Chapter Text
Magnus was woken by his stone of farspeech making some weird noises that he could never get used to. He almost fell out of bed. Scratch that, he did fall out of bed. He got his legs tangled in the blankets and landed on the hard floor with a thud. It was very loud, but he heard Merle continue to snore on the bed on the other side of the tiny room. He ignored the sound he had gotten used to and grabbed the stone, lifting it and answering it.
“H-hello? This is Magnus,” He said, feeling kind of dumb for answering like that but it was in the past now.
“Good morning, Magnus! I was just calling to tell you The Director wants to see you three in her office asap,” Avi’s voice said on the other end.
Oh, there must be another relic. Magnus spoke into the stone again, “Oh, alright! We’ll be there in a few!”
They then said goodbye and hung up; Avi was always so excitable. Magnus set the stone down and rubbed at his eyes, still full of sleep. He really just wants to get back into bed. What time was it anyway? He always had a hard time telling here on the moon base.
“Are you done making noise down there? I’d like to try and get a little more shut eye up here,” A familiar voice spoke behind him, and turned around to look up at Taako peering down at him from his bunk above Magnus’ bed.
Magnus flashed him an apologetic smile and scratched at the back of his head, “Actually, The Director would like to see us in her office. As soon as possible, apparently.”
Taako groaned and rolled his tired eyes, “Ugh, again? Didn’t we just, like, get the fifth relic? Like, a week ago or something?”
“Yeah, but I guess they found this other one pretty quick,” Magnus replied, still sounding apologetic, “Sorry, Taako.”
Taako groaned again, rubbing at his tired face before peering back down at Magnus through half-lidded eyes. He glanced over the bulkier man’s shoulder once, then looked back at Magnus, “Which one of us is gunna have to wake that up?”
Magnus turned to look over his shoulder, eyes landing on the incredibly heavy sleeper that is Merle. He sighed and looked back at the elf looking like he was about to fall back asleep; Magnus held out his hands, one a fist and the other flat, “Rock paper scissors for it?”
Magnus didn’t miss the smirk that tried to pull at Taako’s lips, “Fine.”
He held out his hands too, and then their voices chorused “rock, paper, scissors.” Magnus’ hand stayed a fist, while Taako’s was held out flat. Paper beats rock. Magnus frowned, “Dammit.”
Then Taako did let that smirk shine, “Haha, loser.”
He then rolled back into bed and stared up at the ceiling, out of Magnus’ view. Magnus sighed but pointed a finger up at the bunk above him where the lanky elf was hiding, “Fine, I’ll get him this time, but you’re stuck with him next time,” He heard a mumbled dismissal, then he spoke again, “And don’t fall back asleep up there or I’ll drag you down myself.”
“I’m not, I’m not. Can’t a guy just take a minute to wake up? Jeez,” Taako muttered, speech slurring a bit with his sleepiness.
Magnus rolled his eyes but didn’t say anything more, he knew his threat worked, because Magnus would definitely drag Taako down by force and Taako knew that. Magnus turned to face Merle who slept like a hibernating bear and he winced. He really hated waking Merle, mostly because he always flinched awake like someone was trying to murder him in his sleep and he often accidently smacked whoever was trying to wake him. That just so happened to most often be Magnus. Taako must cheat at rock, paper, scissors or something. Maybe he’s got a mind reading spell? Whatever it is, Magnus knows he’s cheating. His luck isn’t that good.
Magnus stepped forward, reaching out a hand as carefully as he could and attempting to wake up the unconscious dwarf, “Hey Merle, it’s time to get up.”
His voice sounded nervous and almost unsure as he took slow and nervous steps towards the only remaining sleeping party member. Of course, just speaking in a low tone was not enough to wake Merle who continued to snore, mouth wide open and drool pooling out. Magnus winced, finding that a little gross, but whatever; he kept stepping forward, “Merle. Hey, wake up. We have to go, The Director wants to see us.”
Of course, still nothing. Well, it’s now or never. Magnus reached out, a finger pointed out as he slowly and carefully poked Merle on his exposed stomach. Magnus flinched when the dwarf snorted and he jumped back, only to find Merle had just taken in a deep breath through a snore and was now turning and rolling onto his side, facing away from the human. Magnus would’ve yelled if he were a worse person. Luckily for him, there was a worse person behind him.
