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“KRAV!”
Kravitz put his flute down with a smirk. It was Taako who had suggested soundproofing the music room (which Taako also called ‘Krav’s office’ and Kravitz loved but restrained himself from repeating since they hadn’t officially and fully moved in together yet) when they had it designed. He was the one who vetoed it. For this very reason.
He cracked the door open to find his boyfriend sheepish on the other side.
“Didn’t know you were in here, sorry. It can wait.”
He chuckled. He was sure it could but…”I was just getting finished, what’s up?”
The tips of Taako’s ears reddened, adorable as always.
“Just some packing questions…” he scrunched his lips to the side. “Does it...is there a sun in the Astral Plane?”
“Not as such, no.”
A sly smile broke across his boyfriend’s face. “So, you would say sunscreen would be a waste of space in the old valise?”
Kravitz raised his eyebrows suggestively. “Really like where there is going.”
“Get your mind out of the gutter, Bones. Don’t forget the stories about me knocking around your noggin. I’m beachy as shit. You wanna drag me down into the underworld, I’m gonna at least be on the lookout for groundswell.”
He wrapped his arms around his waist. “You know we don’t have to-”
Taako cut him off. “Enough of that. I told you I would go. I just have packing questions.”
Kravitz’ heart did something funny just then, but the longer he spent time with Taako the better accustomed he was to moments like that. They could be having a perfectly casual conversation and then his body, his barely real thought constructed body, would have these reactions...warmth in his stomach, increased heart rate...hell, Taako had made him blush when he was manifesting as a crystal golem. That was just how things were between them.
And sure, it was different now. Less sweaty palms, more breathless laughs. But it was still there, the shocking thing his body knew before he did.
In other words-
“Go on, love.”
Taako was resting his head on his chest. “Yeah, OK.” He pulled away a bit and put a hand on his hip. “We need to talk about food.”
Kravitz chuckled. “What about it?”
“Well nothing grows there, right? So how is that going to work, food-wise? Do I pack enough for us to eat for the week? Where am I gonna keep all that? Or even just enough for me, because are you gonna stop getting hungry once you enter the Astral Plane? Am I gonna stop getting hungry? Or am I gonna just...you know, stop needing to eat but be totally ravenous and then find the one plant you forgot to mention totally does grow and be stuck forever as your Prince Consort because I ate the food of the dead?”
“Aw, dang. Got me on the last one.”
“Knew it!”
He kissed Taako’s forehead. “I only experience hunger in this form, you know that. And I do plan to...stay fleshy during our trip but you don’t need to stress about food. I’ve manifested storerooms for leftovers and snacks before. I can manifest you a kitchen too if you really want one, but only if that’s something that you think would help you relax, not distract from it.”
Taako gave him a suspicious squint. “Exactly what leftovers have you been hoarding in the Astral Plane? The half boule of Rosemary Sourdough I couldn’t find last month, maybe?”
“Hard to say. I take a lot of bread.”
Taako snorted. “I’ll bet you do.”
He kissed his forehead again with a smirk. He couldn’t help enjoying the indignant look his love would get sometimes when they sat down to dinner, if he happened to fill up on rolls before the main course was served.
But come on. Bread is good.
Taako nuzzled into his chest for a moment. “There’s another thing I was…”
Though Taako broke off his speech Kravitz didn’t attempt to fill the silence and instead sat with it for a moment, lightly stroking his hair. Taako, he had learned, rather early in their relationship, was pretty good at opening up if given an uninterrupted moment or two to work things out himself.
“Am I allowed...can I see anyone?”
His heart did something funny again. It was no longer a happy feeling.
“Oh...Taako, I. You can’t...I’m sorry. No one you knew during your life. I wish I could. Your parents-”
“My parents?!” Taako’s head popped up in surprise and stepped back. “Yeah, no. I wasn’t...I didn’t even think of that. Which...we can unpack that later. But, come on. Wouldn’t my parents be in like, another reality’s Astral Plane, anyway?”
“True.” He booped his nose. “Alien.”
“Yes, between the two us, I’m the weird one.”
He pulled him closer again with a grin and kissed the top of his head now, waiting. After a moment, Taako continued.
“If I never met someone on the material plane, though. That would be cool?”
“...technically?” He was at a loss as to what this was leading to.
“But just the once? Like that’s the kind of letter of the law thing you guys are horny for, right? So if I meet someone’s ghost or whatever, that counts as me having known them in life and I won’t be able to like, schedule weekly wine nights if we hit it off?”
He shook his head. “Yeah, that would be...a real headache for me. I’d rather you didn’t. Taako, what’s this-”
“I mean, it’s a headache for me too, on my end. But whatever. Far be it from me to mess with the rules of life and death. Kinda my thing but, sure. We can start drawing the line now.”
That bad feeling again. “Does it...are you nervous about how alone we’ll be?”
Taako favored him with a long blink before replying. “Yeah, I’m not gonna dignify that with a response.” But then he sighed and looked away for a moment. “It’s uh...doesn’t matter, assuming the land of the dead doesn’t actually freak me out too much, we can go again, right?”
“Well...yes. That’s...that’s the idea. I really think you’ll like it, but Taako-”
Taako waved that away. “So we’ve just gotta. You know, I have some stuff to take care of...I mean, we do. Not me and you. Me and Merle. Just a whole fucking...side quest to handle there. But then once that’s settled you can...we can worry about you making introductions for me with a dead lady. Cause if I only get once, you know. I need to make sure all my ducks are in a row. Ugh. Pun not intended.”
He couldn’t keep the smile from creeping back into his expression. “You want to see Julia Burnsides?”
Taako glared. “Well, yeah. Killing Kalen is turning out to be a whole thing. There’s fucking, we have to do recon and shit and no one has matching schedules anymore. It would be pretty sweet if I could let someone know the details of the incredible burden I’ve taken on for their sake and I’m literally not allowed to tell the person who burdened me so...loophole!”
“And you want to meet your best friend’s wife.”
The tips of Taako’s ears reddened again. Kravitz’s smile was now a full on grin.
“Stop looking at me like that.”
“And how should I look at you?” Kravitz cocked his head to the side, giving him his best pout. “You’re very cute.”
Taako crossed his arms.
“Look at me like we’re about to go on a creepy, romantic vacation by the sea of souls and I have a lot to take care of even if I’m not packing sunscreen.”
He turned with a “hmph” and made to leave ‘Krav’s office’ and presumably return to extracting the many pieces of monogrammed luggage shoved haphazardly into various nooks and crannies of his closet.
He eyes met his one more time, though, and he added. “Or, since we’re apparently not going to do a lot of social calls, a bathing suit.” Then he winked and shut the door, leaving Kravitz, as usual, shaking his head and very much in love.