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There were a lot of things that Angus liked about the bureau. It was an incredible place after all, in so many ways. It let him in on the greatest mystery in the world, and allowed him to use his detective skills to help save so many people. He was helping so many people, and he got to know so much. The bureau was such a vast source of knowledge, and he had unfettered access to all of it.
There were other reasons too. A bit more childishly, he couldn’t help but love the fact that it was the moon. Sure, it wasn’t the real moon, but that was still pretty incredible. Even after having lived there for a few months, he couldn’t get over how high it was. More often than not when he didn’t have anything else to do, he would find himself as close to the edge as he could get without any nearby adults scolding him. He’d watch the world slowly passing by below, so completely unaware of the secrets hidden above it. Secrets that were all his, that he could collect and hoard and show off as much as he wanted here.
And even past all of that, past how cool it was and past how much good he was doing, and how much he could learn, he loved the people here.
They were good people. He could tell that even for the ones who seemed to intentionally try and make that difficult. He always looked forward to joking with and learning from Carey and Killian. He couldn’t get enough of the quiet times where he got to sit and listen in while Johann played music to the voidfish. He enjoyed the teasing and goofs the reclaimers would throw at him, especially as they became more fond over time.
Angus loved spending time with Lucretia. Sitting in her office while she worked on important bureau matters and he tried to put together leads on another relic. There was such a poise and a power to the woman that it reminded him of some of his distant relatives, the ones in their prime that he’d only met a few scarce times.
Out of everyone on the moon base though, Angus really hadn’t expected to end up enjoying his time with Taako quite so much.
It wasn’t that he hadn’t expected to like Taako, although yeah, he did come off as a bit intimidating at first. But he was also an amazing wizard, and had been the first to be willing to listen to him on the Rockport limited.
Plus, historically silver dragons got along famously with elves. So it made sense that it felt like something with Taako clicked.
Even still, Angus couldn’t help but find himself surprised every time Taako did something nice for him. Like when the elf offered to teach him magic, or when he complained less about him being around more and more often.
Although this, he was pretty sure Taako would still complain about what he was doing right now.
Sure, he’d been in Taako’s room alone before, but the elf had known he was there those times. Those had been because Taako had gone off to do something for a bit before coming back too. Angus felt was very different from someone being in your private area uninvited and unannounced.
He hadn’t intended to sneak in or anything of the sorts though. He’d only meant to stop in to see if Taako was around. He hadn’t been answering his stone of farspeech and Angus had some questions about the levitate spell he’d been trying to learn. He’d meant to leave as soon as he saw his room was empty and he wasn’t taking a nap or something.
But then something shiny and expensive glint on the floor as he was turning to leave, and Angus knew he should leave it. It wasn’t his, and he respected the members of the bureau enough not to steal their personal belongings for himself. (Most of the time, anyway).
But, well, he supposed it wouldn’t hurt to look. As long as he didn’t actually take anything. Taako always had so many pretty jewels and gems and clothes and Angus didn’t get many chances to get a good look at it all.
He’d only meant to stay in for a few moments, look at the item that had caught his attention (a pretty necklace with a large sapphire pendant set into silver) and leave.
Somehow though, half an hour later he found himself still in Taako’s room, and now with decidedly more jewelry than he should have. Several necklaces hung around his neck, joining the sapphire one he’d first saw. He had at least five bracelets on each wrist, and about twice as many rings as he had fingers. About half of it was costume jewelery, a quarter real, and another quarter Angus could tell was very real and very magic.
And these were all things he’d found scattered about Taako’s floor. If he had an actual jewelry box Angus had yet to come across it, but now he was very much wanting to. Heading over to the closet, he wondered if Taako would keep something like that in there. It was safer than keeping it out in the open after all. Without thinking Angus began digging through the mounds of clothes stuffed in a pile on the floor there. Whenever he’d come across a particularly nice hat or scarf he’d throw it on too. He knew he must look ridiculous at this point, but it’d been so long since he let himself indulge in so much stuff.