Taako cast Prestidigitation, creating a small spark against Merle’s bare back, the effect of it startling the dwarf awake, and Magnus just so happened to be standing a little too close and SMACK. Merle hit him right across the face. Magnus stumbled back, holding his stinging cheek and glaring at the dwarf as Taako’s hysteric laughter suddenly started behind him. He spun around to turn his glare to the elf briefly before Merle spoke.
“Oh, sorry Magnus,” Was all he said.
“Sorry?! You just smacked me! And really hard, I should add!” Magnus snapped, still holding his red cheek.
Merle just chuckled and sat up, scratching at his side, “Whoops!”
Magnus huffed through his nose, the sound of Taako’s hysterical laughter continuing behind him. He turned back around to set his gaze on the elf who was leaning over the edge of the bunk, clutching his stomach, “What the hell are laughing about?”
He wiped a tear from his eye, still chuckling as he spoke, “Sorry there, Magno, the look on your face was just too perfect!”
His bubbly laughter kept on and Magnus would’ve been mad if it had been anyone other than Taako, he just had a hard time getting angry at him. Merle on the other hand… “Anyway, what’s with the rude awakening? I was having a nice dream.”
Magnus decided to drop the whole smack thing, it wasn’t the first time anyway. He rubbed at his face again before he explained, “The Director wants to see us. Apparently there’s a relic, I guess? I don’t know, Avi didn’t tell me too much.”
Merle didn’t react too much, he was never one to throw a fit about a new mission. He just shrugged, “Okay, I’ll get dressed.”
Then he threw the blankets off of his body, revealing that he was wearing absolutely no clothes at all. Both Magnus and Taako shielded their eyes, the latter shouting, “Whoa, old man! That is not easy on the eyes!”
Merle, feeling no shame whatsoever, just put his hands on his hips from where he was finally standing and exclaimed, “What?! Can a man not sleep in the nude?!”
“No, he may not!” Taako shouted, “I’m going to need to bleach my eyeballs to remove this nightmare from my mind.”
Merle rolled his eyes, “You two are just a couple of babies,” Then he turned and went down the short hall to go and get dressed.
Magnus unshielded his eyes, releasing a deep breath, “Jeez… That was…”
“Horrible? Unholy? Yes, I agree,” Taako said from behind him, and he turned to look at him to see him rolling onto his back and draping an arm over his eyes dramatically, “Life really is an endless game of horrors, isn’t it?”
Magnus would’ve smirked if he wasn’t wincing over the odd angle in which Taako was laying, back draped over the metal bar on the side of his bed as he hung halfway upside down, blonde hair hanging somewhat messy, “Does that not hurt your back?”
“Hm?” Taako took his arm away from his eyes, arm hanging now too which made this whole borderline acrobatic act look even more painful; he smirked smugly, “Oh, I’ve always been this flexible.”
He wiggled his thin eyebrows, and Magnus rolled his eyes, “I’m sure your grim reaper boyfriend knows all about that.”
He’d never seen Taako blush before, but it made him laugh harder than he was expecting. Taako rolled over, crawling back onto his mattress and curling up, peering over the side, only his eyes and above visible; Magnus could see the tips of his ears were red though, “Shut up…”
That just made Magnus laugh harder, and he finally turned and went to find his gear, leaving Taako to get over his embarrassment so he could get dressed too.
---
There was another relic, or at least a tip of where to find one. It wasn’t confirmed, but The Director wanted them to go out and make sure just to be safe. So, they did just that. It was in some tiny fishing town by the ocean, which was something exciting at least. The people in town were friendly too, though they didn’t really have any information on anything weird going on. Figuring the townspeople would probably be out of the loop on any danger, they went to the mayor of the small town of maybe 50 people. He lived in a small house much like everyone else’s in the town, and he was a lively man and very polite.
“Oh, hello! And who might you gentlemen be?” He had greeted them once they were on his doorstep. He was a shorter man with short cut and neat hair and big brown eyes; he had a soft look.
“Hi, Taako here, hello,” Taako stepped forward, waving a slender hand, “We came here because of a, uh, dangerous presence?”
“Dangerous presence?” The man seemed confused, thick white eyebrows knitting together, “I’m not sure what you’re talking about, son.”
Magnus stepped forward then, “Hi, I’m Magnus. Um, we’re from a defense force I guess you could say, and we got a tip that there was a disturbance? In this town?”
“I’m not so sure what you boys are talking about,” The man just seemed outright confused. He had no idea what they were talking about.
“Well, maybe it’s a false tip,” Merle said, then he lifted a hand and waved, “Well, we’ll be seeing ya.”
