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When Taako had offered to let Angus take temporary refuge in his home, the young detective had sworn that he would earn his keep. Taako had brushed it off then, telling him that it was "no big" and "only for the sake of convenience". It would be a pain to track the boy down in the wild for magic lessons every day; Having him a room away would be much easier.
It's been weeks now since the Day of Story and Song, and since Angus had accepted the invitation. The world is moving forward, and so is his family. Though he still doesn't know every detail, he's at least gathered that his mentor, more than anyone, is going through a period of adjustment. Adjustment to having his sister back. To having his family back. To having his life back.
This is why, even if his stay in the Taaco household is a matter of simple convenience, Angus is determined to be a worthwhile guest. At the very least, he's determined not to be a burden.
So far, that hasn't been too difficult. He's stayed out of the house, spending most of his time investigating local mysteries and searching through libraries until Taako called him home for dinner. On days when he's had nowhere else to be, he's wandered quietly around the house, cleaning and finding other small ways to be helpful.
In moments when he's had too much going on in his head, too much restless energy buzzing through his body, he's found quiet ways to calm himself down. He's chewed on the sleeves of his shirt, twisted the pins on his bag, and run the feather in his cap through his fingers.
He discovered his favourite calming method a few days ago, when Taako left a coat out that Angus spotted while he was cleaning the living room. When he picked the garment up to return it to the wizard's closet, he felt how heavy it was and decided to try it on for just a moment. Instead, he wound up dozing off on the couch for an hour, pleasantly weighed down and surrounded by a very faint hint of perfume.
Since then, he's kept the coat hidden away in his own room. It's not like anyone misses it, or even notices it's gone, which means it isn't stealing. Angus is just borrowing it until Taako needs it again.
Currently, that small amount of unannounced borrowing feels justified. It feels necessary even. He's sitting on his bed, with his knees curled up to his chest and the coat wrapped snugly around himself. Despite pressing his hands over his ears to block out the music blasting from a party downstairs, he can still feel it vibrating the walls of the house. He can still feel it in his chest, making it hard to breathe and even harder to think.
All he wants is to get away and escape the noise, and the quickest solution that comes to mind is to stand up, jump off his bed, and stride across the room to the nearest window. He lowers his hands from his ears to hold on tightly to his borrowed coat and then to shove the window open before climbing out of it. Cold air washes over him, filling his lungs while he pulls the window shut behind him.
With the noise from inside muffled, and fresh air easing the tightness in his chest, Angus can breathe again. He looks down at the ground a few stories below, and sinks down to sit on the edge of the roof just outside of his room.
-
By the time the sun has just barely begun to rise, Taako has shown most of his party guests to the door and waved them off. Turning to look back into the house, he spots three stragglers: Barry stands on a staircase, dangling a garbage bin over the railing as a basket for Lup, who wanders around tossing trash across the room to him with impressive precision. Kravitz steps around her, gathering silverware, plates, and glasses to return to the kitchen.
"Alright, lovers and liches, you don't have to go home, but you sure as hell can't stay here," Taako announces, holding the front door open and gesturing toward it.
Barry smiles at him and steps down from the stairs, saying, "Sure thing." Breaking into a bigger grin as his wife jumps onto his back, he catches her easily with his arms wrapped under her knees. He spins once before making his way to the front door and out of the house, practically glowing as Lup presses a kiss to his cheek.
"Gross. Are we that gross?" Taako groans as he watches the pair go, then shuts the door quietly and turns his attention to Kravitz, who's begun to wash the dishes he's been gathering instead of listening. Taako allows himself a moment to watch him work.
Now, in the quiet of a near-empty house, the sight of his boyfriend doing something as simple as washing dishes makes his chest ache a bit. He wants to ask Krav to stay the night, and then to stay forever. It's an ache that's been gnawing at him, urging him to wrap himself around everyone he cares about and bring them home where he can keep them close. He knows, logically, that they have their own lives and that they'll pile back into the house in a whirlwind of weapons, spells, and disgustingly dirty boots when they're free to do so. None of them are ever far from the rest, so he has no real reason to feel as desperate as he does.
Taako tugs a ribbon loose from the end of his braid, running his hands through his long hair and shaking it free as he slips through the doorway into the kitchen. Leaning his full weight into Kravitz's back, he wraps his arms around the reaper's waist and presses his wine-warmed cheek to the side of a very cool neck. It's a challenge not to drift off then and there, but he manages to open his eyes when he hears the water shut off. He mumbles, "Who knew the undead were so helpful?"
