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Kravitz was standing outside the Reclaimers’ dorm, running his hands nervously over his suit and fiddling with the lapels. He and Taako were going out, on an actual date, the first proper one after the Chug ‘n’ Squeeze and it was still new and strange enough to make him fret.
He straightened his clothing for another, final time and took a deep, unnecessary breath and knocked on the door. He waited for a few seconds.
Nothing happened. He didn’t hear any sounds from behind the door either.
Kravitz had just raised his hand up to knock again when the door was ripped open with enough force to make him jump in surprise. Taako stood before him, managing to look effortlessly beautiful in a pair of tight, high-waisted pants and an off-shoulder, flower-printed top.
Kravitz belatedly realized that he probably should’ve brought flowers, as per custom.
“Hello, Taa--”
“DUDE!” Taako yelled and grabbed Kravitz’s still raised hand from the air, the gold bangles on his bracer-less wrist jingling. He held Kravitz’s hand in both of his own, inspecting it closely.
“What are these cuticles?!” He reached out to grab Kravitz’s other hand and brought it to his eye level, giving it the same scrutiny. Kravitz blinked, not really knowing what to do and feeling quite silly standing there in the doorway with Taako holding both his hands gingerly as if he was some maiden about to be swept away.
Taako huffed - Kravitz suppressed a shiver at the feel of his warm breath on his cold skin - and then he was being pulled into the room, Taako carelessly kicking the door shut behind them. The elf released his other hand but held onto the other, leading Kravitz towards the sofa with determination in his movements.
“I thought-- we were going out?” Kravitz asked hesitantly, as Taako pushed him into the sofa by the shoulders.
“Not anymore, thug, this is an emergency.” Taako started to walk towards his room, talking all the while and Kravitz adjusted his position on the sofa into a more acceptable sitting position, presuming that he was to keep seated.
“Can't believe I didn't notice last time - your nails look atrocious!” Taako disappeared into his room and started to rummage around, judging by the noise. Kravitz folded his hands in his lap, trying to subtly discern what was wrong with his cuticles. He squinted. He couldn’t tell.
“Found it! Shimmering rose gold! Gonna look bitchin’ with your skin tone my man.” Taako emerged from his bedroom, holding out a bottle of nail polish with a victorious grin on his face. Kravitz smiled back, not really sure what he was in for.
Taako walked over to him and set the polish, along with other supplies, on the coffee table in front of the sofa before sitting down on the edge of it. Kravitz listened to Taako complain about training and the cafeteria food as the elf filed the tips of his nails and then spread some kind of oil on the base of his nails - Taako hadn’t really explained the process to him but he didn’t really mind. Taako was holding his hands, occasionally setting them down to rest on his knees and it made Kravitz feel foolishly giddy. And happy for the fact that his palms were incapable of sweating.
The conversation dwindled into a comfortable quiet as Taako concentrated on his work. Taako used some kind of tool to push down his cuticles, which felt kind of weird. He wiped off the remaining oil and started painting Kravitz’s nails with a clear polish. Kravitz glanced at the bottle and found out that it was called a “base coat”. Apparently painting nails was a lot more complicated endeavor than he had thought.
Taako moved to his other hand, leaving the other to rest against his knee and Kravitz tried not to fidget at the warmth that he could feel radiating through the fabric of Taako’s pants.
Taako finished his other hand and waved his free hand over Kravitz’s. To dry the polish, he supposed. “Stop twitching, dude. You’re worse than Maggie,” he said, setting down the bottle in his hands and picking up the gold-- rose gold polish.
“Mag-- uh, Burnsides?”
“Yeah man, who else?” Taako said, screwing open the cap on the bottle.
Kravitz found he didn’t really have anything to say to that. Taako smiled approvingly at him. He started spreading the polish on Kravitz’s, his tongue poking out in concentration. Kravitz stared at Taako’s face unabashedly, confident that he wouldn’t get caught doing it with Taako so immersed in his task.
Taako was just starting on the index finger of Kravitz’s right hand when Magnus slammed open the door to the dorm, hard enough to dent the wall.
“TAAKO! WHAT’S FOR DINNER!?”
Taako, desensitized to Magnus’ behavior didn’t even twitch but Kravitz startled violently, ruining the nail Taako was working on and getting polish all over his skin.
Taako stared at the disaster in front of him for a second, all three of them frozen in time. He started to turn towards Magnus, agonizingly slow, taking a deep breath through his nose. The fighter quickly realized the mistake he had made and closed the door in a rush, booking it, probably to the opposite side of the base.
Taako breathed out slowly, eyes closed, face tilted towards the ceiling and speaking to it. “Fuckin’ asshole.”
“What’s with the damn racket?” Merle yelled, cracking open the door to his room and poking his head through it. Kravitz was surprised to see him, he had supposed that it was just him and Taako in the dorm.
“Fool almost ruined my boy’s mani,” Taako shouted back but didn’t look up from the mess in front of him. He cast mage hand to clean Kravitz’s finger with a cotton ball doused in nail-polish remover, to avoid ruining his own nails. Kravitz watched Merle shake his head and mutter something intelligible before the dwarf disappeared back into his room.
“Uh, is there anything I can do?” Kravitz asked, hoping to alleviate Taako’s agitation.
“Nah, you just sit tight, gorgeous.” Taako shook his head and winked at Kravitz. “Anyway, how ya been? Spill the latest goss from the bone zone.”
Kravitz chuckled and proceeded to tell him, while Taako finished painting his nails gold, adding a “top coat” to finish the job off. Kravitz admired the result, holding his hands out moving his fingers to see how light reflected off the polish. It was quite eye-catching.
”Thank you, Taako,” he said warmly. “Looks real nice. The finishing looks very smooth.”
“Hell yeah homie, no uneven paint jobs in Salon de Taako.” The elf said, shooting double finger guns at Kravitz and a wink on top of that.
“Oh shit, that reminds me!” Taako said with a snap of his fingers. He stood up and to Kravitz’s horror, proceeded to zip open his fly and start to remove his pants.
“Wha-- Taako!” He yelped and covered his eyes out of decency.
“You gotta feel my leg Krav, I shaved this morning!”
Kravitz heard the rustling of fabric and whined. “Oh, my Goddess.”
Thankfully Kravitz had closed his eyes too, just in case, because Taako grabbed one of his hands and set it against the bare skin of his leg and Kravitz almost had an aneurysm.
“Smooth as satin, yeah?”
“Yes, it's very nice now please putyourpantsbackon! ”
Taako laughed, “You’re so proper, bone-daddy!”
“ Taako .”
Taako sighed. Kravitz didn’t dare to look before he heard the sound of a zipper. Taako was frowning at him, hands on his hips.
“Sorry dude, that was a bit too much, huh?”
“It was a little overwhelming, yes.”
“Sorry, uh, I wasn’t really thinking.” Taako wrung his hands and fidgeted, awkward. “So, you-- You still up for that date, handsome?” He said hopefully. Kravitz, already recovered and wanting to stop Taako from being uncomfortable, stood up and took Taako’s hands in his own.
“Of course. And it’s fine, I just wasn’t… mentally prepared.”
“No, I-- It wasn’t cool of me, I should respect your uh-- boundaries and shit. That’s like, boyfriend 101.”
Kravitz, not wanting to let on how happy it made him hear Taako use the word “boyfriend” in accordance with the two of them, summoned his scythe and offered his arm to Taako with a smile.
“Thank you, Taako. Now, shall we?”
Taako grinned at him, took a moment to magehand his bag and umbrella over to him and practically jumped to grab and hang onto Kravitz’s arm.
“Let’s shall.”