[TAZ] i know i like to draw that line when it starts to get too real

[monstertea]

The problem isn't that the kid is too young to walk himself home, it was the neighborhood. Taako doesn't live in the slums, but his neighborhood isn't really a place for kids to wander around alone, either. Especially a boy detective who does't know how to keep his nose out of other people's business. That's why he's stuck with the kid in the first place, or so he reminds himself when his brain starts to think too fondly of him.

He walks at a languid pace next to Angus, knowing but not acknowledging that he's in no hurry to go home. "You keep working on that mage hand," he says as they walk through a neighborhood much nicer than Taako's. "Just don't go trying anything fancy on your own, little dude." It's a historic area where buildings have been converted into homes and quickly filled by the hoity-toity type of people who like white picket fences and employ other people to take care of their homes. It's easily the nicest foster home Angus has been in yet. So Taako could have dropped him off at the corner, it isn't a neighborhood that sees trouble. He tries to avoid run-ins with Angus's family, but he always has an excuse to see him to his door. At least with this neighborhood he has the easy excuse that it's just interesting to look at the houses, to answer Angus about what each building used to be. Yeah, he knows shit, too. He's just trying to remind the kid that he isn't smarter than him, he's not trying to impress him.

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[monstertea]

"Oh yeah! Today was the person from Angus's neighborhood!" Noticing the photos on the desk, he snatches them up to look through. "We gonna do work in a morgue? Because I'm gonna need to charge extra for every ghost I see."

"I see you two... know each other?" Merle's heard the story about Angus and the lich, Taako regaled him and Magnus with it the day after, but he doesn't know if they've interacted otherwise. Judging by Kravitz's reaction, probably not. "Taako here does most of our layout and design work. If working with him has you running out the door, though, I might offer a discount." He punctuates his sentence by shoving at Taako, who knows what that means. That discount would come out of his check.

"Please, Krav, I remember your name," he says flippantly, like this fixes everything.

[solarisirius]

"You won't be in the morgue, you'll be outside it," Kravitz says sensibly. "If the basement isn't haunted, I highly doubt that the dead plants outside in the courtyard will be, so thankfully I won't be out anything extra for that."

"I don't know if I'd go quite that far, but we have made each other's acquaintance," Kravitz chuckles. "He isn't going to break the deal, Mr. Highchurch, so there's no need to be offering discounts to anyone. If his personal style is any indication of his work, I'd be missing out on the chance to have a truly spectacular garden by cutting him out of the picture." It's easier to compliment Taako when he's pretending like he isn't there, which is probably very classy.

"You literally called me "lich" when you came through the door, which doesn't really make me believe that you remembered my name," he sighs mournfully.

[monstertea]

"Being a lich takes precedence over your name." Taako doesn't take well to be spoken about as if he's not in the room and flops across the desk so he's blocking Merle and Kravitz's view of each other. "But whatever, I'm digging your style, too," he says, waving the handful of photos at Kravitz. "These courtyards are precious, I could design some real classy digs for them."

Merle pulls his notebook out from under Taako, muttering something about disrespectful employees. He doesn't care for the customer service part of the job, though, so he's happy to let Taako take over the conversation. Despite his eccentrics, he's never lost them a customer or a sale. As long as he keeps up that streak, Merle couldn't care less if he was coming to work naked–well, no, that's not something he wants to see, thanks.

[solarisirius]

"See, it's funny how little sense that makes, since I'm not a lich. I can't even make a flame, that's how bad off I am in the magic department." It startles him when Taako ends up kind of flopped across the desk like some kind of pin up model, and it brings a flush to his face to even have had that brief thought. "D-do you have something in mind already?" he asks, trying to distract himself from the rather pretty picture the elf paints at the moment.

[monstertea]

Taako laughs off Kravitz's insistence that he's not a lich, because that's just part of the bit he's doing. It would work if Kravitz played along, too, of course. It's really only when people stop responding that it stops being fun. "You've gotta have this bench Magnus made not long ago, he just did it for funsies but it'll look great against the white brick and shit his furniture is comfy, like who even thought solid wood could be so comfortable?"