Smiling softly down at Taako, Kravitz mumbles back, "The secret is to avoid needing sleep. I have endless time and energy to be as helpful as you need me to be."
Snorting quietly, Taako mumbles, "You might not need sleep, but my boy and I def do." He lifts his head and presses his hands to the reaper's waist, turning him around and pressing a soft kiss to his lips before continuing, "Let's pick this up tomorrow?"
"You've got yourself a deal," Kravitz smiles at him and gently lifts his hands to Taako's cheeks, bringing the elf closer to kiss his forehead. "I've got work to do, but I'll return as soon as you wake up and call me."
Taako smiles at him, eyes wrinkling up and face feeling even warmer than before. He pats the reaper's hands before stepping back from him, turning and walking back to the staircase in the living room. As he climbs the steps, he calls over his shoulder, "Good night, hot stuff!"
After pausing at the top of the stairs to listen for the reaper's departure and the silence that follows it, Taako walks up the hallway to the door of Angus's room. Hearing nothing when he presses his ear to the door, he pushes it open quietly, expecting to find his boy asleep in bed. Instead, he finds the room empty.
Frowning, Taako walks to the bed and sits down, untucking his stone of farspeech from his blouse and speaking into it, "If you can hear me, you know it's way too late for you to be out doing god-knows-what, kiddo." As he says this, he feels his ears twitch toward the window and realizes that he can hear his own voice from outside. He stands up, walking to the window and sliding it open, blinking when he finds Angus, fast asleep and curled up in one of Taako's old coats.
Taako leans out of the window and picks the boy up, coat and all, bringing him inside and laying him down in his bed. He attempts, briefly, to switch out the coat for a comforter, but seeing how tight the kid's grip is in his makeshift blanket, he decides against it. Instead, he pulls the comforter around the boy as another layer of warmth. Feeling Angus's forehead, Taako lets out a quiet breath. No fever. If anything, his skin feels colder than it should be. After making sure Angus is tucked in and warm, and after setting his glasses on the bedside dresser, Taako slips out of the room to let him rest.
-
When Angus wakes up, the first thing he notices is that he's warm. He's very warm, and very... inside. He had fallen asleep outside, hadn't he? He could've sworn he had. The second thing he notices is that he's still wearing shoes, and presumably the rest of his clothes from yesterday.
He takes that to mean he had fallen asleep outside, but that someone had brought him inside. There were a lot of people over last night. He's aware that he's a pretty cute kid, so any one of them could have found him and moved him. Whoever did it must not have been all there, if they left his shoes on, but he appreciates the gesture anyway.
The third thing he notices, when he opens his eyes, is that there's a note and a glass of water on his dresser. He squints, trying to make out what the note says without getting up, but all he can see without his glasses is that it's on light purple construction paper. Wriggling to untuck his arms from under the blankets, he reaches over and grabs the note and his glasses.
Angus sits up, shoving his blankets and coat off himself and kicking them down to the foot of the bed while he puts his glasses on. When he can make out the writing on the note, he reads Taako's looping cursive saying, "Hey nerdling, meet me in the kitchen when you're up. We have to talk."
Creasing his eyebrows together, Angus frowns and sets the note down. The message is ominous to say the least. The phrase "we have to talk" never means anything good.
It hits him then that it was Taako who had found him last night.
Taako had found him hiding with stolen clothes.
He was caught stealing, and "we have to talk" means "it's time for you to leave".
-
"I'm sorry, sir, I won't do it again, I'll go to get your coat cleaned, or find you a new one- I can find where to buy a new one and I'll earn the money to buy it even if it takes me-"
"Ango," Taako interrupts him, turning to look at the boy who just nearly tripped over himself while rushing downstairs and into the kitchen. "Calm down. I'm not mad about the coat. If we're being honest, I'm proud," he smirks and walks to the counter, grabbing and pulling on a pair of oven mitts. "My little thief, all grown up and stealing from the big boys."
Angus blinks, standing in the doorway quietly while he decides whether Taako calling him a thief is meant as a compliment or an insult. Once he decides that he should be flattered by it, he smiles a little and leans on the doorframe, mumbling, "Oh, cool. So can I keep it?"
Taako laughs at that, leaning down and taking a fresh tray of cinnamon rolls out of the oven, answering, "Whatever. Not like I need it." He feels the kid watching him as he sets the tray out on the counter and pulls his oven mitts off, tucking them away in a drawer. "Why don't you sit down?"
