Chapter Text
“Are you coming?” Kravitz was pulled back to reality by Barry’s voice.
“Sorry, to what?” Kravitz asked for clarification.
“Barry’s going to have us over to play games with him and Lup! Apparently, she’s really good, but I bet you I could beat her,” Magnus said, the last sentence being in a hushed voice (which meant it was at the level of a stage whisper, at his best).
“Go at it, beefsteak, I’ll take you down in a hot second!” Lup taunted, grinning from her seat beside Barry. They were sitting in a pub near Barry’s work: a photo development/restoration building. He primarily worked in the dark room, hence his eyebags from the strain of trying to see in the dark as a human. The place wasn’t much, mostly just a sandwich joint with a few low-quality drinks to choose from. Either way, it was easy access for Barry, and Lup seemed into the food, despite its sub-par-ness. Taako hadn’t come, firstly because of work and secondly (and deemed much more important by the man himself) because the food was “shit on a stick” as he had so kindly put it. Lup, despite being just as much of a chef as her brother, said that she found it endearing how average it was; besides, it was still better than what she grew up on (Kravitz wasn’t clear on what that meant exactly, he guessed that their family members were just shit at cooking).
“Will…” Kravitz hesitated, clearing his throat. “Will your brother be there?” He asked skittishly. Lup gave him a smirk.
“What’s it to you?” She asked keenly, leaning her elbow on the table, closer to Kravitz’s face than before.
“Uh-“ Kravitz started to ramble, trying to stutter out an excuse aside from “he’s cute and I’m interested in seeing him physically again because no way will I ever actually talk to him,” when Lup cut him off with a laugh.
“I don’t care, man, I was joking. It’s cool, he can be scary to new people. My friend Lucy thought he hated her when they first met because he always puts on that tough face to keep strangers from bugging us. Nah, he’s not coming.”
Kravitz felt a little dejected at that. Not that he was going anyways; he had to meet Alter today in the conservatory. He supposed it was good that he wouldn’t be missing out on much.
“‘Lucy’? You couldn’t mean Lucretia from the building near the park, could you?” Barry inquired. “The one that hosts the mentorship program? Yeah, that’s her,” Lup responded in confirmation.
“No way! She used to work at Photoreal half-time before that job! I don’t know how she affords it, in all honesty. Last I checked, they don’t pay much,” Barry explained his relation to the woman, much to Lup’s surprise.
“Maybe she has something on the side to pay bills,” Lup suggested, before taking a long sip from her drink.
Taako ran the comb frantically through his hair, trying to get it to cooperate to the side the way it always did for Alter. He didn’t want to bother putting product in for a trip so discreet and short as this, but he had to look...like himself. Huffing, he pulled it up into a high bun, checking the mask to make sure it was properly affixed. He stared into the mirror of his and Lup’s bathroom, riddled with products, skincare routines, and dirty dishes that they hadn’t bothered to carry to the kitchen. Placing each hand on the little blank space of the counter, Taako met his own eyes, cold and sharp behind the colorful mask. He wished he really was Alter right now. He wished he was somebody else. Clearing his throat, he spoke a few words in the voice, making sure it was showy enough that it wasn’t recognizable next to his default. He was Alter. He wasn’t Taako. He was Alter.
Taako took his time getting to the conservatory, not concerned with lateness. If he knew The Reaper, he knew he would wait a year if that’s what he asked him to do. Then again, he also thought The Reaper wouldn’t vanish out of nowhere. Maybe he didn’t know him. Maybe he was wrong this whole time-
“Alter? Tell me that’s you and not some other tourist I have to scare away.”
Taako- Alter, he reminded himself- scurried behind the nearest wall of the maze, flats sliding on the sand below him (he’d been rolling one of the stones from his belt between his fingers and was startled enough to perhaps maybe have accidentally turned it to dust).
“It’s me,” He responded, throat feeling like dry sandpaper despite his perfect annunciation. The Reaper sighed in relief, sounding glad. “Good. I already had to trick two separate people into thinking this place was haunted so they would leave.”
“Boring,” Alter responded, pulling the hood down on his jacket now that he was indoors again. “Should’ve just kicked them out like old times. Classic legion shit, you know? Stir up some spirits, grab some oblivious punk with those shadow-hand-things, the works.”
The Reaper chuckled, and Taako felt his heart pull for just a moment at the sound. He missed him.
“Shut up,” He muttered to himself, digging nails into his arm as punishment for being so vulnerable as to think like that.
“Sorry?” Reaper asked from the center of the maze.
“Nothing, babe!” Alter forced a smile onto his face for his own reassurance, beginning to walk the length of the maze.
“Are you wanting to play that...game from before?” The Reaper asked, unsure.
“Game? Oh, the questions. Go for it, Ghost Rider,” Taako responded.
“Okay,” The Reaper chuckled. “Hm. How are you?”
Taako was taken off guard by that.
