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

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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Kravitz lets Taako have the moments he needs to collect himself, opening his own bottle of water and drinking from it, opening the dishwasher to check and make sure it ran it's cycle properly (of course it did, it's brand new, but he's not going to stare like some sort of alien while the elf looks so very, very close to some kind of precipice of a breakdown). "In the entertainment industry, it seems like there's three of those for every decent person," he says, not minding at all that Taako has shifted the subject away from something that so very clearly is still a raw wound.

"I do, actually. Piano and guitar are my primary loves, but I can play several instruments besides those. I'm planning on turning the basement into a studio, so unfortunately my piano is still in storage while the renovations down there are still yet to be finished," he says, glancing from side to side as if checking to see if some mysterious third party is listening before leaning forward, tone of voice secretive. "Do you want to see the body drawers?"

He feels some kind of relief to hear that Kravitz is still a musician, even if it's not what he's doing for a living. Taako wouldn't wish having the thing you love spoiled for anyone. "You got me beat, I can only just carry a tune," he says, not showing how impressed he is, because he doesn't doubt for a second that Kravitz is talented. Probably one of those assholes who can do everything well.

He quirks an eyebrow when Kravitz looks around and leans in and then fights back a grin. "You are fucking with me, you do not still have body drawers in your house! Who lives in a house with body drawers? Like, this place was a functioning morgue! Those things have to be so gross!"

"I'm sure you can carry enough of a tune to sound lovely when you sing," Kravitz says, his tone of voice conveying that yes, that's a genuine statement, because no, he doesn't really understand or use sarcasm. "Do you cook, still?" And....hmm, maybe that's not a smart thing to ask, but Taako had been rather candid in telling him that things ended on a sour note with his professional cooking career, so hopefully he isn't stepping on any toes.

"Just like Jenkins, they've been bleached and cleaned," Kravitz says sensibly, although he's grinning rather unabashedly. "They're a central fixture of the original building, how could I not keep them in tact? All that storage just built into the walls."

He hesitates in answering the question about him still cooking, because that's the real sore spot. If he could just cook without getting caught up in fantasies of what could have been, he could move on already. Unfortunately, he's always dreamed big, and he can't let that go. "I cook, but I mean, just enough to feed myself, nothing like I used to. A college kid with a hot plate could probably make something more impressive than the shit I cook."

"Now you are so not convincing me about this not being a lich thing, my dude. Like every second I am here, I am so much more convinced." He doesn't sound put off, though, quite the opposite. He has a clear fascination with the idea of the body drawers. "Hell yes I want to see these bad boys. "

"I understand. It took me...seven years, before I even so much as looked at a sheet of music again," he admits, making a face. "And even then, it was another year before I started playing in seriousness. Having music in my life again is still very much a new thing. It takes time, if it's ever meant to happen again." Hopefully, he manages to land somewhere in the area of encouraging but not arrogant. Just because he was able to overcome his own issues with losing his career in music doesn't mean Taako faces the same issues, or will ever want to cook the same way again.

"I've made my peace with it, at this point," Kravitz sighs, making a beckoning motion and heading out of the kitchen back into the living room. Down a small hallway with several doors, he eventually opens the one at the end, turning on a light that illuminates the stairway. As soon as he opens the door, it's clear that this part of the house isn't finished, not even close. The walls are discolored with age, and the stairs creak badly as Kravitz leads the way down. At the bottom, he leads the way through a few smaller rooms. "I'm planning on opening all this space up. These were rooms used for viewing the bodies and for waiting members of the deceased's family," he explains as he leads his way back.

Beyond those smaller rooms, there's one big, long one, with about a dozen huge metal drawers inset into a fixture that dominates the entire far wall. Just like in fucking Fantasy CSI, it's the drawers where bodies were kept until they were prepared and ready to be buried or cremated.

Taako fucking hates feelings. He hates feeling bad, he hates talking about them, and he hates that he appreciates Kravitz's words, that he can relate. "It's only been about three years, so maybe there's hope for me yet," he says. He doesn't believe it, but saying it isn't as hard as it should be.

He follows after Kravitz as they head down the hall and bites his lip against making a joke about getting a tour of the whole house. He's not sure if he'd pick up on the innuendo. So he lets Kravitz go down a few steps before he starts down the stairs. He doesn't fully trust them to support him and is glad when he reaches the bottom.

"So this is where all the ghosts are gonna be hanging out," he says. The rooms are giving him the creeps, which leads him to walking a bit closer to Kravitz. If something happens, he's gonna be the survivor. The room with the body drawers is easily the creepiest and most enchanting, though. "You could throw one hell of a Halloween party down here."

Edited 2017-03-18 02:41 (UTC)

"Maybe," Kravitz says in agreement, and is content to leave it at that. There's no sense in lingering on it any longer, especially not when it puts that look on Taako's face, like he's being hunted and is seconds away from bolting. It makes his stomach tighten unpleasantly, and although he knows intellectually that there's nothing he can do, the emotional part of him wants to help somehow, if he even can.

