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Taako blinked up at the ceiling, yawning quietly. He was currently trapped under Magnus’s arm and tucked into the man’s chest. He wasn’t complaining necessarily but he had woken up almost thirty minutes ago now and he wanted to stretch. Taako supposed it was his fault really he had been the one to come knocking on Magnus’s door in the middle of the night after being woken by a particularly nasty nightmare. Magnus of course had immediately welcomed him in.
It was… strange, the relationship they had, on one hand from an outside perspective they were probably dating but on the other, they had never explicitly labeled themselves. Regardless, Taako knew when he knocked that Magnus would let him in. Magnus tried for a bit to get Taako to tell him about the nightmare but Taako had been more interested in chasing the fear away by snuggling up to his very cuddly maybe-boyfriend and trying to get back to sleep.
Speaking of, Magnus shifted stretching a bit and Taako immediately seized the opportunity to wiggle away. When Taako steps out he nearly crashes into Lup, who looks between him and the door for a second then raises her eyebrow with a smirk.
“Don’t Lup, I’m too tired for your bullshit right now.”
“I haven’t even said anything!”
“You don’t need to.”
“Whatever,” Lup raises her hands then turns to walk again. “I’m gonna make pancakes wanna help.?”
“No, but I will anyway.”
Taako follows Lup to the kitchen and while he is tired it’s nice to cook with Lup. Slowly the rest of the Starblaster crew filter into the kitchen grabbing pancakes and coffee (or in Lucretia’s case tea) then departing to their respective jobs. The last to come in is Magnus who greets Lup with a sleepy wave and joins Taako at the table. Lup greets Magnus with a knowing grin before waving him to sit.
“What’s got you smiling?” Magnus asks as she places pancakes in front of him.
“Oh nothing, how’d you sleep?” Lup asks turning to the sink to avoid Taako trying to glare holes into her head.
“Pretty okay?” Magnus says a little confused as he digs into the pancakes. “Better than Taako at least, he had a rough night.” Magnus continues not noticing how the named elf tenses.
“...Oh,” Lup says quietly, she turns looking between the two.
When Taako doesn’t elaborate, Lup clears her throat and leaves the kitchen.
“Did I do something?” Magnus asks quietly.
“Nah,” Taako mutters standing and also taking his leave.
When Magnus finally finds Taako a while later he approaches with caution. Taako is currently pouring over a book that he and Lup had nicked from this planet’s grand library. Taako doesn’t acknowledge Magnus carefully sitting across from him.
“Are you upset?” Magnus asks.
“Nah,” Taako answers, not looking up from the book.
“Are you… sure?”
“I’m fine Magnus,” Taako insists.
“I don’t believe you.”
That catches Taako off guard and he looks up finally, confused expression on his face.
“I know you better than you think,” Magnus says. “You're upset so what's up?”
“No, you don't.”
Magnus fixes Taako with a confused look making Taako sigh and close the book.
“You don't know me or else you wouldn't have told Lup about last night.”
“...That's why you're upset? But I mean wouldn't Lup know you get nightmares?”
“Well yeah, she knows but that's not the point! The point is you do this kind of thing all the time.”
“Hold on Taako you lost me, what ‘kind of thing’?”
“You like, include me in your answers,” Taako says, slightly exasperated. “You share stuff that you don't need to about me .”
“You don't like me talking about you?” Magnus asks with a tilt of his head.
“I like you talking about me, I don't like you sharing my life.”
“That's… that's-”
“Convoluted? Yeah, I know.”
“Like, how am I supposed to know what I can and can't share?”
“Err on the side of caution Mags I dunno.”
“But why? I don’t understand why something like you having a nightmare is too much to share,” Magnus says his brow furrowing.
“It just is okay!” Taako throws his hands up. “It just is and yeah I wish I didn’t care as much but I do so just… keep it in mind?”
“Hold on… is this also why you don’t really say anything about anyone either?”
“Yeah?” Taako says as though it should be obvious. “Why would I share other’s information?”
“Because like, there’s some stuff that it doesn’t matter if it gets shared?”
“It matters to me, Magnus! Is that not why we are having this conversation?” Taako snaps.
“Okay okay,” Magnus says, gently placing a hand on Taako’s. “I will try to do better to remember.”
Taako’s face falls and he shakes his head a bit. “Whatever, it doesn’t matter, I’m sorry for snapping.”
“No, it does matter because it matters to you so I will try to remember okay?”
“Okay,” Taako says, voice quiet. He looks down for a second, pursing his lips, “thanks.”
“It’s not a problem! It takes effort to make relationships work!” Magnus says beaming.
“What?” Taako questions and Magnus’s face pales a bit.
“Oh! Not that- well not that we’re not not dat-” Magnus cuts himself off swallowing harshly and looking away. “Sorry.”
“No, no it’s fine I get what you mean. This,” Taako gestures between the two of them. “Will take effort… mostly because I’m difficult but ya know.”
“You’re not difficult and besides I want to make this work.”
Taako smiles gently, patting Magnus’s hand. “I do too.”