Chapter Text
Taako was in the library. Really, it wasn’t as weird as it sounded. All he wanted to do was find someone to cast pocket pudding on, really, it’s no big deal at all. In fact, Magnus and Merle also shared the same interest.
So there they were, sneaking around behind fully stocked shelves of books old and new, which really wasn’t quite sneaky at all, looking for an unsuspecting victim to fill their pockets with pudding.
Their plan- wasn’t exactly working. Magnus had already knocked over two shelves, and was lucky enough to catch them before they hit the ground (and thanks to a special charm, all the books stayed in their positions on the shelves), Merle has almost been crushed by two falling shelves, and luckily hadn’t been crushed by the books that had almost straight up poured out of it, and Taako and already failed both his stealth and his bluff rolls.
So, practically every single person knew of the three men stalking the library, and knew exactly when they should leave. Except for one little boy.
Angus McDonald, boy detective, loved coming to the library. He went there every chance he got, reading book after book even if he wasn’t rather fond of the subject matter. At home, he’d never had so many books within reach, and the library in Eversummer had very little to offer.
Being a child, the only child in the Bureau, Angus got a lot more breaks than most employees. Lucretia insisted that he be given a thirty-minute break every two hours, and an hours break for every meal.
While Angus felt a little patronised by the regulated care, he understood where the Director was coming from when she had someone make sure that he ate three meals a day, healthy meals too, and got the appropriate amount of rest and sleep for a growing boy. He was still a little boy, most adults were inclined to care for children they grow fond of, and he was also a very forgetful little detective when it came to self-care.
So there Angus sat, curled up in the part of the library where the shelves made a little cave in the corner, and where the lights didn’t work no matter how many times you flipped the switch. He had a book propped up on a pile of cushions, a notepad in his hand and a pencil radiating light, letting him see both his book and his writing. (Taako felt a sliver of pride swing the boy use Light like that. After all, he was his magic teacher.)
He had little Bureau of Balance brand earbuds, hooked into his stone, playing music so loud that Magnus could hear it clearly from where he was hiding behind the shelves.
The little boy was so engrossed in his work that he failed to see (and hear [and smell, in Magnus’ case]) the three men attempting to sneak up on him, despite how loud and blatantly obvious they were.
At the moment, Angus was four chapters deep in a mystery novel called ‘Morrigan and the Wolves of Smoke’. He had picked it from the bargain bin at his favourite little bookshop in Eversummer. He had fond memories of choosing books and sitting in the big fancy chairs with his grandfather, as he read aloud quietly, letting the smell of aged books and rain wash over the two of them.
However, now that his grandfather was gone, Angus felt a horrible sadness wash over him whenever he saw that red love seat, adorned with patches with clashing materials and stitches both sloppy and neat. He tended to avoid Eversummer now, but in private, Angus loved the bookshop, and he knew his Grandpa did too.
His notepad was filled with detailed notes, summaries of characters, etc. He desperately wanted to solve the mystery before the author made it blatantly obvious, though it seemed that it had been that way from the first page. The back of his notebook was a different story. No detailed notes in neat script, but rather a collection of drawings, some of him, his friends, and some of the fictional characters he read about, or even things he made up! Angus had to admit, he was getting pretty good! He had just learnt how to draw hands, thanks to the educational books in the craft section.
All was good, and all was well until a coffee-coloured face poked itself between him and his book.
“Hey, Ango!” Taako’s voice echoed through the empty library, far too loud, and a semi grim splattered across his upside-down face.
“O-oh! Hello sir!” Angus greeted his mentor cheerily, in the same manner as always, snapping his notepad shut and hiding his drawings. “What are you doing the library? I thought you said books were nerd territory?”
“Duh-doy, little man,” Taako shrugged off the question, ignoring the snickers coming from behind the shelves, from the men who knew full well about his large collection of stolen books under his bunk. “Nerds read books for fun, of course, a library would be full of the little bugs.” Taako plucked Angus’ novel from his hands flipping through pages before tossing it behind him and hardly suppressing a smile at the boy’s whimper as it hit the ground at an odd angle.
“Then what are you doing here, sir?” Angus repeated himself.
“I’m here to teach you a lesson, little dude, and it’s my day off so hop to it.” Taako finally moved out of Angus’ way, giving the boy room to stand from his pile of borrowed library pillows and scamper up in front of Taako, slipping his notebook somewhere amongst the cushions as he did so.
