Chapter Text
Now
Fragile goosebumps start to trail up Taako’s arm, causing him to reach over and turn down the truck’s air conditioning unit. It doesn’t take long for the ancient automobile to turn into a meat locker even after so many years of use. Part of him wonders if that means something’s wrong with his ride and if he should take it into a shop to have it looked at. The other part of him doesn’t really care.
He does, however, care that the current pop song that starts blasting on the radio sounds like a thousand dying cats singing together in unison. He quickly flips to another station.
“No, not this one,” a voice from the backseat chimes in.
“Okay. “Taako changes the channel. “How about this one?”
“Hmm...nah.”
He changes it again. “This one?”
“Nope.”
And again. “This one?”
“Mmm-hmm.”
And again. “ This one? ”
“No, definitely not this one.”
“Well, Ango, we’re running out of stations that don’t sound like static. Either choose one or we’re riding in silence, pumpkin.”
The sound of Angus’ feet hitting the bottom of his seat is nearly drowned out by the screeching of the 90’s rap song blasting out of the truck’s speakers. “Can you put in Hodge Podge?”
Taako lets out an amused snort. “You wanna listen to Hodge Podge again ?”
From his vantagepoint in the rearview mirror, he sees Agnus shaking his head excitedly.
“Alright, bud,” he grins as his hand gropes underneath the console lid. Pushing past a stack of extra napkins and chapstick, he grasps a flimsy plastic CD case and tugs it out. As carefully as he can, since he’s driving and whatnot, he pushes the CD out of its case and slides it into the slot right below the radio channel buttons.
A moment later, an 80’s synth beat is pulsing throughout the vehicle and a smile slowly grows over Angus’ face. Taako smirks at the glimpse of the little boy’s joy he catches in the rearview mirror.
His Hodge Podge mixtape is, quite literally, a ‘hodgepodge’ of songs he could just groove to. Angus’ voice chirps up next to George Michael’s as he sings the opening lines of the song he has probably heard a hundred times before.
“Call me good, call me bad, call me anything you want to baby!” Angus’ singing causes an outbreak of laughter to come out of Taako. Though it’s certainly not the first time he’s heard the kid sing, the emotion he feels because of it is just as strong as it was the first time he heard his son sing.
Eventually, a red light forces them to a stop, prompting them to start singing the chorus in harmony. “Babayyy I’M YOUR MAN!” Hodge Podge is practically made to be bonded over.
Debatably, I’m Your Man is not the most appropriate song for little Ango’s ears to hear, but Taako isn’t the kind of parental figure that goes through the effort to censor everything his child hears and/or sees. Besides, it’s all just music in his mind, and little Angus will not be sheltered from George Michael’s angelic voice.
The light turns green and Taako is forced to let Angus carry out his music career as a soloist (at least until the next red light). George Michael continues his rhapsody for another minute or so until his voice slowly fades away and is replaced with an acoustic guitar. The sweet melody of the guitar blends into the voices of an autotune boy band to form a classic love song, or possible break-up song.
“TELL ME WHY-” Taako belts out.
“AIN’T NOTHING BUT A HEARTBREAK!” Angus follows up.
“TELL ME WHY-”
“AIN’T NOTHING BUT A MISTAKE!”
“Tell me why-” Taako lowers his voice to match the dynamics of the song.
“I never wanna hear you say,” Angus follows suit.
The softer volume doesn’t last long though as the two quickly scream at the top of their lungs, “I WANT IT THAT WAY!” and shortly afterwards start laughing hysterically.
Hodge Podge continues to go through the wide variety of music genres burned onto it as Taako and Angus continue to sing along. Over about an hour, the glorious music continues to blast throughout the old truck.The two of them reach for the high notes and go for the low notes (none of which are even close to being in tune) and continue to sing until their voices are hoarse. It’s these moments that they both cherish the most. Just the small things that make them both smile.
As the last notes of Deja vu wrap up the tape, Taako turns down the volume before Hodge Podge can start itself up again. “Y’know, we should really consider starting a band, kiddo,” his voice rasps to Angus.