The boy nods to him quickly and walks over to the kitchen table, hopping into a chair. His feet barely brush the floor, so he kicks them to feel the toes of his shoes brush against the hardwood. Remembering again that he has them on, he scoots back and pulls them off, dropping them to the ground as he asks, "Wait, so what was your note about?"
Shrugging, Taako steps around the counter and plops into a chair across from Angus, lifting his ankle up onto his knee and resting his elbows on the table. He drums his nails against the tabletop, looking at the boy and answering, "We need a code."
"A code?"
"A code." He smirks at Angus and rests his chin on the palm of his hand, explaining, "You disappeared last night. I've noticed you get, uh... overwhelmed by things. Is that what happened?" Raising an eyebrow when the boy seems surprised, Taako smiles at him and adds, "That wasn't a rhetorical question, bud."
Angus nods to him, then, shifting a little in his chair, and answers, "Yeah. I got kinda overloaded. There were a lot of people over all day, and the music was so loud, and I tried to stay and talk to people but it- it was too much. After a while. Sorry."
Taako shakes his head and taps his fingertips against his own cheek thoughtfully. "No need. I'll tell you what: later today, you pick out a scarf from my closet. Next time it happens, you put the scarf on and I'll kick everyone out so we can wind down."
Kicking his feet under his chair again, Angus smiles at him and laughs, "Why wouldn't I just tell you, sir?"
The elf drops his hand to the table, scoffing, "Where's the drama in that? The secrecy?"
Angus giggles at that, flapping his hands a bit and responding, "Fine, okay. We can do the secret scarf code."
Glancing down at Angus's hands, Taako stands up and reaches across the table to mess up the boy's hair. He smiles and walks to the counter, tapping his fingertip onto the top of a cinnamon roll to see if it's cooled down. Taking out two plates, he says "While we're having real-talk, I've gotta tell you, you're killing me with the- the sleeve-chewing thing you do."
Face falling, Angus drops his hands to his lap and rubs the cuff of his sleeve between his thumb and forefinger, mumbling, "Sorry. You're more attentive than you look, sir."
Taako smirks and points a butter knife toward the boy, saying, "I'm gonna pretend that compliment wasn't backhanded, nerd." He lowers the knife and uses it to slide a cinnamon roll onto each plate, then sets it down and slides a drawer open, digging through it. Pulling out a small box, he tosses it onto the table before grabbing the plates and some silverware, returning to his chair.
"What's that?" Angus looks down at the box and grabs it, shaking it to listen for the contents. The elf shrugs and sets their breakfast down, grabbing a fork and taking a ridiculous heaping bite of his. He gestures from the box to Angus while he has his mouth full, and the boy tilts his head, looking down at it. He opens the box carefully, pulling out a necklace with a green rubber charm in the shape of a dragon egg and smiling hugely as he pulls it on over his head.
Once his mouth isn't full anymore, Taako looks down at his plate while explaining, "It's a sensory... Stim.. something. Whatever you want to call it, you can bite on the egg and-" Before he can finish talking, he feels a small pair of arms wrap him in a tight hug.
"Thank you, sir! I love it, and I love you, and I promise I'll use it!"
Taako smiles and sets his fork down to hug Angus back, resting his chin on top of the boy's head and laughing, "No need to thank me, pumpkin, it's a gift for me. Totally selfish, I don't have the time to keep sewing up holes in your clothes."
Angus beams up at him and lets him go, dropping to the floor and grabbing his shoes. Pulling them on and tying the laces, he smiles, "I'm gonna show everyone I run into today my sick new dragon necklace." He stands up and hugs Taako again quickly before grabbing his plate and running to the front door with it.
"Hey, Agnes!" Taako yells after him, picking up his fork and leaning back in his chair to look through the doorway into the living room.
Pausing halfway through swinging the front door open to look back at him, Angus asks, "Yes, sir?"
The elf gestures toward the kitchen cabinets, saying, "There's a whole drawer over there full of stuff like that necklace and other funky doodads and gadgets. I mostly keep them around for Magnus when he comes over, but you're welcome to it any time."
Glancing in the direction of Taako's gesture and back to him, Angus smiles and bounces on the balls of his feet, responding in a rush, "I'll have to check that out, sir! Thank you for letting me know!" He waves and rushes out, shutting the door behind him on his way.