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The very early morning light starts creeping into the cabin. Taako hates that. The 'creeping' is too accurate. It's sneaky and unwanted but he's completely unable to scare it away.
He also hates these cabins. They don't even know how they got there. There are no people around. No one who could have built them. Maybe these cabins really are the people, and they're totally sentient, happy to vore the IPRE crew. But not Taako. He's been staying on the ship like a normal person, but nooo, Magnus must really love these tiny twee boxes this world is full of. They have the shittiest kitchens... and it's too warm.
It's too damn warm.
Taako turns slowly, his eyes narrowed in a perfected death glare. Magnus snores.
"Oh hell naw, dipshit! No more dreamland for you, you've got some answers to whip up!" Taako yells, sat bolt upright and wildly gesticulating. Magnus had jolted awake as soon as the first word had bounced around his skull, so he did not appreciate the fact that he was also being greeted by a few whacks to his bare chest.
He'd sat up slowly, staring at the cause of his rude awakening. Magnus couldn't help but tilt his head as he wondered why Taako, face flushed (with anger, he'd assume), was avoiding eye contact.
"Chill, wouldja? I just woke up..." It's all too easy for Magnus to lie back down.
"Same, bucko, and I ain't letting you just--" Taako chooses that moment to get another good look at his bed-partner. It's a bad move. He has to poke Magnus in the side while the sentence reforms in his head. "you, uh, can't just make an ice pun and go back to sleep! God, I'm so fucking sick of ice puns."
Magnus lies there and takes the poking.
"What? Buddy, I didn't--? Oh. Chill. Right, good one."
"I didn't--! Ugh." Taako flops back down onto his side of the bed. As much as he hates this backwards fucking place and their weird, too-beautiful-and-kinda-seem-like-they-should-have-a-sauna (like-so-much-it's-disappointing) cabins, the beds are pretty divine.
"Sorry, uh... I kinda thought you'd let me sleep in. After last night, I am wiped out."
~
Ice skating was mostly hilarious to watch because Barry's face was priceless, he's pretty scared of the water and because of the magical nature of the ice on this planet, he wasn't entirely confident about his calculations about this pond's stability and ability to hold everyone's weight. At least that was his excuse for shuffling around like a baby penguin so much.
Luckily for them, the pond didn't usually have to hold up Magnus with them. Because this snow world was only inhabited by husky dogs.
Still, after three months of being here, Taako was over ice skating. With Lup off finding the Light of Creation with Captain Davenport, he was missing his partner in crime. He loves how smart his sister is, and he's so so proud of her. But it's times like these he curses Barry Bluejeans for exacerbating the nerd part of her. And he kind of curses himself for not remembering why he didn't go with.
This cycle isn't so different to home. It has two suns, but a pale sky. It has about the same land-to-water ratio, but the landmasses aren't separated nearly as far apart. But it's too fucking quiet. Not peaceful. Peaceful's nice. Peaceful doesn't make Taako want to crawl out of his skin.
So, frustrated and bored, Taako watched the spectacle on the ice for about ten seconds before he decided he needed to spice it up. This was not an evening for pretending to appreciate icicles more than he did, this was not an evening for cooking. It was time for Sweet Flipz.
"Hey, nerd man! Who taught you to skate? A blind dog?!" Taako yelled, his hands cupped around his mouth. He started to skate in a circle around Barry, causing him to stumble and fall onto his denim ass.
"Wh-- Taak-- you're such an assh-- You taught me, idiot!" Barry sputtered out, frowning so hard that Taako thought he might burst his veins. He didn't care though. Taako just laughed as he watched Barry crawl off the pond and sit in the snow.
Now the pond was his. He was the king of the pond.
Magnus tried to be nice and take Barry's mind off it, but he was laughing too hard. Barry wouldn't hear it. So the two men sat facing the pond, watching the king ramp up to do some cool shit.
There were some amazing spins, quite a few that obviously made Taako dizzy but this was not amateur hour. The bright white sky was dimming, turning bluer and bluer as the night approached.
Magnus' whoops from the sidelines had gotten quieter as he got a little hoarse and tired of watching. Taako noticed. He didn't even care if Barry had gone, he still felt it in his bones. He needed to up his game before he could stop. He did a few jumps, and after a couple (with a little help from his friend, Levitate), he did like a quintuple somersault. And then another. Then just a backflip. Then, after some more showboating easy shit, skating while bowing. Taako did not notice the cracks starting to form.