“Today’s lesson is gonna be all ‘bout my favourite spell.” Taako began, clapping his hands together and talking as loud as he pleased, much to Angus’ dismay.
“Magic Missile?” Angus asked, bouncing on his heels and failing to hide a large smile splitting his face.
“Nope.” Taako flicked Angus’ nose with a laugh. “Today you’ll be learning a spell called,” Taako trailed off, staring blankly at the shelves hiding the pair of adventurers. His eyes snapped back into focus, “Called ‘Merlfoxeplents’. It’s an elven name, wouldn’t expect you to know of it.” Someone shouted a rather loud ‘Hey!’ from the shelves again, and revived a very loud ‘Sh!’. Angus looked Taako straight in the eye, which the elf put an end to quickly. That was a very strange name for a spell. Taako pulled Angus towards the back wall with a hand behind his back, and not so discreetly sent a middle finger at the shelf of books.
“What’re you do-“ A finger pressed sharply against Angus’ lips.
“Shush, boy detective, pay attention. I can’t spend my whole day-off teaching snot-nosed moon children, now can I?” Taako tutted, swatting the little paperboy hat with the tip of his own wand.
“I’m the only child on the moon, sir.”
“That depends if you count Magnus.” Taako poked Angus’ cheek before clapping his hands next to his ear. “Now, to start, this spell is both a concentration spell and a verbal spell okay?” Angus nodded, keeping his eyes trained on Taako’s form as he paced in front of him.
“You’ll feel it in your hands first, most people do, and then you’ve got to force it out through your wand, okay?” Angus kept on nodding, widening his stance and holding his wand out in front of him, arms straight and back flat. “Can you feel it D’jango?”
“Yes, sir.” Angus said softly, focusing hard on feeling something, anything, to know he was doing this right.
His little face scrunched up in concentration, eyes closed and nostrils flared. Taako giggles to himself and a chorus of giggles erupted from the same bookshelf.
Angus broke his concentration, looking over to the shelves again, tugging on Taako’s long shirt. “Sir, I think there are prying eyes-“
“Hush, boy.” Taako waved off Angus’s worried frown, sending a death glare to the shelves when he though Angus wasn’t looking.
“Sir what are you doi-“
“Hush, Angus! Jeez kid, how many times do I gotta tell you!” Taako grabbed Angus’ face in a tight hold and roughly pulled him to face him. And fuck, the shiny-eyed look Angus gave him made him feel a little less than satisfied about his little- outburst.
“Sorry, sir.” Angus said eventually, mumbling into his little vest, staring at the floor with crimson cheeks and watery eyes. “I’ll be quieter, I promise.”
Taako sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose and crouching in front of the kid. “Look, Ango, cool it, okay? You’re fine, chill the fuck out. Just vibe. Good vibes, okay?” Angus nodded, wiping his glasses dry after the few tears had splashed down on them. Taako put a hand on his shoulder, in his little way of showing affection.
Angus sniffled and sighed shakily, leaning into Taako’s warm touch. “It’s okay sir, it’s just that you sounded a lot like my fa-“
“Woah, kiddo, slow the fuck down, this is a magic lesson, not a fantasy therapy session.” Taako cupped his whole hand over Angus’ mouth, giving him a look that conveyed far too much emotion for a standard Taako glare. “Let’s just get on with the magic, okay?” Taako’s eyes went out of focus again, discreetly wiping the smallest tear that threatened to fall from Angus’ eye, being far more gentle than he’d ever been with the kid. Before too long he snatched his hand back, wiping it on his shirt and blinking the moment away.
Angus took a deep breath, steadied himself, closed his eyes, and began. His little nose crinkled and his whole face scrunched up once more, which made Taako giggle like some (ugh) parent. (Gods above know that he’d never admit that this was the cutest thing he’d ever seen before.)
“Good job Agnes, you’re doing so well, keep going, just a little further!” Taako let an amused lilt carry his voice, watching the way Angus’ body tensed and how his tongue stuck out from between his teeth as he concentrated. “Just a little further, Ango.”
Angus could hear the blood rushing through his ears, the heat pumping through his body, so focused on this one enchantment.
“Okay Ango, now you gotta say it out loud to successfully cast it. Remember what to say?”
“Merlfoxeplants.” Angus mumbled under his breath, chanting it religiously. Taako tutted, poking Angus’ forearm.
“No, no, no, Ango, you’ve gotta shout it! You’ve gotta say it loud enough for the Gods to hear you.”
“Sir, this is a library, you can’t yell!” Angus said, not opening his eyes or even attempting to drag his attention away from this spell.