It flusters him when Taako starts following him so closely, clearly unnerved by the space, but it's definitely understandable and not some kind of flirting. "It'd be a terrible party," he confesses. "Me, my sister, and Jenkins. We'd really let ourselves go." Yeah, he doesn't really...do friendships, or social gatherings. Makes parties kind of a bummer.

Moving slightly down the wall, he indicates a drawer about on eye level with Kravitz, and therefore a little higher up than Taako. "This is where I found Jenkins," he says, probably needlessly, because scrawled on what looks to be an ancient index card, in messy cursive writing, is the name 'Jenkins'. "He was the only one."

"What?" Taako sounds truly offended. "You wouldn't invite me to your spooky party? Jenkins would be devastated. I bet he'd invite me as his plus one." He doesn't comment that Kravitz doesn't mention any friends. If left to his own devises, he wouldn't have any friends himself. He's never openly called them friends and they've all pretty much accepted that, thankfully.

Taako tilts his head back to look up at the drawer, steadying himself with a hand on Kravitz's shoulder to look at the index card. "Saying it that way sounds almost ominous. The only one left... was Jenkins. I love that you just use his real name. That is just bonus creepy, my dude, like just, hanging out in your office with this skeleton that you know the name of, that is a spooky thing you got going on."

"Would you come if I invited you?" Kravitz asks, and wow that...sounded a lot more honest and vulnerable than he meant. They're just talking about some dumb hypothetical Halloween party, but he has to go and get his big dumb stupid crush involved. It sucks. It sucks because Taako is gorgeous, and funny, and apparently finds how creepy he is to be endearing and not the crippling blow that makes people decide that his good looks aren't worth suffering through the literal skeleton in his office.

"Mission accomplished, I was trying to be ominous." That's a lie, but whatever, unintended bonus affect. "I don't know anything besides that. All the records got cleared out of here, so I don't know if that's his first or last name, how he died, who he is, none of it. He's just...Jenkins." A flush comes to his cheeks when Taako holds onto his shoulder for a better look at the index card, but he doesn't comment on it; only mentally prepares himself to steady the elf should he need help.

Taako gives his shoulder a squeeze before standing properly again and letting go. "Of course I would come," he answers, tilting his head to look up at Kravitz through thick lashes. He's entirely too much of an open book for his own good. "I'd much rather be invited by you than by boneboy up there. Just met and he wouldn't keep his hands off me! Real classy guy."

He taps on the body drawer at his level, not moving away from Kravitz. "I bet you haven't even used these for any sick photo ops. I'd shove Angus in here for a photo so fast."

The joke loosens the knot in this throat, and Kravitz is thankful for it; he really is too much of an open book for his own good (although he doesn't know that Taako thought that, the writer is using convenient parallels). "I'll have a word with him later about his manners," he says, clicking his tongue to show his disapproval.

"Please don't shove your.....ward into one of these," he says, not really sure what to call Angus since he's pretty sure the boy isn't Taako's son, at least not in any biological or legal sense. "I don't have the keys, so we'd be shit out of luck and he'd be stuck in there until the locksmith arrived." It's much easier to focus on the prospect of locking children into the body drawers than the fact that Taako is still so close to him, warm and smelling faintly of some floral perfume that Kravitz really likes. It's nice.

"Woah there, ward is a bit of a strong word, carries some responsibility to it. I don't know I'd call the kid my ward," he says quickly. There is a lot of responsibility in his relationship with Angus, which he tries not to focus on. He doesn't want to fuck the kid up, which means he shouldn't be in his life at all, but he also realizes how much it would fuck him up if he just up and left. "He's just a nerd I'm helping with magic. I guess he's my student, if anything."

"But yeah, maybe not so great to lock a kid in a body drawer. Now, Magnus or Merle..." He smirks like he's seriously considering a way to pull it off. Both of the men would be grossed out by it, but he'd bet money that Magnus would freak out.

"Sorry, I was getting kind of a Batman and Robin vibe from you two, which is why I went with ward," Kravitz explains, a little amused by how vehemently Taako denies any sort of responsibility for Angus. The two had seemed thick as thieves when he saw them outside his house, and it's sweet to know that the elf is teaching him or hanging out with him or whatever he wants to classify it as. "You're a wizard?" he asks, looking surprised.

"So long as I can claim plausible deniability," Kravitz says saintly, looking up at the ceiling. "I don't want your boss to sue me for wrongful endangerment on the job."

"Guess that hasn't really come up, huh?" Taako reaches into his pocket and after a moment pulls his wand out of what should be an impossible space. The wand tapers to a point, the handle gold with ornate designs that are repeated two other spaces on the otherwise pearlescent wand. "Great Wizard Taako, at your service."

