Chapter Text
+
Once again, Lucretia is the first to see the signs that point to a change in the relationship between Magnus and Taako. She convinces herself it’s because she is observant but, in her heart, she knows it because she’s the only one who knows what to look for.
When those three had stepped into her life again, she had been delighted. They were so vibrant still, even after everything. Merle had cracked jokes, Taako was leaning on Magnus inserting his usual sarcastic interjections, and Magnus had sincerely asked if they had license to kill. And she, quite naively she thinks now, had been content that even if they didn’t remember her, they could return to being the family they once were. Then she noticed the ghosts.
In some cruel ironic twist of fate, she sees the ghosts of loss on them: the ones only she knows and the ones she helped create. She passes Merle in the hall and sees the fifty-seven deaths etched onto his skin, the weight of his broken marriage, the failure he feels about his children. Sometimes, Magnus leaves small carvings on her desk as a present, and she can’t help but see the ghost of a twenty-year-old carving wooden ducks to present to Fisher. She notices Magnus rub his ring finger when he's thinking particularly hard, and she sees the shadow of Julia, cut down too young.
The worst is when she encounters Taako alone. She always sees the forty deaths that follow him around like a noose, but when she sees Taako alone, it’s like she stops being able to breathe. The ghost of the absence of Lup, of someone so special lost, always manages to knock her resolve. The knowledge that Taako is missing someone so essential to him, that he is now missing the love and care they had for each other, that he feels alone, and that he doesn’t even know any better makes him hard to look at sometimes.
So, Lucretia savours every happy moment she can with them. When they return from missions unharmed, she celebrates. The little gifts they bring her, she cherishes. The pranks they play, she secretly delights in. The closeness she sees being cultivated over time between the three of them, she reveres. And when she walks into the common room on a cold evening and sees Taako and Magnus cuddled on the couch, her heart aches.
She had noticed the subtle eye contact they always made whenever Merle said something stupid. She had noticed they seemed to move closer together whenever they were in the same room. Now, Taako’s legs are draped over Magnus’s lap as he reads a book in the corner of the couch. Magnus is leaning into him snoring softly and Lucretia can see a spectre of them curled up on the Starblaster. It strikes a simultaneous warmth and fear into her heart.
Taako lazily looks up at her and smiles. Suddenly, she feels a million years old, worn and tired. But she manages to muster up a smile before collecting what she needed from the room and hurriedly exiting.
+
Carey knows she’s the sneakiest person on the moon base. Killian always tells her as much, and she's always inclined to believe Killian. Plus, the amount of people she’s been able to scare, prank, and generally spy on is pretty astounding considering she works with a group of people who train to find hidden relics and live on a secret moon base.
Today, she’s been tailing Magnus for a couple of hours. If he eventually notices, she’s going to tell him it's part of his rogue training but mostly she was bored and wanted to scare him good. She hides around a corner as Magnus walks Taako back to his room. They had been training on the quad and Carey watches them talk in front of Taako’s door while absently picking at her nails. She wonders if this afternoon project is going to be a bust. It’s been pretty boring so far.
Then Taako makes a surprised noise, and Carey snaps her head up in alarm to see Magnus quickly pulling himself away from Taako. He looks flustered, red blooming on his cheeks, and Carey watches him apologize while rubbing the nape of his neck. Carey feels for him. She, too, had been super embarrassed when she first told Killian about her crush. The feeling of awaiting a rejection that feels like it’s sure to come was unbearable. But, Carey has like an intuition about other people's relationships though, and she’s pretty certain that this is going to end well for both of them. She smiles with satisfaction as she watches Taako surge up and kiss Magnus back, placing his hands on both of Magnus’s cheeks, tugging at his sideburns just a little bit. While Carey’s happy for them, she feels weird spying on them now and immediately abandons her mission.
Carey also knows she’s not good at keeping secrets. She can feel the knowledge tugging at her, tip tapping at the back of her brain, convincing her to let it out. That same day, while she’s working out with Killian, she lets the whole thing spill. Killian, of course, is amused by her inability to keep things a secret and, despite playfully calling her a liar, wants to know all the details of what she’d seen. As they lounge on some crates, discussing how to let Magnus know that they know, Killian starts aggressively nudging her as Magnus enters the room and heads toward them.
Logically, she knows that Magnus doesn’t know that she knows what went down, but it doesn’t stop a little bit of anxiety from spilling into her chest anyways.
“I need some advice,” Magnus says. Magnus is always this blunt and, in this moment, Carey is grateful for it and the anxiety leaves her chest immediately. Of course Magnus was going to let them know. There was no need for her to worry about trying to bring the topic up organically.
Magnus bites at his lower lip and his brow furrows.