Then he turned and hopped off the porch. Magnus turned to him briefly, “Merle!”
“Yeah, I’m gonna go hit the beach,” Taako cut in, turning and following Merle down the steps.
“Taako!” Magnus reached out for the elf, grabbing his arm and stopping him.
Taako flinched out of his grasp, smoothing the sleeve of his black shirt, “Hey, watch how you handle the merchandise! This shirt was expensive!”
“You stole it!” Magnus reminded him.
“Doesn’t mean it wasn’t marked at a high price!” Taako said, smoothing the creases in his sleeve.
Magnus rolled his eyes, keeping his voice low, “Alright, whatever. Listen, we can’t just give up so quickly. Shouldn’t we ask more questions? The Director didn’t get this tip from nowhere.”
“I mean, if you want to hang around here with this old fart and ask boring questions about something he knows nothing about, be my guest,” Taako said, waving a hand around as he slumped his shoulders, “Or you could come with us and vibe on the beach for a while. All up to you, Magno.”
Well, that did sound tempting. Taako could see the gears turning in the man’s head, and he smirked smugly and leaned on his umbra staff as he waited for Magnus to figure out what he wanted to do, “Do you think there’s a lot of shells down there?”
Taako smiled a little bigger, “In a small town like this, I bet all the pickin’s are still there.”
A beat of silence, and then Magnus spun around to face the mayor, “Thank you for your time, but we must be going now!” Then he turned around and ran down the steps and past both Merle and Taako, shouting for them as he went, “Come on guys, we’re burning daylight!”
Taako kept up his smug smile and went to walk alongside Merle, who was taking his time. Magnus was already long gone. It took them a while to catch up to him, as he made it to the beach pretty fast. When the other two got there Magnus had already rolled up his pant legs and was searching for shells at the edge of the water. The elf and the dwarf paused, still standing on the path and out of the sand, watching as Magnus picked up shell after shell and inspected them closely; he already had a stockpile basketed in his shirt.
“He’s like a child,” Taako observed, though there was something fond in his voice that Merle took note of.
The dwarf smirked, “Yeah, but it’s a good addition to our group next to pervy dwarf and idiot elf.”
Taako put a hand to his chest and smiled, “Oh, why thank you.”
He should’ve said sarcastic. Merle rolled his eyes, but was amused. He waved a hand forward, gesturing for Taako to follow him, “Well, come on then. As he said, we’re burning daylight.”
He took off his shoes so they wouldn’t fill with sand and set them next to Magnus’ boots before he hobbled down the soft sand and towards the shore. Taako sighed through his nose and took off his boots as well, placing them with the other pairs and stepped down the beach to join his party. The rest of the day was pretty relaxed. Magnus collected shells, Merle set his feet in the water, and Taako relaxed under the sun. It was all very calm, which was unusual for their usual adventures, but no one was complaining. It appeared to be a false tip anyway, and with any luck they could be going back to the Bureau tomorrow.
Merle had started stringing some shells, making a necklace as the sun started to set. Taako had already made a fire, using a small fireball and setting the dried driftwood Magnus had found ablaze. Magnus was still foraging for shells even though he’d already collected a few pounds worth. Merle had started dozing off through his necklace making, chin hitting his chest and a snore sounding from him. Taako rolled his eyes and chuckled, then he closed his eyes, hoping the gentle roll and crash of the waves would lull him to sleep. He didn’t really need to sleep, but since he started adventuring with Merle and Magnus he’d found sleeping was quite nice. Very relaxing. It’s something he wouldn’t have found himself doing back in the day, back when he was… He shook his head slightly, not really appreciating the mental images that decided to flash into vision with closed eyes. He hates when his brain turns against him.
He heard footsteps to his right, a few feet away, heavy steps. He must have finally finished collecting shells. Taako cracked open one eye, peering up at the human as he stayed down in the sand on his back, arms behind his head and acting as a pillow, “Finished treasure hunting?”
Magnus turned his gaze away from the shells cupped in his hands, catching eyes with Taako now. He smirked a little, his eyes looking tired; being out in the sun all day must have zapped away his energy like it did the other two, “Oh, yeah. I found some pretty cool stuff! I found a sand dollar, too! I’m gonna give it to Carey!”
Taako was smiling sort of softly for once, looking amused. He was too tired to care right now. He closed his eyes again and relaxed, “That’s nice, Magpie.”