"You interested in flowers or just general greenery?" Merle asks from behind the elf.

"Oh, gotta have some flowers," Taako says. "I'd love to put some blanket flowers out in one of the courtyards, those'll bring in some butterflies too if you're into that."

[solarisirius]

"I mentioned wanting seating in one of the courtyards to Mr. Highchurch just before you came in, so it's nice to hear that you agree," Kravitz says, sounding genuinely pleased that Taako reached the same conclusion as him without being told that he was wanting to incorporate somewhere to sit in one of the designs.

It's a little funny to hear Merle's much deeper voice coming from behind Taako without being able to see the dwarf, and Kravitz coughs to hide a laugh. "Both would be fine, I love flowers, although it always does make me a bit sad when they wither." A grin comes to his face. "Oh, I'd love butterflies. I'd like some flowers that attract bees too, if we can incorporate that into things."

[monstertea]

Taako is almost tripped up by how Kravitz has gone from just handsome to cute with his mention of being sad about flowers withering and that grin over some bugs. He recovers himself quickly, though, filing that away as important information about the man. His lich is pretty curious.

"We'll hook you up with some sweet perennials so you won't have to suffer that heartbreak too badly," he says, propping himself up so Merle is somewhat visible again. He looks back at the dwarf, who gives him a nod of acknowledgement–he got it right this time. He's always forgetting which ones are perennials and which are the other types.

"It's just Merle," the dwarf says as he hands his notes over to Taako now that he is able to. Taako glances over them, pursing his lips as he reads what little they had discussed before he showed up. He wonders how much freedom he can get with this project, because he could get some full on Home and Gardens award level chic shit going in this space.

[solarisirius]

"That would be lovely," Kravitz says sincerely, his expression amused when Taako finally sits back up, letting him see Merle once more instead of having to just hear the sound of his voice. It's cute that the owner of the business seems so used to Taako's antics, and that apparently he acts this way all the time, not just because he got caught in a kind of weird, awkward situation standing outside someone's house.

"Ah, Merle than," Kravitz says with a little incline of his head. "If you'd like, I'd be more than happy to let you or anyone from your team come by and take a look at the space in person. I understand it's a bit different from what you usually work with, so I want you to have all the information before we get started."

[monstertea]

"That would be helpful for giving you a starting quote," Merle says. He doesn't even need to look up to know Taako's expression. It's always one or the other of them who does inspections, based on the needs of the client or their own whim. He'd take this one just to spare Kravitz, but...

"Well, this is gonna be your horse and pony show," he tells Taako, finally meeting his eyes. "If you feel like it."

Of course he feels like it. Kravitz is every bit as interesting as his home. "Has to be me, this's gonna be my baby," Taako says, trying to sound put out but he's clearly looking forward to it.

[solarisirius]

Kravitz isn't sure who, exactly, he's hoping will come to his home for the tour of his courtyards. On the one hand, he desperately hopes it's Merle or someone, anyone besides the elf, because then he won't have to worry about embarrassing himself and stress cleaning the whole house at 2 AM because he wants to make a good impression despite the fact that Taako would be in there for less than three minutes. On the other hand, he'd kind of like to see him again.

So he's kind of excited when Taako agrees to take on the project, although he tries not to let it show so much on his face. "I'll look forward to working with you, then," he says, unable to really help the smile on his face. "I have a flexible work schedule, so I can be free to meet you any time that's most convenient for you."

[monstertea]

Taako sits up and whips his phone out, pulling up his calendar. "Let's see what I got open... mmm, hmmm." He's got a whole lot of nothing going on other than seeing Angus. "Well, looks like sooner is better for me. You good for sometime later this week? Any time of day will do."

Merle nudges Taako, waggling his eyebrows. "No hot dates lined up?"

Taako gives him an indignant snort in return, but doesn't take the bait. "What's good for you?" he asks as he turns his back on Merle and offers Kravitz his most charming smile.

[solarisirius]

Kravitz wants to be the hot date. Not that he's thinking that, but....y'know.

