Chapter Text
College is for nerds.
One could argue that since Taako is, in fact, in college, he is a nerd. One would be fucking wrong, but one could argue it.
Taako Taaco exudes cool, even if he is a straight-A college student. Well, gay-A student. There’s a good joke in there somewhere.
He’s got a super annoying roommate who’s also his best friend (though he wouldn’t admit it even if you held a knife to his throat). Objectively, his life is going super well right now.
Well, except for the part where it’s not.
His sister keeps trying to get him to go to therapy or whatever, but therapy is for nerds and people who aren’t fine, and Taako is fine , thank you very much .
(Lup disagrees. She thinks that therapy is for everyone and that Taako is not fine. Lup is wrong about things sometimes.)
His life may be bad, but that’s not because of him. It’s because his classes suck, his Advanced Transmutation teacher hates him, and because he hasn’t dated anyone in like, years . Both his sister, Lup, and his roommate, Magnus, try to get him to go out and do things with them, which sucks. While Lup is awesome as all hell and Magnus is… fine, he has no desire to go do things with people who are going to ask him a bunch of questions about how he’s doing.
Magnus is frustratingly nice, and at some point, Taako’s gonna stop living with him. They were roommates freshman year and they share an apartment together now, so that’s not gonna happen for a while. He likes to ask Taako when they’re both at home together if Taako had a good day or if his classes were fine. Taako always laughs it off with a “Taako’s good, Maggie” and a smile.
Lup and Magnus are friends, which is beginning to be a slight problem (re: the asking him to go places and do stuff thing). It’s also weird because Taako isn’t even sure if he and Magnus are friends, so Lup being actual, good friends with him is strange.
He said this to Lup once, who replied, “You’ve been fucking living with the guy for almost three years and you don’t think you’re friends? Taako, this is why everyone says I got the beauty and the brains.”
(He tells her that no one says that, and the conversation is over.)
In conclusion, Taako Taaco is very much fine and Lup has no idea what she’s talking about.
“Taako, shut up! ” Lup says, slapping him on the shoulder. “Come on, you’re not a fucking supervillain, there’s no need to monologue!”
He huffs and leans back in the kitchen chair he’s sitting in while Magnus responds, “I thought it was really cool, T!” rather eagerly.
“Thank you.” He bows and Lup hits him yet again, harder this time. “Anyways,” Taako says pointedly, rubbing his shoulder, “if you didn’t catch my meaning, I’m not going out to drink with you two and Barry and Julia tonight. In fact, I cannot think of anything else I’d rather do.”
“It’s funny that you think you have a choice.” Lup reaches across Taako, grabbing the nail polish he’s set down next to him. “You’re going. You’ve been avoiding us for too long.”
Taako rolls his eyes and takes the bottle back from her. “Why? So I can fifth-wheel with you guys? Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but Taako’s good.”
She makes direct eye contact with him and they have a brief standoff, ending with a dramatic groan from Taako and a loud cheer from Lup.
“Fine, I’ll go. But I’m not going to enjoy it,” he says, crossing his arms petulantly.
“I’ll take it.” Lup smiles and stands up, snatching the bottle of nail polish. “See you two at eight tonight!”
Both boys are silent as she leaves, but as soon as she’s out the door, Magnus turns to Taako and says, “Your sister is scary.”
He sighs. “I know.”
When eight rolls around, Taako is still lying splayed out on his bed surrounded by clothes. If he’s going to go out, he’s going to look fabulous while he’s doing it, and his current wardrobe is not doing it for him today.
Magnus knocks on the open door and Taako runs his hand down his face. “Hey, Taako. Lup n’ Barry are gonna be here any minute, and…”
“No, finish that sentence. What exactly is wrong here, Maggie?” he says, his tone biting. “Give me ten more minutes to find something to wear and then I’ll be ready.”
It takes him thirty minutes, but the outfit he finds is acceptable. Julia, Magnus’s girlfriend, has been hanging out for a while. Lup and Barry arrive a minute after Taako joins the other two in the living room.
“Wow. Thanks for showing up on time, sis,” he scoffs. Magnus gives him a disappointed glare while Lup laughs and pats Barry’s arm.