“Oh, I found something for you too!” Magnus said, making Taako open his eye again.
“Oh?” He hummed, watching as Magnus held something out to him. It was a small pink shell, a couple of chips in it and also a large crack through the middle.
“It was pretty and pink, thought you’d like it,” Magnus said, kicking his foot nervously.
Taako opened both his eyes now and sat up a tad, taking the shell in his fingers and looking it over briefly. He looked back at Magnus, “It’s broken.”
Magnus shrugged, “Well, I think broken things need love too.”
Something pulled at Taako’s heartstrings then, and his chest felt… warm? Full? He wasn’t sure, but it wasn’t a feeling he’d felt in… Well, he couldn’t be certain the last time he felt like this. He didn’t say anything, just held the shell in his thin fingers, eyebrows raised as he kept his eyes on the human’s honey brown ones, “Taako?” It was only when Magnus curiously called his name that he snapped out of his reverie.
Taako blinked, pulling himself out of… whatever that was, “Hm? Oh, um… Thanks, Maggie. I’ll keep this safe.”
Wasn’t the most Taako-esque thing he could’ve said in that moment, but he was tired so he’d just brush it off to that. He closed his fingers around the shell and pushed it into his pants pocket, keeping it there where it’d stay safe. Magnus smiled seeing this, “I’m glad you like it!” He then looked down at something else in his hand, “I’ll give Merle his tomorrow, he seems to be a little… occupied right now.”
He laughed light-heartedly, and Taako followed his gaze to look at Merle. Head dropped, chin touching his chest, half-finished shell necklace in his chubby hands. He was deep in sleep. Taako chuckled a bit too, “I’m following his lead. Doing nothing all day sure is exhausting.”
“You’re telling me,” Magnus replied, suddenly yawning very loudly and stretching his arms over his head before he suddenly collapsed straight onto his back right next to Taako, spilling sand up in a cloud onto the wizard.
Taako spit and sputtered, waving the sand away and rubbing at his eyes as he sat up halfway, “Fuck! Magnus, watch where you’re falling! My poor eyes!”
Magnus laughed at him, taking this as a bit of revenge from this morning when Taako was laughing at him for getting smacked by Merle. Well, okay, maybe he already had his revenge by teasing Taako about Kravitz who he “totally didn’t have a date with.” Magnus relaxed on the sand, looking up at the darkening sky, “It’s nice here.”
“Yeah, real nice! I can’t see, I got sand in my mouth, and-- Magnus, I told you this shirt was expensive!” Taako continued to complain.
Magnus rolled his eyes, “Again, you stole it.”
“And again, that doesn’t lessen its value!” Taako reminded him.
Magnus closed his eyes, ignoring the elf’s dramatics, “Well, I’m going to take advantage of this comfortable sandy spot and sleep.”
“Yeah, you do that, you chucklefuck,” Taako muttered irritably, swiping stray sand off of his shirt, “That’s what I was about to do until you burned my very eyes with hot sand.”
“It’s not even hot now, the sun went down,” Magnus told him, voice calm and teasing.
Taako wasn’t amused, “Ugh, sometimes I wonder why I’m still here with you two dumbasses.”
Magnus snickered, “Because you loooove us.”
Taako frowned, finally dropping the dramatics. He looked down at his hands that had been frantically brushing stray sand off of himself. He let one drop over his pocket where the pink and broken shell lay beneath; he could feel the lump it made in his pocket. His fingers gripped the fabric of his pants, trying to ground himself as he thought about what Magnus said. He didn’t like thinking about it, he decided. Emotions were too complicated. How he felt about things and people was too complicated.
He decided to brush this off like he did most everything else. He put on his smug tone again and rolled his eyes, “Yeah, whatever. Maybe if I close my eyes and pray hard enough when I open them you’ll be gone and I’ll be alone and not annoyed.”
Magnus laughed at that, and when he spoke again Taako could tell he was mostly asleep, “You’re funny, Taako… I’m glad you’re here…”
Magnus’ breathing evened out, chest rising and falling slowly as he drifted off to sleep. The elf laid back down, avoiding looking at either Magnus or Merle who was still sleeping upright across from him. Taako rolled onto his side and wrapped his arms around himself, curling up and staring at the dunes several yards away. The breeze that had picked up a bit was making the air colder, the sun having disappeared over the horizon not doing any favors. But even still with the cool chill of the evening, Taako felt warm. He groaned and closed his eyes.
He really hates how much he likes these guys.