“I think I’m in love with Taako.” Okay, not what she had been expecting at all. She had expected him to want advice about a sexuality crisis or about asking Taako out on a date. She had not expected him to reveal his feelings with this level of seriousness. Killian must also be lost for words because it’s silent for a long moment.
Eventually, Carey just says, “Yeah?”
Magnus sits down beside them, leaning back on one arm and looks out at the training room before he responds.
“Yeah. I kissed him.” Carey can feel Killian’s bemused gaze on her. “And he kissed me back.”
Killian cuts in. “That’s good, that means he likes you too.” Magnus looks down at his hands for a moment.
“I didn’t think I would love someone else after Julia.” It’s like the air has left the room, but Carey, against her better judgement, starts to talk.
“Listen, whoever said that we only love one person is our lifetime was wrong.” Killian cuts in with a joking ‘hey’, but Carey ignores her. “Your love for Julia is profound and important and will never go away but that doesn’t mean you can’t love someone else. This love you feel doesn’t diminish what you feel for her.” Magnus is looking at her now, a sweet smile on his face.
“If I’ve learned anything about humans from you, Magnus, it’s that humans have the capacity to love infinitely.”
She feels Magnus’s arms around her before she realizes what’s happening and Magnus pulls Killian in too and they stay like that for a long time.
+
Avi had liked the new reclaimers from the jump. They had livened up the previously stuffy moon base immediately: cracking jokes, tormenting poor Leon, and generally leaving a happy mess in their wake. The Bureau of Balance had been trying and failing to destroy grand relics for a long time, and it had looked futile until these chucklefucks had waltzed into the base, Phoenix Fire Gauntlet in hand. They provided hope, also they were the life at the party.
Somehow, the three of them had turned the Bureau’s usually professional office party into a rager. Merle’s 1,999 party points certainly had to help. He was currently spinning Davenport around on the makeshift dance floor and trying to get Lucretia to join in, to no avail. Magnus had somehow convinced Johann to change up the music and now a faster pop-ier song was playing. Avi suspected the new swirling lights above and the spiked punch bowl were Taako’s fault, but Avi can’t find him. He studies the partygoers trying to find Taako and eventually sees him. He’s standing on the edge of the crowd, leaning up against the wall, a sullen look on his face.
Taako had been on edge since the three reclaimers had returned from their mission. He’d snapped at Avi on return, but he hadn’t taken it personally. He couldn’t, didn’t want to, imagine what any of them saw and went through on those trips. Taako’s mood did bring down the morale of the whole base, however. Avi feels bad for Taako, for all three of them, the ability to increase or diminish morale based on their success and emotions was a hardship in and of itself. He briefly wonders if he should go over and try to cheer Taako up, but then he notices Magnus approach Taako, elbowing Taako out of his detachment and handing him a champagne flute. Taako smiles, swirling the liquid in the glass, saying something Avi can’t hear over the now incredibly loud music. Magnus tips his head back in laughter and Taako smiles again and downs his glass.
Another thing about the reclaimers: they all have magnetic personalities. Avi can’t help but watch as Magnus pulls Taako on the dance floor. Magnus dances around like a goofball in order to make Taako laugh. He succeeds. Then Merle spots them and dances over to them, yelling and teasing. The whole staff laughs as the three of them dance in a stupid, messy circle, making up dance moves as they go.
Taako seems to shed his bad mood after that. He becomes his usual charming self, strutting around the party, talking to people. Throughout the night, Avi notices that he stays within at least a couple of meters of Magnus the entire time. It’s like they’re two planets orbiting each other; their gravity too strong to break free of.
Later, when most people are drunk or have given up and made their way to bed, Avi leans up against the wall, watching all the drunk people stumble around. He also might be a little drunk – okay a lot drunk – but even in his drunken stupor, he notices Magnus and Taako. They’re in the centre of the room, dancing together to the soft gentle melody that Johann had put on, presumably to try to wind things down. The soft light from the skylight overhead and the magically swirling lights around the room hits them just right, making them glow slightly. Avi blinks hard a few times, watching them look into each other’s eyes like no one else is around. Avi supposes no one, in full possession of their faculties at least, really is. Somewhere in the back of Avi’s drunken mind a thought comes to him unbidden.
‘They’re like angels.’
The next morning, Avi, with a horrible headache, writes the whole thing off as a drunken dream until Johann conspiratorially leans into him at breakfast and asks him if he noticed anything different about Taako and Magnus the night before.
+
Angus always feels very good when he is called ‘the world’s greatest detective.’ He figures he’s almost as good as Caleb Cleveland. Maybe even better than him because Caleb is fictional, and Angus is real. Angus suspects he knew something was changing between Taako and Magnus before anyone else. Privately, he’s very proud that his observation skills and study of body language had come in handy. He admires each of them very much and had stored information and memories about each of them in the back of his mind until everything had clicked.
Fact: Magnus was nice to everyone but especially nice to Taako.