“What?” He laughed. “You can ask me anything in the world and you chose that? Man, being away from the action’s really softened you up, my guy.” When The Reaper spoke, Taako could hear the smile in his voice.
“I care, is all. I haven’t gotten to talk to you in so long.” Taako snorted. “You talked to me last week.”
The Reaper’s voice softened. “I mean talk, Alter. The way we used to?” Taako went silent for a moment, not sure what to say. He didn’t like how open the other man was; never had, really. It made him feel so...vulnerable, when talking to him. Like he owed him openness, honesty. He hated owing anyone anything; that’s why he’d always fly alone, even now. Lup didn’t count, he objected to the voice in the back of his head. She and I make one person. Shut up.
“I’m kosher,” Taako grinned confidently, leaning his back against the wall between them.
“Be honest, Alter,” The Reaper responded. Taako could hear that cute pout in his voice, the one he would use whenever Alter wouldn’t do what he asked, no matter how politely. He could see his creased brow, accentuating the red lights in his eyes by making his expression darker against his already-dark skin. He wondered if he still looked the same.
“How about we say that potentially, just perhaps I’m just a little- just a tad unhappy? Just a little tiny bit. A minuscule part of me is, say, bored, at best. Being dramatically beautiful at everything I do is a teensy bit less fun without your audience. Just a little,” Taako went on, keeping a jovial tone.
“Always the transparent type, Alter,” The Reaper laughed to himself. “I suppose that will suffice. For now.” Alter could hear the grin in his voice and felt his chest tilt.
“Good to hear. Let me ask how you are. You know, for formality’s sake. We definitely don’t sound like old women catching up at the supermarket after not seeing each other for a year because we don’t know how to use fucking phones. Absolutely not.”
“Indubitably so, yes, of course. I’d like to think I’m doing pretty well for someone who basically quit their one source of income or entertainment,” The Reaper joked. “Could be better, but there’s only so much one can do, yes?”
“‘Oh Alter pass me the tea good sir, I’m practically parched, my dear, good heavens!”Stop speaking like some fancy boy whose mom dressed him up for church, R, just talk like a person! It’s like I can see you holding a tea saucer with your old lady hands and asking me to give you more sugar cubes,” Taako drawled, waving his arms this-way-and-that as he spoke. The Reaper laughed louder than before.
“Hey, I’m just trying to be formal!”
“Good, I’d hope so when you’re attending my fucking funeral, because I died. This conversation killed me.”
The Reaper chuckled again to himself, and Taako saw one of the birds fly from where he guessed the other was, likely having been receiving attention from the man prior.
“You’re just the same as always,” The Reaper smiled into his voice.
“Is that bad?” Taako asked, masking his worry.
“Far from it,” The other responded. They sat in silence for a while, taking in each other’s presence. Taako’s pinky tapped at a brick by his left hand, leveled with the floor from where he was sitting. Quietly, he focused his energy on the object: its dimensions, location, molecular buildup, etcetera, and when he tapped it again, it shifted to pink chalk dust, falling silently to the floor of the conservatory. He trailed his hand down to where the brick had been, walking with his fingers into the opening. The tip of his ring finger came in contact with skin.
“I should go, it’s getting late. Your sister will worry about you,” The Reaper said, standing suddenly. Taako felt like he had just had the wall pulled away from him and fallen onto his back. The Reaper’s dress heels clicked on the stone as their owner dusted himself off.
“Yeah, of course,” Alter responded as he got to his feet, quickly straightening his dress (which currently felt like it was about to tangle around his legs and pull him down to Hell, where he might as well already be). He reached to toy with his hair, only to find it still secured in a bun. Pulling his hood up over his head, Taako felt for his mask, making sure he still had it on.
“I should get going now,” Alter stated, prepping for his shift spell.
“Hold on, don’t use the dove,” The Reaper said, and gods, how does this man read Taako when he can’t even see him?! “I know how big of a spell it is. Go ahead and go. I’ll wait here and give a prayer to the Queen to give you some time. I promise I won’t look.”
Damnit, it wasn’t fair how courteous he was when Taako was such an ass. He took a moment, made a noise of confirmation, and began walking. He reached the place where the maze opened into the clearing with the statue of her highness, The Raven Queen, and stood still.
Taako could see the back of his head, hair billowing down to meet his cloak, circling his figure, as if drawn to the taller man’s magic. The air felt still as he took in The Reaper’s figure, mesmerized by his silhouette alone. Taako swallowed silently, forcing himself to pick up his feet and keep moving to leave.
“Alter.” Taako looked towards the man again, almost in the clear and terrified that he had spotted him, but The Reaper hadn’t moved, still facing away.
“Yeah?” Taako responded, barely audible, yet echoing around the chamber due to the silence that lay thick in the atmosphere like a wool blanket.
“I’m going to come back next week,” The Reaper went on. Taako waited for him to continue, but he never did.
An open offer. A chance to meet again with no obligations attached. He knew him too well. Taako hated him.
“Okay,” The elf said, mimicking the mysterious tone his companion had taken up.
He left without another word.