“Just say it then, Angus, maybe if you nerd hard enough it’ll work.” Taako laughed, ruffling Angus’ mop of curls rough and hard.
Angus huffed but did all the same. He still had some respect for his mentor. He took a deep breath, scrunched his face up once more, and spoke. “MerlfoXPLANTS!” His voice reaches a very high volume, especially for a library, when something attacked his waist, two hands squeezing tight on his sides.
He snapped his eyes open and looked to Taako, standing above him with a smile behind his long fingers. His face scrunched into something mad and red and angry and he swiftly turned, finding one tall fighter standing before him, and one dwarf, who was still the slightest bit taller. His expression fell into something more remorseful. “Oh- sirs, it’s just you. You gave me- you gave me a real big fright!”
“I know!” Magnus laughed, hearty and loud, which made Angus very unsettled. The library was his favourite place, he really didn’t want to get banned like Pringles did.
Angus was very on edge right now. Everything was starting to feel a bit too loud, and his skin felt like it was made of electricity, zappy and buzzing. “What are you doing in the library, sirs?”
“We’re looking for people to scare, you little booger.” Merle grumbled, rolling his eyes and getting a flick to the forehead from Magnus.
“Well, you certainly got me!” Angus tried to chuckle, clutching his shaking hands to his chest and hiding his quivering lip behind a shaky smile. “So was it you behind the shelves this whole time?”
“Yup!” Magnus grinned, laughing down at Angus. “And now, we’re going to steal all your cushions so we can build a cubby house in my bedroom!”
“You mean, ‘You’ are going to. I’m not taking part in this after last time.” Merle grumbled but didn’t really move to leave or anything of the sort.
Angus looked quizzically at the dwarf. “What happened last time, sir?” Merle grumbled and Taako refused to make eye contact, so Angus looked up to Magnus.
“One of our blanket rooms fell down and Merle got trapped and we decided not to help him.” Magnus stage whispered, putting a hand over the side of his face comically, and Angus couldn’t help but giggle, even though he much rather felt like crying.
“Don’t laugh, you little twerp, I almost died.” Merle waved a finger in Angus’ face accusingly, to which he got a slap on the head from Magnus (much like dribbling a basketball).
“Get your sausage fingers out of his face, old man, and start picking up cushions for the fort.” Taako pushed past Angus, dismissively patting his shoulder as he passed.
Angus stood in the same spot, contemplating his next movements. He really wanted to go to his dorm now. He really, really, wanted to cry right now. But that would be so rude to the men in front of him, and he really didn’t want to pressure them into caring for a crying child. ‘Just deep breaths, deep breaths until you’re back in your room again.’
“Darn, Mango, what’s this little number?” That snapped Angus out of his haze, looking up to see Mr Taako holding up his journal with two fingers like it was covered in ‘cooties’. ‘How juvenile’, Angus would have thought, but all he could think at this moment was the book he was holding. His journal. His drawing journal. Fuck. They must have found it under the pile of cushions as they were stealing them away. Great!
“I’ll take that, sir, it’s instrumental to my work at the Bureau!” Angus scampered over to Taako, arms reaching out to take back his journal so he could please, finally, leave.
Just as his fingers grazed the cover, however, Taako flipped it up into the air, out of Angus’ reach and right into Magnus’ arms.
Angus scurried over to Magnus, trying to climb over his beefy arms to get to his book. “Uh-uh, Ango, S’not how the game works.” Magnus tutted, grinning madly. He held the book over his head, laughing up a storm and Angus tried to scale his body. A quick push in Angus’ head put an end to that, pushing his feet back on the floor and putting him another good two feet shorter then Magnus.
He was left no choice but to try and wiggle and escape, no jumping with Magnus’ giant hand on his head. “Please, sir, give it back. This is really mean!” Angus cried desperately, trying to shake off Magnus’ heavy hand.
“C’mon Angus, have some fun. Just chillax.” Taako last cool-tone came from behind him, and Angus swelled to look at him once Magnus and taken back his freakishly large hand.
“I don’t want to chillax, Mr Taako!” Angus whined, watching his book get tossed between Merle and Magnus over his head. Angus rushed over to Merle, trying to grab the book while he still had it before it was tossed to Taako, then Magnus, then Merle and back to Magnus, way far out of reach. Magnus and Taako were very tall people, and also had very long arms, and while Merle was a dwarf, he was still taller than Angus at five feet.