"I'll come up with a distraction for you," he says. He can think of a number of ways he could distract Kravitz. He can think of a number of very, very fun ways. "Besides, it's hardly endangerment when I could open the lock."

Kravitz looks surprised, but then just quietly happy, like he's thrilled to have gotten another tidbit of information about Taako. "Your wand is really interesting," he says, leaning a bit closer to see better in the dim light of the room. At least he knows better than to touch. "It's gorgeous." It's gold and intricate, definitely not something a novice wizard would be carrying around with them. "What school do you focus in?"

Kravitz can also think of a few fun ways Taako could distract him, and while they're mostly innocent thoughts (cooking, holding hands, and if he's allowed to be racy, kissing), it's still enough to make his ears go pink. "I think he could still win a lawsuit since it's my fault he ended up in that situation to begin with."

"Isn't it a beauty?" He bites his lip when Kravitz leans in, glad for the wand in his hands to keep him from getting touchy. He holds his wand up for Kravitz to get a better look at it, but not enough to dissuade him from where he's moved closer. "Transmutation is the name of my game, my man."

He's really biting his lip when he notices the flush of Kravitz's ears. He doesn't even bother trying to filter himself as he says, "Depending on how I've distracted you, I think he might find out and forget about all that nasty body drawer business in favor of being the busybody he is."

"It really is, it's very unique," Kravitz says, smiling a little. "It suits you." Not just because it's unique, but because it's elegant and beautiful, both of which are words he would use to describe the elf standing in front of him. Admitting that would be a little too candid, though, so he doesn't. "Oh, that's impressive. It's not an easy area to work in, from my understanding."

Now it's not just his ears that are red, but his cheeks as well, but somehow Kravitz doesn't immediately straighten up and back up. "Well, even if he didn't....depending on how you distracted me, it would be worth the lawsuit," he says, voice hushed and a little shy.

"Not always the easiest, but easily the most interesting," he says, more than a little distracted at this point. Kravitz is only his usual type in being quite literally tall, dark, and handsome. Usually, Taako goes for people a bit more bold like himself, someone who can keep up with him. Maybe he needs to try something different, because that hushed tone and hesitancy is working for him.

He tilts his head as he looks up at Kravitz, smile sweet as sugar and voice a soft promise of illicit suggestion. "Oh, I could make it well worth a lawsuit."

Kravitz is having more than a little trouble focusing on the subject at hand (which is magic, he thinks?), especially when Taako is flirting with him like that, giving him this absolutely heart-stopping smile and speaking words that practically drip seduction. It's a little much for him all to drink in, but it's definitely worth it since it's directed at him. "I have little doubt of that," he says, biting his lip and steeling himself. "But I....feel as if I should take you to dinner first."

Taako's smile widens and he manages not to fumble his wand in his excitement. He thought he was gonna have to do all the work here, so his heart does leap at Kravitz's words. And thank god that he wasn't misreading the man, either. "Whatever you wanna do, my man," he says in the same tone of voice. "Dinner, coffee, whatever you feel's right. I'm up for any and all activities with you."

The relief Kravitz feels at not being immediately shot down, told he's being too forward or that he misunderstood things, is almost palpable. Honestly, it's almost enough to make him a little weak at the knees, especially when Taako's smile only widens at his invitation. "What about dessert?" he asks. "There's a little restaurant I frequent that does amazing chocolate fondue that's good with coffee."

"Oh, fondue!" Taako's tone lightens up, breaking the mood he was trying to build. He's forgotten already that he was angling for some physical action, even if it meant making out against some body drawers. "I love some good chocolate fondue, hell yeah." He shoves his wand back into the space he's magicked into his pocket, bumping Kravitz a bit because wow, really, when did they get this close without him taking full advantage of it?

Honestly, the thought may have crossed Kravitz's mind, but he's definitely not the kind of guy to push a hot elf he's only met twice now against the body drawers and get sloppy. (But he definitely would say yes if said elf were the one to push him against the body drawers to make out.) "I'd be happy to treat you, then," he says with a genuine smile, although his expression gets a bit flustered when Taako draws his attention (inadvertently) to how close they are. But...the other doesn't say anything about it, or back up or push him away, so he'd like to think that it means that their closeness is welcome.

Kravitz seems so easily flustered, he wonders what would happen if he did just shove him up against the body drawers to make out. As much as the thought has his cheeks warm, blood running hot, Taako doesn't want to push him too much. "Ooh, Krav." He presses a hand against Kravitz's chest, batting his eyelashes at him. "Your treat, on the first date? I must have really made an impression on you."

Kravitz feels his heart stutter when Taako puts his hand on his chest, batting his eyelashes at him in a way that's both comical and incredibly endearing and attractive. "You have," he admits honestly, unconsciously leaning in a little closer as he speaks, as if the hand that's touching him is drawing him inexorably nearer to it's owner. "I've never met anyone like you, Taako. I'm quite enchanted."

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