"Afternoons or evenings are good for me. I can go to work early and just plan to be done for the day when I need to meet you at the house to let you in," Kravitz says, pulling his own phone out of his pocket and almost fumbles it when he's distracted by Taako's charming smile. "Would Thursday suit your schedule?"

[monstertea]

"Thursday is great," Taako answers, making a quick note in his phone. The afternoon would be more professional... "Evening works good for me." He opens up his contacts next, wondering if he might run into Angus when he's in the neighborhood. He'd love to see the look on his face when he sees Taako going into the lich-not-lich's house. "Can I get your digits, my dude?"

[solarisirius]

Again with the almost fumbling the phone thing. It's not like that, although the way Taako asks for his number kind of sounds like the way you might try and pick someone up at a bar, and Kravitz reminds himself that he did put his phone number on the contact sheet Merle is holding (is the dwarf even still there?). "Of course," he says, and then rattles off the number. "Calling is fine, but sometimes I have my hands full and can't get to the phone, so texting might be a better way to get ahold of me should you have the need and it doesn't make you uncomfortable." Honestly, though, he's not sure if there's anything that makes Taako uncomfortable.

[monstertea]

Taako notices Kravitz nearly fumble his phone this time and thinks he could have many needs for texting him. Merle clears his throat while Taako puts the number in. Yeah yeah, old man, he thinks, stop flirting on company time.

He hops off the desk and in the small office that leaves him right next to Kravitz. "Under K for Krav even," he says as he tucks his phone away and reaches out for a handshake. "I'll hit you up Thursday."

[solarisirius]

"I appreciate very much that you didn't put it under L for Lich, so I'll accept the nickname," Kravitz says, looking quietly pleased when it's put in that context. Most people, even his family, call him by his full first name, so having it truncated is new and exciting. "I'll look forward to it." Standing from his seat, he accepts Taako's hand, giving it a firm shake.

[monstertea]

"Good thing since I'm pretty set on calling you that." Taako's handshake is firm in turn, his hands softer than someone in his profession usually are. "I'm already looking forward to it." He draws his hand away carefully, brushing the tips of his fingers over Kravitz's palm. Forget dressing to the nines, he's gonna need to dress to the elevens. "Hopefully it's all good and we can get rolling on this project."

Merle clears his throat after a moment of watching this exchange. "Yeah , we look forward to working with you."

[solarisirius]

Kravitz doesn't immediately drop his hand when Taako releases it, how can he when his hands feel so surprisingly soft and warm against his own rougher and colder ones? But just because he allows his own touch to linger doesn't mean he's expecting Taako to do the same, and it makes him blush rather hard when the elf brushes his fingers over his palm in an almost-but-not-quite caress. "Um," he says intelligently. "Y-yes, thank you for your time, both of you."

He almost just turns around and walks out then, but that'd be a little too much like tucking his tail between his legs and fleeing, so instead he makes himself stay where he's standing. "Is there anything else you need from me?"

[monstertea]

Taako gives himself a high-five mentally at Kravitz's reaction. No, he imagines a fucking majestic unicorn with two horns that gives him a high five. He does not focus on the word cute with relation to Kravitz; he doesn't do cute. But whatever Kravitz is, it's doing it for him.

"That should be all until Taako's taken a look at the place," Merle answers, sliding out of his own chair and stepping aside the desk. He mutters something about elves needing self control.

"I'll be in touch if anything is needed," Taako adds in and he only doesn't bat his eyelashes because Merle's already going to spend the rest of the day harassing him.

[solarisirius]

"Alright, thank you for making the time to meet with me," Kravitz says, giving a little bow before opening the door and making his way out of the office and then subsequently the store. While he likes to think he's above picking a place to do his landscaping because of who happens to work there, he absolutely fucking isn't, and finds himself very glad that he decided to go with Dirty Plants instead of one of their competitors. Otherwise, he probably wouldn't have ever had the opportunity to run into Taako again, which would have been the worst kind of shame possible. Instead, he's just going to remain stressed out about impressing the elf for the rest of his natural life, which is fine. Totally fine.