Magnus stood up and applauded. The dog he was hanging with howled, joining in with the sudden spike in energy.
Magnus was struck with inspiration. He re-attached the reigns to his canine companion and took him onto the ice. His idea didn't work half as well as he'd thought it would. Without skates on, or a sled, the dog pulling him about was weird. It ended up being a Slippery Walkies.
Taako was already cackling when Magnus was just wobbling around. When he fell on his ass, he was doubled over. Once again, not noticing the cracks getting worse.
Now if only he'd been paying attention to Barry.
Sat beside a pile of snowballs, Barry was wearing a shit-eating grin along with his soaked blue jeans.
"HEY ASSHOLE!" he yelled as he threw the first one.
It hit Taako right in the face, knocking him onto his side. He'd bashed his head, so he was pissed off. He stuck his middle finger in the air.
But nobody really had time to laugh, because the ground gave way right under him. Not the ground. The ice.
"Fuck!" Taako tried to yell, but all he could hear was the roar of the water, and he could feel the bubbles of air pushing out of his mouth. Luckily, Magnus had him covered on the yelling front.
Barry wasn't able to laugh at Magnus tripping and slipping as he ran to Taako, muttering "fuck fuck fuck" as he went. He couldn't see Taako immediately, and he couldn't live with the pit in his stomach that came with facing even a day without Taako being there.
Taako's head throbbed, he tried to make sense of the world around him, tried to tell which way was up, but he was struggling to see-- or was he struggling to keep his eyes open? He couldn't really tell.
Strong arms grasped him and easily pulled him out. His gasp for air sounded so piercing and dramatic to his ears after it has just accepted the dull roar of the water.
He was struggling to listen to Magnus and Barry.
"might have hypothermia" he could faintly hear from Barry. When he tried to listen to Magnus' reponse, he just smiled and watched his lips. He let his eyes close, content to doze and just think about--
"Hey buddy you can't..." Taako's thoughts were so rudely interrupted by Magnus lightly tapping his cheek. He didn't hear Barry chastise Magnus for badly defining 'light tap'. He also couldn't focus on the rest of Barry's words. He caught "body heat" and "urgent" before he was being lifted and carried off.
"You're a shitty wingman, Barold!" he tried to call back at him, but it was a little too late. He hadn't noticed how fast Magnus was going until he felt the fast rising and falling of his broad chest as he breathed. Taako also took that moment to notice Magnus' chuckle at his words. Fuck.
At least now he was noticing how cold he was. He was more aware of everything. Taako even heard it loud and clear when Magnus, appropos of nothing, said "I'm not gonna let you die, buddy".
"Cool, Doctor Mango, wasn't all that worried about it 'til you said that. Excellent bedside manner." Taako barely registered the fact he was saying it, but he smiled against Magnus' shoulder when he felt the other man laugh again. Enjoying the feeling, Taako decided it was his mission to hear and feel that laugh as much as possible.
They approached the cabin.
"State of the art doctor's office, dickweed."
Magnus laughed, but was mostly preoccupied by trying to open the door whilst also holding Taako. The elf was not satisfied.
"Most patients don't get bridal lifted across the threshhold - that cost extra?"
Now that was more like it. A proper laugh from the worried man as the door clicked open.
"Come on, you good to get those wet clothes off yourself?" Magnus asked, gently placing Taako down on the bed. When Taako managed to demonstrate that he was able to sit up and stand up, wobbly but by himself, Magnus started to question why he'd carried him in anyway. But that blew over as Taako started struggling to be a good 'patient'. His shaky hands and weakened arms were being useless, so Magnus stopped removing his own damp clothes in favour of removing Taako's.
"Ooh, Doctor Mango, is this a prostate exam or is this the payment?" Taako joked, not half as suggestive as he could have been.
The humour just wasn't there. The worry was evident on his face, and it was getting harder to hide.
It was clear that Taako understood the situation. And he knew he'd come back but... It was just too fucking cold. It sucked. He was about to articulate that when Magnus pulled Taako's blouse off. When the wet clothes were discarded, Magnus knelt in front of his crewmate and laid a gentle hand on his cheek.
Taako didn't need to say a word, Magnus was just there, being warm and comforting.
"Hey. It's all gonna be fine. I'll warm you up and then, uh, we don't ever have to talk about it again."
"Yeah, yeah... kinda weird. But yeah. Okay."
The boys finished getting naked. Well, almost. For the sake of dignity, Magnus kept his underpants. They hadn't gotten damp.
