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After securing his bounty in the stockade, Kravitz felt… well, dead inside, ironically enough. More than he had in years, really. He fished his Stone of Farspeech out from his robes and dialed the only frequency that mattered without really thinking about it. “Taako, are you home? Can I come over?”
Kravitz only needed to hear, “Yeah, of course -” before he's stepping through a rift.
“- what's up, babe?”
The first thing Kravitz noticed was that the room was darker than he expected. The second was Taako, sprawled out in the bed, blinking sleepily at him. Finally Kravitz glanced across the room to the clock on the opposite wall.
Few minutes past three, presumably AM from the lack of sunlight fighting its way through the shades.
“Oh… shit,” Kravitz whispered, dissolving everything except his underwear into smoke before climbing into bed; he didn't want to deal with going through the motions of getting undressed and then the effort of putting on real mortal pajamas tonight. He settled down on his side, facing Taako. “I'm so sorry, I didn't notice the time, I -”
He was silenced by Taako gently pressing a finger to his lips. “You know you don't have to ask before coming over, right?”
Oh, right. They live together now, in an apartment in Neverwinter, like normal people who have normal lives, who aren't the Grim fucking Reaper and one of the seven saviors of existence.
Taako removed his finger to let Kravitz speak. “I, uh… I didn't really think about it. At all,” he replied sheepishly.
Taako took a moment to study his face, all sleepiness gone from his expression. “What's wrong?”
Kravitz sighed. “Just, you know, stressful day at work. It's nothing, really; you should get back to sleep.”
Taako's expression hardened. “You know, I was willing to let it go until you tried the whole 'your sleep is more important than my problems’ bullshit. You know as well as I do that I still have enough time to get a full night's meditation before most humans even think about rolling out of bed.” He poked the reaper in the chest. “So spill.”
Kravitz blinked. Back when they started dating, Taako would have taken any excuse to get back to sleep. Hell, he still gets mad when people wake him up early, with few exceptions. Sleep wasn't exactly a thing either of them needed to function, but they both enjoyed it and relished in it when they could spare the time.
Taako looked determined, though, and his willingness to give up his beauty sleep meant Kravitz really couldn't get out of this one. He sighed again, resigned to his fate.
“He was a child,” Kravitz said, and the way he choked up on “child" surprised even him. Taako’s expression immediately softened, and he wordlessly brought up a hand to caress his cheek. He knew how much Kravitz hated reaping children.
The dam was broken now, and there was no hope of stopping it. “A recent orphan, trying to bring back his parents. But he had no idea of the forces he was messing with.” Kravitz rolled away from Taako, to lay on his back, Taako's hand slipping off his cheek as he did so. “He couldn't summon their souls back completely, and they became zombies. And with the lack of knowledge and the fear clouding his mind he couldn't control them.” He took a shaky breath, trying to control his shakier voice. “He was mauled to death.
“I know because I arrived just in time to watch it happen.”
“Aw, babe,” Taako whispered, wiping at a wet spot on Kravitz's cheek, which was when he realized he was crying.
“He couldn't have been much older than Angus. He just… reminded me so much of Angus, I -” he choked up, curling back towards Taako, who immediately snuggled close and started rubbing warm, comforting circles on his back. As Kravitz became more integrated in Taako's life after the Day of Story and Song, he started spending more time with Taako's friends and family, and developed quite an affection for the child detective.
“Lup and Barry?”
Kravitz shook his head. “They're on their own mission. I was assigned this as a solo op because of the assumed lack of danger. And, well, the assumption was correct, but that's not the problem, is it?” Kravitz laughed hollowly, tears still on his cheeks. “I used to be so inured to this sort of thing, you know. Back when I started, those first few bounties, those were the worst. I was much too empathetic. Even worse than I am now, can you believe that?”
Taako just smiled sadly, a small quirk of the lips. Kravitz didn't need any more prompting to keep going.
“I learned eventually to just lock everything up. I felt pleased when plans went well, frustrated when they didn't, and that's about it. You wanna know what you did to my neat little lockbox?”
“What'd I do?”
“You smashed it with a fucking hammer.”
Taako barked out a laugh and grinned. “Fuck yeah I did, my dude.”
Kravitz grinned in return. “Mmhmm, the Chug 'N Squeeze -” he huffs a laugh; he still can't believe something so important happened at a place with a name like that - “that was the beginning of the end for me. It all went downhill from there.”
Taako's face hardened into mock-seriousness and he lightly smacked Kravitz's arm. “I'm the best thing to ever happen to you and you know it.”
Kravitz chuckled. “Yes, dear.” Even if it was said in a teasing tone, it was still true; Taako really was the best thing to happen to him. “You are.” He leans forward and kisses the tip of Taako's nose for emphasis. Taako scrunches up his face at the sensation and the sappiness but doesn't say anything in protest. “You make my job harder, though.”
Taako grinned mischievously. “What, you can't stop thinking about my hot bod all day? Or are you talking about when I interrupt your paperwork to ask if you want a blowjob?”
Kravitz blushed. “Well, actually I wasn't thinking of either of those, but yes, those too.” Taako snickered.
Kravitz continued, “It's just… Loving you has opened the whole gambit of emotions. Can't have one without the rest. Wouldn't change it for the world, though.” He pecked Taako's lips for emphasis. “The job was never easy in the first place. Necessary, of course, but not easy. You always see people at their worst in this job. I'm their worst fear. Even those who try to 'conquer’ death do it out of fear of it. It's a bad mental space to be in all the time. And I'm starting to sympathize with them again, now that I have people I don't want to lose.
“But it isn't all bad, you know. People care about me now, and that's more than I was ever expecting when I took this job so long ago. Not just you, but Lup, Barry, even the rest of your friends check in to see how I’m doing and I’m just... So grateful to have a place that really feels like home." An involuntary smile crept across Kravitz’s face as he thought of all of Taako’s - all of his - friends. “I would’ve never guessed I would feel so alive again, after all these years.”
Taako was smiling and - were those tears running down his cheeks? Oh, cute. “I love you so much,” he whispered.
Kravitz grinned and tugged him closer, and Taako complied easily. Half into his hair, Kravitz replied, “I love you too, so, so much.”
They snuggled together, Taako wiping away his tears and pressing his face into Kravitz’s chest, limbs tangled together. Taako’s body heat mingled with the warm feelings in Kravitz’s chest and he just felt warm, through and through. They stayed like that for so long Kravitz was sure Taako had fallen asleep again, and was about to doze off himself when he heard the question, just above a whisper.
“Do you think you could get him with his family somehow?”
Kravitz didn’t need to ask who Taako was talking about, but he did take a moment to think about it. “I’m… not sure. Maybe. I didn’t really think about it, honestly.”
Taako looked up and tucked a loc behind Kravitz’s ear. “Let’s worry about it in the morning, bubeleh.”
And sleep came easily.