He was just starting to clear the bottom of the closet when he heard a voice clear in the room and froze. Looking over he knew he shouldn’t be surprised to see Taako standing in the doorway, and yet somehow he still was.
“I-um, hello sir. Uh, you weren’t- I just came to ask about a spell and um,” he stumbled over his words, starting to throw off the hats and scarves he’d accumulated. He almost took off his own hat before remembering that he'd been wearing one when all this started. Taako was just watching him, and he didn’t look angry at least, but it was hard to tell exactly what it was he was thinking.
“You know, I didn’t take all this glitz and glam shit to be your style. Thought you were all into the whole clean schoolboy look,” Taako said finally. Angus shrugged sheepishly, starting to take off the rings and bracelets.
He felt guilty when he let a few slip into his pocket instead of onto the floor, but he told himself he’d give them back after a little bit. (Just like he'd been meaning to give back a couple of Carey's daggers and a couple of Johann's funny hats and a whole bunch of the Director's fancy pens). He just wanted a bit more time to look at them was all.
“You own a lot of really pretty things,” Angus admitted, taking off the necklaces now. Two of them, including the sapphire one that had caught his eye at the beginning, went slipping into his sleeve instead.
“Hell yeah I do, it’s pretty great, huh?” Taako said, heading over to him and starting to pick up some of the items as Angus put them down. He was too close now for Angus to try and pick pocket anything else.
“It’s very impressive sir,” he said, still pretty embarrassed about all of this. He knew this was how dragons were, but it still felt silly when he couldn’t control himself because of a few shiny things. “Do you keep all of your things on the floor?” he asked, and this time at least he had the excuse that he was looking for a place to put the items he’d just taken off.
“Yeah pretty much, like to be able to see them all,” Taako said with a shrug, running a hand over the pile of jewelry Angus had dumped on the floor. There was a look in his eyes that Angus was pretty familiar with, a glint there that was like a reflection of the gems but stronger. Instead of going overboard like Angus had though Taako simply slipped a couple rings on before leaving the rest.
It was probably because he was an elf. They had more control than dragons did, even though they tended to like sparkly things just as much.
“You should get yourself some nice shit, broaches and pins and junk would work well with your whole fancy boy get up. Or you could go all in and revamp your look entirely, nothing’s wrong with that,” Taako said, and Angus shrugged.
“I have plenty of nice things, I really don’t need anymore,” he said, and it was true. He had all he needed. His hoard was one of knowledge, and that was just as valuable as any old pretty rock.
“Nonsense bubula, you can always have more,” Taako said, standing up and stretching in a rather exaggerated manner before heading over to his bed. At this time of day, it was in the perfect spot for a long strip of warm sunlight to stretch across it.
“And besides,” Taako continued, “if you get your own shit, than that means you can stop pickpocketing mine,” he said easily, and Angus froze.
“I don’t- I don’t know what you’re talking about sir. I was just looking,” he said, resisting the urge to reach into the pocket where the rings and necklaces were tucked away.
“Mhmm, yeah alright. Well, you can keep looking, and you can have most of that junk, but I want that blue necklace back. That one was a gift,” he said. Reluctantly Angus reached into his pocket, pulling out the sapphire necklace (only the sapphire necklace, even though he knew Taako knew he’d taken more) and walked over. Taako had a hand out and Angus sheepishly dropped the necklace into it.
“Sorry sir,” he apologized, but it didn’t seem to bother Taako much.
“Eh, happens to the best of us. Hard to keep control when the urge hits you, I get it,” he said, and Angus couldn’t help but frown at that. He knew Taako had a habit of stealing things, but he was talking about it like this was something everyone had to deal with. Or at least like it was something he knew Angus had a problem with as well. Which he shouldn’t know. Angus had made sure to keep anything that might tip someone off about his identity a careful secret.
“I suppose so,” he said after a moment. Taako slipped the necklace around his own neck before flopping down onto the bed, directly in the patch of sun.