The kid in the backseat starts to giggle. “You always say that after Hodge Podge.”
“No, I’m serious!” Taako grins. “Your uncle Magnus plays a mean folk guitar. The two of us could rope him into the sickest garage band of all time.”
“What about grandpa?”
“Grampie Merle? He probably plays the spoons or something. We’d just make him our roadie.”
The answer is rewarded with another giggle fit from Angus. “You’d be the lead singer, dad.”
“Hmmm,” Taako hums. “I was thinkin’ maybe I’d be more along the lines of a drummer-nah, screw that. Of course I’d be the lead singer.” As they approach an upcoming impasse, he quickly turns on his turn signal. “What about you, sweet pea? Who do you see yourself as?”
“I-I don’t know. Maybe stage manager?” Angus replies.
“What?!” Taako gasps, “You don’t wanna be up their on stage with us? Up close to all of our raging fans?”
“Well, I think I’d get too scared if I was up on stage...and then I’d forget my lines and get booed at and then I’d ruin the show and-”
“Whoa, pumpkin! Slow down there!” Taako spares a moment to turn his head back to his anxious son. “Y’know we’re not actually in a band, right? And how d’ya know if you even have stage fright or not? Your talents have yet to be shared with the whole, wide world.”
“I was in a play once,” Angus’ voice dips down.
“Wha-WHEN?! I don’t remember ever being invited to it.” Taako’s outburst is distracting enough to almost make him swerve. He quickly jerks the steering wheel back into place and keeps them on the right side of the road.
“Um...it was in Neverwinter…” Angus trails off.
“Oh,” Taako replies blankly. “Well, sweetie...whatever happened on stage that day, I’m sure it wasn’t that bad.”
Angus’s curling frown says otherwise.
Taako’s fingers tap against the steering wheel desperately. “Anyway,” he sighs, “he got-yeesh, I don’t know how long.” His eyes dart over to the tiny GPS sitting on the dashboard. “Like, teennn more hours. Yikes. That’s-woooooooo...yeah, that’s a long time, buckaroo. Hey, how about you pull out some ol’ Caleb Cleveland, my dude?”
The dark blanket of gloom that is covering Angus’s face slips off, revealing a much more cheerful smile. “Which one?”
“Ah, I’ll let you decide, Ango-Mango.”
“Where-” Angus stops himself as he zips open his backpack, which is sitting right between his knees. “Where did we leave off?”
“I’d say,” Taako has to think for a second, “Caleb and his friends were just about to go investigate the creepy abandoned animal shelter.”
“Be more specific, dad.” Angus starts flipping through the thick hardback clasped in his hands.
“Uh...I think Scoobert and Raggy-no! Raggy and Adrian were arguing on whether or not to actually break into the place or not.”
Angus comes to a halt. “Was it before Raggy starts to break down or after?”
“Raggy does what?!”
“Before then.”
Taako isn’t the kind of person who listens to audiobooks, or the one to read in general. At least currently. A decade ago, he couldn’t keep his head out of a book, even ones he wasn’t particularly invested in. Especially cook-books. Now, however, not so much.
That being said, listening to Angus turn himself into the narrator of Caleb Cleveland's misadventures is quite enjoyable for him. It makes the dread of driving for a full half day seem less infuriating (though his aching knees are there to remind him of what a pain the travel is). As the story of the child cop goes through many twists and turns, Taako maneuvers their truck down highways and interpasses.
Angus has the stamina to continue reading out loud until the end of the book. By then, they only have around ten more hours to go and the sun is slowly sinking into the ground, turning the sky a vibrant orange and pink.
Taako is a big advocate of the “taking one trip” model. In his mind, the prospect of renting out some run-down hotel from the 70’s for a night was out of the question. All they needed was a cooler full of snacks and an occasional stop at the 7/11.
From the corner of his eye, Taako spots the kid trying to stifle a yawn in the rearview mirror.
“Hey, how about you try to catch some Z’s before we reach uncle Magnus’ house, huh buddy?”