But then there was a weird moment of vulnerability when Taako, aware that he was freezing basically to death, looked at Magnus. Majestically stood by the bed, about to get under the covers with him. Taako started to shiver. He tried to control it, even a little.
"Fuck," he muttered through chattering teeth.
"No, no. That's good! Uh, Barry told me it's a sign your body's warming up." Magnus said. And somehow talking about it made it less awkward when Magnus started to spoon him.
"Stupid fuckin' Barold."
Taako was very glad Magnus couldn't see the stupid grin that spread across his face when he, once again, felt Magnus' laugh. Music to his ears at the best of times, the feeling of being against to his chest was close to the feeling of a sweet, warm drink on Candlenights. Or the praise from people when you bake them shit.
He felt himself start to warm up.
"Magnus?"
"Mm?" The grunt that accompanied it made Taako wonder if Magnus had been dozing off. Maybe he'd been thinking for longer than he'd thought.
"Thanks."
"Mm." It hung in the air for a second. Taako couldn't really stand the silence.
"You're warm."
"It's no problem, Taako. I wasn't gonna let you die." And then that had to have its own awkward pause. Taako turned to face Magnus.
Wordlessly, Magnus shifted, extending his arm in such a way that told Taako that cuddle times weren't over. He needed the body heat, so he lay on Magnus' chest.
The sight of his arm across Magnus' waist made him feel warmer already.
"You're special to me." Magnus said. It was soft. Taako actually gasped a little once he'd processed the words. He listened to Magnus' heatbeat. It slowed and settled by the time he thought of a response. He almost felt bad for having to make him nervouse again by kicking the conversation back up.
But this was getting somewhere too close to emotionally intimate.
"Maggie, I..."
Magnus snored.
Fucking perfect. The stress of the evening had worn him out and just now, when Taako finally felt like exploring all these feelings and shit, Magnus bailed.
It's enough to give an elf trust issues... More trust issues.
Everything he could be saying rattled around in Taako's head. 'Magnus you're crazy hot', 'Magnus you make me want to be better', 'I think I finally... get love'.
So many things between them are automatically understood. They've known each other for decades. But Taako needed to talk, he was bursting. He was through with just assuming, he needed to know.
Even if it meant gross long talks about feelings.
But the frustration of coming up with what to say, and facing this anti-climax wore Taako down too.
He slept soundly on Magnus' chest, and planted a few kisses on the nearest available skin. But neither that warmth nor the laugh Magnus tried to stifle woke him up.
~
"Wiped ou-- oh shit, yeah. Uh..."
It's starting to dawn on Taako that they did not do more than cuddle. And he just yelled at the man who saved his life.
Luckily, Taako's quick off the mark. He comes up with different questions. But before he can open his mouth, Magnus butts in.
"So it's my professional opinion," Magnus' fake authoritative irritates Taako. It's too damn endearing for how tired he still is. "You need to simmer the fuck down."
After a beat, he says, "C'mere."
And Taako doesn't know what the fuck he's playing at. Either of them, actually. He laughs wearily, cuddling up to Magnus.
"Don't act like you don't wanna talk about this either."
"I, uh, figured we could just... roll with it."
"As you wish..." Taako says, laughing breathily as he leans up to kiss him. It's chaste. But the spark that goes through him makes him... pissed off at how chaste it is. For once, he's the man of action here.
Magnus braces himself, and tries to keep Taako safe by holding his hips as the elf climbs - or clambers - onto the larger man. And the kisses become more frantic.
"You--" Magnus is cut off by a laugh, or maybe technichally by a kiss because Taako won't relent. He tries again. "You should really... uh, you should--"
He creates a little distance between them, using his strength. Taako, of course, just finds that hot. They negotiate without words, ending in the elf kissing at the man's neck, while Magnus takes a deep breath, his laughter dissipating.
"You should nearly die more often."
There's an unfortunate pause.
Taako slowly moves back from necking Magnus, his eyes narrowed.
"You really tried to tell me that three times? You really didn't want to re-think that, buddy?"
"I, uh-- just mean, you, uh... I..."
"We needed a catalyst, yeah yeah. Whatever. I'm not mad. It's just... you're lucky you're hot, moron."
Magnus flips them around, filled with a new excitement. He can't keep the grin off his face, making his kissing game... 6/10, by Taako's judgement, but he's open to collecting more data. He gives the man he's been thinking about for decades a chance.