“Sorry, dear brother, we got a little caught up having--”
He holds his hands up to his ears and shuts his eyes tight. “Okay, okay, shut up. You’ve barely got me as is; if you start talking about your sex life I’m absolutely staying home.”
Lup grins. “If you say so.”
Taako allows them to drag him out into the downtown area of Neverwinter. The bars there are loud and crowded, but Magnus pulls them all towards a little one tucked away on the outskirts of downtown called the Davy Lamp. He seems to know everybody and they all seem to know him. The bartender is a friendly young woman named Ren who recognizes Taako from a shared cooking class. He’s able to spend the rest of the evening chatting with her and ignoring his sister and his friends.
He lays his head down on the bar, still too sober for all the dancing and singing going on behind him. He knew that Lup and Barry were off dancing. Julia and Magnus were challenging some other patrons to a drinking game. Since neither of those sounded like particularly great options, he was good sitting right here at the bar.
The Davy Lamp is not a bad bar, it’s a loud one, and while Taako is normally used to loud spaces (hel- lo , he lives with Magnus) the bar is too much today. He’s already frustrated with his sister for trying to get him to open up more; he would barely be able to stand someone else asking him how he’s doing. Taako’s good.
He glances around as he picks his head up off the counter, preparing to leave. Taako recognizes a few faces--his friend Hurley, who is a detective-in-training (and has come extremely close to arresting Taako in the past), has her arm slung around her girlfriend. They're making conversation with the person setting up a guitar in the corner. Magnus’ friends Carey and Killian, along with a halfling girl with fiery red hair and a prosthetic arm and leg he swears he knows the name of are cheering Maggie and Julia on at the opposite side of the bar. It seems like everyone he’s ever met before is out tonight. Taako hears someone cry his name from across the room and realizes with a loud groan that Hurley has seen him and is now waving him over.
Even though Taako’s brain is screaming at him to pretend like he didn’t see her, he gets up and makes his way through the crowds of people to where she and her girlfriend, Sloane, are standing. As he reaches the little corner of the bar she’s hanging out in, Hurley throws her arms around him and exclaims, “ Taako! It’s been so long since I’ve seen you!”
“It’s been, like, two weeks,” he says, looking over at the person Hurley and Sloane are talking to. He’s the picture of tall, dark, and handsome, exactly Taako’s type, and when Taako catches his eye he smiles shyly and looks away.
Okay, well, Taako isn’t entirely sure if a dorky guitar player is necessarily his type, but when they make eye contact yet again he shoots him a wink anyway. The other man continues to avoid his gaze and Taako chalks up another win in his books. What’s the harm in having a little fun? The guy is gorgeous.
Hurley taps him on the shoulder, shaking Taako out of his thoughts. “Taako? Did you hear me?”
“Hm?” he responds, willing himself to focus on Sloane and Hurley. “No, Taako spaced out a bit there. What did you say?”
“Are you here with your sister?” she asks.
Taako nods. “Yeah. Got dragged out here by Lup and Maggie and then abandoned once we walked through the door.”
Sloane throws her head back with a loud laugh. “Hey dude, at least Magnus and Julia are gonna make enough money with that drinking competition they’re running to cover a month’s rent.”
“Never took Magnus as the type to run bar scams,” Hurley remarks loudly enough for Magnus to hear, and Taako can faintly hear him yell “It’s not a scam, it’s a game!” and Julia’s laughter.
“Oh, you must be Lup’s brother!” the guy with the guitar says. “Dear gods, that took me an embarrassingly long time to put together.” His accent is floating somewhere between Cockney and Australian and crash-landing on bad (though Taako thinks it could be a little endearing).
Taako grins, tossing his braid back over his shoulder. “The one and only. And it’s alright, it’s not like we’re identical twins,” he quips, and the guy looks away, embarrassed.
Hurley cringes. “Sorry, completely forgot to introduce you two.” She gestures to Tall, Dark, and Handsome and says, “Taako, this is Kravitz. Krav, this is Taako.”