“What’s in here is so important that you can’t just relax and play a little? Aren’t you a kid? Aren’t you supposed to be running through cornfields or some shit?” Taako smirked at Angus as he caught the journal, holding it over his head for a moment before flipping through it quickly.
“Sir! That’s my personal property! Give it back right now or I’ll report you!” Angus tried and failed, to use a more demanding tone, trying to squash the feeling of crying into a little speck. He stomped his foot heavy against the carpet, only making a dull thud of a sound.
Taako scoffed, reading a page of his notes half-heartedly. “Report us to who, Brad fucking Bradson? What’s he gonna do, give us a verbal warning?” Taako shoved his other hand right on Angus’ face, pushing against him an keeping him in place as he tried to run at him.
“Ugh! Sir! It’s not funny anymore! Give it back!” Angus stopped caring about his library-appropriate-volume and started caring far more about the wetness of his voice. They could definitely tell he was going to cry and soon. This was not going well at all.
Noticing the change in boy’s speaking, Merle chuckled. “Aww, are you gonna cry? Piss your pants, maybe? Maybe-“
“Merle don’t! That’s gross. He’s still a kid.” Magnus flicked Merle once again, Angus really didn’t know how his head wasn’t permanently bruised. Angus gave up in charge at Taako, turning around the chastise Magnus and Merle, when he was interrupted as soon as he opened his mouth.
“Oh my, Ango what is this?” Taako asked with an amused lilt to his voice, holding open his journal with a toothy grin.
The page being displayed to the room was not a page of careful notes, or detailed slanted writing, but rather a drawing.
A drawing of three men, and one little boy, more specifically, a little detective holding hands with three men who looked suspiciously like the Tres Horny Bois.
No, no, no, no, no! Fuck!
Merle burst out in a loud bubble of laughter, and Magnus awwed and snickered as Taako flipped through various drawings of the Boys.
“Sir.” Angus began, his voice low and a mockery of steady comfort. His throat wasn’t wet, and his eyes stung. He wanted out of now. “Give me my book, please.”
“Sorry, kiddo, rules of the game. Finders keepers, loser McWeepers!” Taako laughed, flipping through yet more pages.
Angus knew that in this moment, Taako was distracted. He let his guard down, laughing loudly with his head thrown back. This was his time to take advantage. And so he did.
Angus stormed forward, jumping up to grab the journal from Taako’s hold, far above his head. He rolled high, Managing to grab onto his journal, but instantly falling to the ground with a loud tearing sound. Oh no.
In his hands was half of his journal, and the other half was in Taako’s. His face was pale, eyes wide and mouth parted. His arm fell to his side and his hand flew to his mouth. “Angus, I am so sorry, I-“
“Fuck off!” Angus screamed, his lip quivering in anger and his eyes practically red.
“Buddy, calm down, we can fix it easy peasy!” Magnus put a hand on his shoulder with heavy pressure, squeezing gently and trying to calm him down.
“No! We can’t, because M-Merle’s a sh-sh-shh-hit healer, and my book is ruined!” Angus screamed again, and the dam broke. Hot tears gushed down his cheeks, blurring his vision and making his voice go thick and hicuppy.
“C’mon now, I’m not that bad! Just let me try, huh? I can at least put it back in one piece.” Merle took the first half from a frozen Taako and held his hand out for the other.
Angus snatched the half book in Merle’s hand and held it to his chest, alongside the other. “No! I don’t want your help! Fuck off!” Angus choked on his own sobs, standing and heading back to his pile of belongings.
“Ango, Bub, wait-“ Taako started, finally moving, finally talking, his skin just as pale as before but his cheeks flushed darkly.
“No! You’ve been so mean to me ever since I met you, and I try so hard to make sure that you’ll be safe on your reclaimer missions and I do as much research as I can before handing in my reports so that you don’t go somewhere that isn’t going to kill you! And-and I keep all your secrets and do whatever you ask as soon as possible, even-even weird ss-s-shit like cleaning the couch and checking all the cookie jars for hidden snakes! You always take my stuff and break it and call me names and I never do anything! I- I-“ Angus paused, looking at the men before him, all guilty faces and gaping mouths.
“I hate you!” Angus shouts, scooping the rest of his stationary into his arms, and pushing past a shell-shocked Magnus, and stomping right out of the empty library, leaving Taako, Magnus, and Merle alone in a silent room.
A long stretch of silence passed, the room filled only with shared guilty glances.
“Well boys,” Magnus started, patting the others on the back, and hard. “We done fucked up.”