounded… relieved?
“I’m gonna--just finish up in here. And then I’ll get dressed and… yeah.” Kravitz bit his lip. “It’s all good.”
“Great.” Taako stepped away from the door, presumably to finish dressing himself, and Kravitz decided he’d take advantage of the situation and took care of his bathroom routine while he waited for Taako to make himself decent.
He stepped out of the bathroom ten minutes later, fresh from the shower, his locs tied up on his head to reveal a dashing undercut, a towel wrapped around his waist. “The bathroom’s all yours if you need to take care of anything,” he said.
Taako dropped the hairbrush he was holding. His face was a little pink. “Yuh--uh. Yeah. Thanks.” His voice cracked. “I’m gonna--wash my face. And then I’m gonna--yeah. Uh--cool.” Taako’s eyes did not leave Kravitz’s body until he had disappeared into the bathroom.
Kravitz wasn’t sure whether to feel flattered or uncomfortable. Instead of thinking about it, he decided to get dressed. Grey button-up shirt, black cardigan, black jeans, red Converse. He kept his locs tied up away from his face and carefully put silver gauges into his ears.
Taako didn’t emerge from the bathroom for several minutes. When he did, his hair was done up in a messy bun, his face was washed and clear of makeup, and he seemed ready to leave. “Alright,” he said, tugging on a pair of boots, “I’m gonna wake up the dads and collect my boy, and then we’re gonna go.”
“Sounds good,” Kravitz agreed, dumping his toiletries into his suitcase. “I’ll put our luggage in the car if you’ll unlock it for me.”
Taako nodded, pulling on a jacket over his green sweater, and then a huge scarf. It somehow looks good. “Thanks, m’man. I’ll be right back.”
Taako left the motel room. Kravitz could hear him knocking on a door about three rooms down the hall, and then indistinct shouting muffled by said door. “Hurry up!” Taako said, and then there was a pause, and then Kravitz could hear Angus chattering, the excited patter of his footsteps audible from down the hall. He smiled and hefted the luggage, carrying it from the room and to the car.
Magnus and Julia were already out there, helping to load luggage into their truck. “Morning, Kravitz,” Magnus grinned, offering a large hand to take the suitcases from him. Kravitz gladly gave them up.
“Good morning, Magnus. Julia.” He inclined his head, and Magnus laughed.
“How’d you sleep, buddy?” Magnus asked, tossing the bags into the bed of his truck.
“Alright. I was exhausted from all that sitting yesterday,” Kravitz joked. “So it didn’t take long to fall asleep.”
“Did you get the famous Taako Cling?” Julia said. Her smile was pretty.
“The--what?”
“He did,” Magnus said. “Of course he did.”
“Taako clings to everyone, ” Julia clarified. “He’s a very physical sleeper.”
“I see,” Kravitz said. “I--”
“What’s kickin’, folks?” Taako’s voice called from a short distance away. “Getting everything all squirreled away?”
“Sure are, Taaks!” Magnus waved Taako over, Angus trailing behind his father. “Is everyone else coming too?”
“Should be! I woke em up,” Angus grinned proudly. “Except Grandpa and Pop-Pop,” he added. “Dad had to take care of them.”
“I always do.” Taako grinned. “Everyone’s almost ready to go, though.”
“Great.” Magnus reached down and ruffled Angus’s hair, and the kid giggled. “How’re you even getting out of school, bud?” he asked.
“Dad called me out sick. I’m not missing that much, with the holidays coming up. We’re not doing anything important in class.” Angus beamed. “There’s only ten days til Candlenights, guys!”
“That’s right, kiddo,” Taako said, placing one well-manicured hand on Angus’s shoulder. “Get ready for a whole week of presents.”
“And candles! ‘Cause Candlenights!”
“And candles.” Taako glanced up at Kravitz, and he must have seen the look of panic and dread on Kravitz’s face because he said, “Everything okay there, Krav?”
“I, uh--yeah. Just--I’m supposed to visit my mom over Candlenights. And--if we’re still--doing this, when Candlenights comes around…”
“Shit, dude,” Taako said, shaking his head. “You can take off at any time. You don’t have to hang around with us.”
“Well, I.” Kravitz laughed, a little disbelieving. “Thanks. But--I’m planning on sticking around until I absolutely have to leave.”
“Well, we’re certainly not about to complain,” Magnus said happily. “Oh, look, there’s everyone else. Hey, guys! Ready to go?”
“Hell yeah!” Killian shouted across the parking lot, her much smaller girlfriend perched happily on her shoulders. Merle, Davenport, and Lucretia gave pretty much the same response, whoops and hollers at six in the morning.
Snow was piled around the edges of the parking lot, and the heavy clouds overhead in the still mostly-dark sky promised more precipitation to come. Salt crunched under people’s feet as luggage was tossed into trunks and trucks and the back seats of cars, and the sounds of excited but muted conversations became more muted as doors were slammed shut and engines were started.
Taako turned on a Candlenights radio station as the car began to heat up. “Alright,” he said as Kravitz shivered beside him. “Ready to get this Sizzlemobile on the road?”
“Sizzlemobile?” Kravitz asked as Angus cheered his excitement.
“It’s a long story.” Taako threw the vehicle into reverse and backed out of the parking space, then put the car in drive and made a swift exit from the lot of the motel. A caravan of mismatched vehicles followed close behind, and they were back on the highway again.
“Here I come, Lulu,” Taako muttered to a space far away from the windshield of his dinged-up car.
Here we come, Kravitz thought.
There was silence except for the sounds of Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Candlenights Is You”, and then Angus spoke.
“Can we get McDonald’s?”