“Pleasure to finally meet you,” Kravitz says cordially and Taako nods in response. “Lup and Barry are classmates of mine. They have some interesting stories about you, Taako.”
“Nothing good, I’m sure.” He smiles at Kravitz before turning back to Sloane and Hurley. “I’m gonna head out. If any of my four ask where I went, tell them I’ve been dead for seven years. Peace.”
He turns and walks away, deftly avoiding where his sister and Barry are dancing and making his way out the door of the Davy Lamp.
(If he had stuck around a little longer, he might have seen Sloane nudge Kravitz and say, “He’s single, y’know.”)
It’s started raining in the time Taako’s been in the bar, and he grumbles and fishes around in his bag for an umbrella. Thankfully, he’s got several--some are accessories, at least one or two of them are magical, but there are a couple of real ones in there as well. He’s saved from his precious hair and clothes getting drenched.
Taako did drive to downtown Neverwinter with Lup and the rest of his friends, but it’s not that far of a walk back to his and Magnus’ apartment, and he appreciates the time alone.
Well, he thought it wasn’t that far of a walk, but it turns out when it’s pouring rain and your phone is dead so you can’t listen to music, it feels like years. By the time he reaches their apartment building, he’s irritable and definitely wetter than he wants to be.
So of course there’s something sitting on the front step of the building.
Taako pokes at the lump with the tip of his foot, and it doesn’t move. He’s not sure what the lump is. It’s not a raccoon, because raccoons attack you when you poke them, and then you come super close to Hurley arresting you, and that’s not relevant. It doesn’t seem like it’s awake or even alive , so he decides that it’s easiest to step over it. Unfortunately, the lump is right in front of the door, so that’s not gonna work. Taako, much against his instincts, bends down and gently shakes the lump, trying to see if he can get it to move. It does, in fact, respond to that, and Taako yelps and jumps back.
The lump stirs, and Taako realizes with a pang of sadness that it’s a person wrapped in a blanket. “Hey, dude, I’m only trying to get into my apartment here,” he says, and the person whimpers, shifting off to the side.
“Dude, come on. I’m not gonna turn you in or whatever, I just need to go inside.” The person makes no noise in response this time, and Taako rolls his eyes and kneels down so he’s level with the person. They pull back the blanket and he gets his first glimpse of the person who’s making this night so much more annoying , and--
“Holy shit, you’re a child!” Taako exclaims, falling back onto his hands. “What the fuck !”
The kid doesn’t say anything, only curls up tighter in the blanket. He sighs and asks, “What’s your name, kiddo? Are you waiting for your parents?” Taako tries to remember whether he’s ever seen any kids in this complex, and he doesn’t think he has, but he also hasn’t met, like, any of his neighbors, so…
“‘M not waiting for anyone, sir,” the kid mumbles. “I don’t have anywhere to go.”
He bites his lip and ignores the voice in his head that sounds eerily like Magnus saying that he needs to help. “Well, you can’t sit on the front step of my apartment building, kid.”
“Angus.”
“Gesundheit.”
The kid giggles a little. “Angus is my name, sir.” He sits up, and Taako feels another bolt of sadness course through him when he realizes how small this kid is.
“Well, where are your parents? I can call them once I get my phone charged,” he offers, despite the voice that sounds much more like himself screaming at him to stop and go inside.
“They’re dead, sir,” Angus remarks, and Taako reels. “So are my grandparents. I was in an orphanage, but it was bad, so I left.”
Taako snorts. “Yeah. Orphanages suck, Agnes.”
“Angus, sir.”
“Whatever. Anyways, you can…” he sighs. “You can stay in my apartment for the night. This is only because my roommate would kill me if I left you out here by yourself, and because my friend Hurley is a cop and she’d arrest me for real.”
“You can’t be arrested for that, sir,” he says, and Taako narrows his eyes at Angus.
“Don’t make me change my mind,” he threatens, and the kid laughs weakly. Taako is not a doctor, but he can’t imagine this soaked-through blanket is helping protect this kid from the cold even a little bit. “Come on. Give me your stupid blanket and let’s go inside and get you something warm to drink.”