“Mhmm, you gotta be careful about who you take from though. Like, obviously stealing from shops and shit can get you in deep trouble if you get caught. I don’t gotta tell you that though,” Taako said, grabbing the chain and holding it up so the pendant swung in small circles above his face. “What you really gotta be careful of is stealing from other dragons bubula. That could get you in some serious hot water,” he added, and Angus froze.
“What- what do you mean sir?” he managed to ask after a moment, trying to figure out where he messed up. He was- he’d been so careful. He’d messed up just now, but surely that wasn’t enough to tip him off so easily. Taako let the necklace drop back down before pushing himself up on his elbows to look at him.
“You’re one of those dragon folk, aren’t ya? It’s chill, I won’t spill if you don’t want anyone to know or whatever,” Taako said, so casual and sure of it that Angus couldn’t do anything but slump his shoulders in defeat.
“How’d you know?” he asked, because it would bother him forever if he didn’t find that out at least. Taako shifted out so that he was stretched out in the sun beam again, and after a moment of indecision Angus climbed up onto the bed as well. He’d fallen asleep on Taako’s bed a bunch of times because it was in such a perfect spot to be all nice and warm. He hadn’t thought that was suspicious though. It was a bed, and Taako did the same thing all the time, and elves didn’t even need to sleep.
“Ran into a buncha folk like you growing up, in caravans and shit. Pissed most of em off, like I said, you don’t want to steal from a dragon,” Taako said. Angus couldn’t help but be surprised by that. Dragons in disguise like him weren’t super common, the fact that Taako had ran into multiple was odd.
“Plus,” Taako continued, “you’re trying to be a human, but you act way more like an elf. Next time you change shape you should stick with elf,” he said.
“People are even more suspicious of elf children than human ones when they see them alone though, and I like this form,” Angus said. He had put a lot of thought into his current form, he was really proud of it.
“Do you gotta be a kid though?” Taako asked.
“No, but I’m a very young silver dragon, so I’m still a little boy,” he explained. Sure, he could look like an adult if he wanted to, but he wasn’t one. As frustrating as people dismissing him because of his age was sometimes, he wanted to be as honest as possible.
“Silver huh? Yeah that makes sense, goody-two-shoes,” Taako said, and Angus just rolled his eyes at that. Laying in the sun like this was nice, and Angus felt himself getting sleepy like he usually did. After a minute, a thought came to him, although he hesitated a bit before finally speaking.
“Um, Taako? Since you know what I am, would it um, would if be okay if I…” he kind of trailed off. It seemed to take Taako a minute before he realized what Angus was asking.
“Oh, oh yeah sure. You said you’re little right? So yeah go nuts,” Taako said, and Angus took that as permission to let the shape change drop. It had been a long time since he’d been in his proper form, and he leaned back some to stretch his legs and wings before curling up as best he could on Taako’s bed. The elf was kind of left pressed up against the wall, and Angus’s long tail and one of his wings draped off the bed, since they wouldn’t fit otherwise.
“Yeah, alright. Small dragon, still pretty damn big,” Taako said, shifting somewhat until he seemed to be in a slightly more comfortable position. The wing that was still on the bed was over him almost like a blanket.
“Sorry sir, I can shift back if you want,” Angus said, but Taako waved him off.
“Nah, you’re good. Now be quiet I’m gonna catch some fucking Zs,” Taako said, and Angus gave him a toothy grin before resting his head on his front paws.
“Alright, good afternoon sir,” he said, and Taako vaguely nodded, already looking half asleep.
“Mhmm, remind me later. Gotta take you shopping, so you can build up your hoard. Damn kid, doesn’t know the first thing ‘bout being a dragon,” he mumbled, and Angus couldn’t help but smile in amusement at that.
“You think you know more about being a dragon than me?” he asked, and Taako nodded.
“Course I do. I’m Taako ,” he said, and then he was out cold. With a large yawn, Angus curled a bit more around the elf before falling asleep as well.
He hadn’t wanted anyone to find out about this, but he guessed Taako wasn’t the worst person to know the truth. Really, it wasn’t half bad at all.