“I’m not tired,” Angus protests weakly.
“Uh huh, sure you aren’t. Just go to sleep. I’ll wake you up once we’re getting close.”
“Promise?”
“I promise,” Taako swears, leaning his head in so that Angus can see his warm smile in the mirror.
“Okay then.” Angus slowly tugs off his ascot cap and tucks it into his backpack. He then pulls out his pillow pet, which is designed to look like an adorable cow, and settles it into the nook between his head and the car window. “Goodnight, dad.”
“G’night Angus. Sweet dreams.”
A lengthy, slow eight hours passes by as the drive continues long into the night. The sky is completely pitch black with the stars acting as the only source of natural light to aid Taako, along with the taillights from the other cars, to help him see. The inside of the truck is mostly silent, minus Agnus’ soft snoring.
Around two in the morning, Taako starts to feel his eyelids grow heavy. As quietly as he can, he pulls into a nearby gas station and purchases seven cups of coffee. The caffeine is enough to keep him awake for the rest of the trip.
5 AM rolls around and the welcome sign near the Virginian border has never looked so relieving to Taako before. It reads,” Welcome to Virginia,” in big, bold letters. “Virginia is for lovers,” is printed just underneath it in a smaller font.
“Home sweet home,” Taako sighs.
They’ve made it to the promised land, but it’s still going to be another hour or so until they’ve reached Lynchburg, their final destination.
Angus awakes from his slumber immediately after they cross into Roanoke. He raises a small hand to his face and rubs his eyes from his lingering fatigue.
“Morning, cherry pie,” Taako hums from the front seat.
“Good morn’n,” Angus yawns. “How close ‘re we?”
“About forty five minutes until we’re in Sideburns territory.” Taako takes a hand off of the steering wheel and reaches for his phone. He holds it out behind him and Angus takes it from him. “Go ahead and text your uncle Magnus for me, will ya? Tell him he better be ready unload all our stuff.”
Angus lets out a giggle. “Okay.”
What should have been a simple one-and-done text conversation with a normal person turns into a long parade of passing messages between little Angus McDonald and Magnus Burnsides. Taako’s phone is practically erupting with notifications once they pass into Lynchburg.
“Uncle Magnus asks if you’ve added the pink azaleas to your catalog yet, dad,” Angus informs him from the backseat.
“Tell him I’m literally pulling into his neighborhood right now, and he can wait a few god damn seconds!”
Magnus’ rustic cottage is located in the middle of a cul de sac surrounded by tall poplar trees and the Blue Ridge mountains to the north. Thick, green patches of grass and troublesome plots of dirt run all the way up to the front porch. Dead leaves of brown and sickly crimson lay limply in the front yard, neutrally waiting for a stiff breeze to blow them away.
As Taako rolls into into the driveway, he takes notice of the cottage’s condition. The yard hasn’t been raked recently but that’s forgivable, seeing how domesticated the area is. A fresh coat of red paint has been applied to the front door and the windows look like they’ve been washed recently.
Taako almost allows himself to sigh with relief until he spots the rocking chair sitting on the porch with a thick blanket cloaked overtop of it.
It’s gonna be one of those years, isn’t it? He thinks solemnly.
Before he can even put the truck into park, a large, burly man slams open the door to the wood cottage and comes barreling down towards them with a gigantic smile on his face.
Angus quickly gathers his belongings and jumps out of the truck. His little legs carry him all the way to his ecstatic uncle, who easily sweeps the small child into his muscley arms.
Taako tucks his keys into his pocket and climbs out of the front seat. “MAGS! DON’T SQUEEZE HIM TO DEATH!” he warns playfully.
“SORRY!” Magnus sets Angus down onto the ground carefully and ruffles his hair. Taako saunters over to the two of them, his knees cramping up a little from sitting for so long. Before he can even offer his brother a simple hello, he’s swooped up into a massive bear hug.
“Maggo-! Can’t-! Breathe-!” Taako wheezes.
Magnus gives a hearty laugh. “It’s nice to see you too.”