Fact: They bickered a lot, but it was usually good natured. If it wasn’t, they always made up loudly and quickly.
Fact: Taako could hold a grudge but he never held one against Magnus.
Fact: They hung out all the time.
Evidence: If they both went missing, the most likely way to find them was to find the pocket workshop or the pocket spa. They spent a lot of time hanging out together there.
Evidence: Agnus had heard about how Taako had tricked Magnus into shopping with him all day and Magnus hadn’t even seemed mad about it.
Fact: They were comfortable with each other.
Evidence: Angus had often seen Magnus sling his arm around Taako’s shoulder and pull him closer.
Evidence: Taako would thread his arm though Magnus’s, holding onto his bicep as they stood talking.
Evidence: They conversed often and easily, joking with each other all the time. They high five'd often and seemed to engage in playful ribbing at other people’s expense as a sort of sport.
Evidence: They have nicknames for each other that no one else got to call them: Mango, Maggie, Mags and T.
Fact: Magnus could convince Taako to do things even when no one else could.
Evidence: Magnus had convinced Taako to get up early to train with him and Taako did almost every day.
Evidence: Angus had overheard Magnus beg Taako to hang out with him on the moon base lawn even though Taako insisted he didn’t want to go outside. Later, Angus had seen Taako and Magnus lounging on the lawn together.
Fact: They seemed to know everything about each other.
Verdict: They loved each other.
Supporting Evidence: Angus had taken a walk in the middle of the night because he couldn’t sleep. On the balcony of the moon base, he had seen Magnus holding Taako in his arms as the elf cried.
Supporting Evidence: Angus had seen Taako give Magnus the rest of his peach cobbler, even though Angus knew it was Taako’s favourite.
So, with all this information in mind, Angus is not surprised when he turns a corner of the Bureau hallway and sees Magnus and Taako holding each other. It had been a bad day for the base. They had lost a very important and stressful lead for one of the grand relics and a couple of people had been injured in the process. There was a sense of melancholy that permeated every inch of the base that Angus was trying to escape. So, when he sees Magnus and Taako, he turns on his heel, not wanting either of his idols to see the tear tracks on his face.
“Hey, Ango come here.” Taako’s voice is soft and not demanding, so Angus stops and turns.
At first, he’s worried that they’re going to tease him, but they’re both looking at him gently and Taako gestures for him to bring it in. Angus takes small steps towards them, and when he’s in reaching distance, Magnus scoops him up with one arm. He lets out a surprised yelp, but Magnus is already hugging him so Angus snuggles into him, flinging an arm around Magnus's neck. Taako moves in to hug them both and Angus feels like a child for the first time in a long time. He clenches his eyes shut to revel in the moment, remembering what it feels like to have two adults that love each other protect him, to hold him.
Taako breaks the long silence,
“If either of you tell anyone about this, I’ll magic missile your fingers off.” All three of them laugh, and the sombreness of the day momentarily drifts away and Angus feels safe.
+
Self-admittedly, Merle may not be a great cleric but he’s not an idiot. And, for better and for worse, he knows what love is.
He’d felt it when he, Magnus, and Taako had met for the first time in an inn at Gundren’s request. He’d felt a companionability between the three of them that he hadn’t felt in years. He’d felt it especially between Magnus and Taako who had already started bantering good-naturedly over their first drinks. The ease to which they had conversed and joked made their relationship, at least to Merle, feel like an inevitability.
He saw it when they had flirted all throughout the first adventure. When both of them had leaned their heads in to inspect the map and Magnus had absentmindedly tucked a stray piece of hair behind Taako’s ear which had spilled across the page. When Taako had accidentally called Magnus handsome and then tried to play it off like a purposefully ironic nickname. Merle had rolled his eyes at every longing glance and suppressed touch. But he was happy for them; he remembered how tender young love could be.
He knew for sure it was love when over and over again Magnus got up to hold Taako after one of Taako’s nightmares which Merle pretended not to see and all three of them ignored in the daylight.
He knew when Taako painted Magnus’s nails in their room in comfortable silence, Taako’s face scrunched up in concentration. Magnus had hardly looked at his nails once, instead he had stared at Taako’s face like he was trying to memorize every detail.
He knew when Magnus had said he would take two extra penalties in Wonderland so Taako could keep his beauty. When Taako had jumped into the celestial plane without a second thought to pull Magnus back into their realm. Merle had been pleased with himself that he was able to save them both.
He’s more pleased now when it’s all over. When The Hunger is defeated. When they have their memories back, their family back. When Magnus pulls them both into a celebratory hug, and Magnus whispers into Taako’s hair that he loves him. When Merle tries to pull away to give them some space and Magnus pulls him back in and Taako says,
“We love you too, my guy.”
Yes, Merle does know what love is.