Through A Stone of Farspeech, Lightly

[robinauts]

Title: Through A Stone of Farspeech, Lightly
Fandom: The Adventure Zone
Pairing: Taako/Kravitz, Angus/OMC
Rating: G
Word count: 1,727
Summary: Angus calls Taako with an important life update!
Note: Originally posted to my AO3 12/29/2016. See more detailed notes at the end!

-

Even at nineteen years old, and long after the Bureau has finished its mission and everyone’s moved along with their lives, Angus still feels his knees shake a little when he attunes his stone of farspeech to Taako’s frequency. In happiness, certainly, and in anticipation of talking with his old friend, of course, but… well. Talking with Taako is always a caltrop-field. He never knows if what he says will make Taako look at him sidelong with disdain, or poke fun at him, or decide to try and pull some wool over his eyes - or maybe, just maybe, he’ll get one of those elusive and valuable compliments. Taako, as with everything but spices and sugar, is stingy with his affection.

But when Angus does get some of that validation from his old mentor… it feels pretty darn good. And he’s a sucker for a puzzle, always has been, always will be, and Taako’s a puzzle of a person.

He waits a few moments for Taako to notice the flashing shimmering lights of his farspeech stone being contacted, and is about to make it start ringing when he hears feet rush across the floor, fumbling hands grapple at the stone, and an exasperated voice go hold your horses amigo I’m here, good lord.

“Hello sir!” Angus can’t help but chirp out as he always has. He’s not ten years old anymore, but it’s a tradition and he can’t imagine how he’d be teased if he tried greeting Taako with anything else. And he really misses those days of being taught simple little spells in a cafeteria on a false moon. The university is wonderful, he adores working there, but every once and awhile he wishes he could go back to times that were both simpler and wilder.

Well, only if he could bring one thing with him.

“Hey Ango, what the fuck is up," Taako mumbles somewhat absently and fairly out of breath, and if Angus strains his ears he can hear Taako’s feet shuffling across a floor of some kind. It’s not carpet, Angus puzzles together automatically, probably tile or hardwood - and with the certain clatter of objects in the background Taako seems to be in the kitchen, so it’s probably tile. “What are you bothering me about today?”

“Oh, uh, nothing much!” Angus replies, fidgeting with a quill on his desk. “Just wanted to update you on some stuff!”

“Listen, Ag,” Taako says, seeming to be stirring a pot of bubbling… stew? “Not that I don’t like you and all that, but I couldn't give less of a shit about the deep theory divination stuff you fill your little gnome head with. Cuz I don’t speak nerd.”

“Oh no sir! None of that, I know you don’t care about it!” Over the years, Angus has come to appreciate how he doesn’t have to restrain himself from being overly blunt when he talks to Taako - it was a social skill he had struggled to learn in his childhood, and to just be allowed to statethings is a weight off of his chest. “Well, I mean, last week I managed to find out the exact date of when our sun will go supernova and that was pretty exciting -”

“What the fuck is a supernova.”

“- but that’s not what I called to tell you.”

Angus hears Taako sigh in relief and start dicing some sort of vegetable. Celery? An onion? “Cool cool. Spit it out, then, I’m makin’ dinner and I don’t have all the time in the world.”

Well, might as well just say it. “I… I have a boyfriend!” The word is still exciting and new and wonderful on his tongue and makes his whole being light up with happiness. He can still barely believe it.

“Whaaaaat?” Taako coos, stopping his work. “Li’l Ango Mick-Dee, gettin’ some ass? Never thought I’d see the day!”

“Sir!” Angus admonishes him with a laugh. “We haven’t - I mean -”

“Yes, yes, taking it slow and all that shit, you’re very chaste,” Taako says, and Angus can tell he’s rolling his eyes. “Well, tell me about the dude! How hot is he? Scale of one to ten.”

“Well,” and Angus can’t help but lower his voice like he’s gossiping even though he’s alone in his lodgings, “I think I got pretty lucky.” He grins like mad when Taako barks out a loud HA, and continues. “His name’s Nathaniel, and he’s a human wizard!”

“Oh? Does he work at your smart boy school too?”

“Yep!” Angus says, mentally playing back the first time he saw Nathaniel across a laboratory tinkering with a magic item (it had blown up in his face, and he’d had this wide grin as he explained the breakthrough he’d made while Angus helped clean the soot off of his dark handsome features). “He’s a grad student like me, 20 years old, in the school of conjuration, and he’s from -"

“CONJURATION?” The volume at which Taako expresses his indignation makes Angus wince and hold his stone at arm’s length.

“For the last time, dear, conjuration is a perfectly respectable school of magic,” Angus can hear in the background, and oh!

“Hello, Mr. Kravitz, sir!” he pronounces loudly and clearly so the reaper can hear it from wherever he is in the room. Probably sitting at the table, or maybe helping with food preparation? He doesn’t have enough information, but if he’s there he must have some time off since he’s able to have dinner at Taako’s house, and Angus feels another rush of happiness because his friends are able to be together today! Wonderful! “How are you this evening?”

Taako interrupts whatever Kravitz was going to reply with a snarl of, “He’s doing terribly because you’ve disrespected this household by dating some stupid conjuration guy!”

Angus can’t help but laugh heartily, rocking back and forth in his chair as he always does. “You haven’t even met Nate, sir! I assure you he’s polite, and inquisitive, and real funny, and very intelligent, and super kind to me -”

Taako snaps, “I don’t care about all that personality shit! What matters is his disgusting choice in how he spends his magic ability!”

Kravitz says dryly, “Dear, weren’t you a conjuration minor?”

“Yeah, and I quit for a reason!”

“I’m a conjuration caster.”

“Exactly! That’s why it sucks! You're all insufferable!"

Kravitz sighs fondly. “If we're judging solely by school of magic, I'll have to give him a glowing recommendation. And I suppose you could say Angus is following in your footsteps with the whole conjuration-boyfriend thing, that’s sweet."

“If he wanted in my footsteps so badly he shoulda stuck with good ol’ transmutation!”

Angus can hear Kravitz laugh along with him, and then there’s some murmuring between the two men that he can’t quite make out - Taako seems to have covered the stone with his hand, and Angus burns with curiosity as he always does. He can tell from their tones that it's a bit of fond bickering like the old married couple that they are, and he can't stop smiling because it's so good how happy they all are.

“Well, guess my boy detective has now become a man detective,” Taako muses with an obvious wiggle of his eyebrows, and Angus hears Kravitz’s chuckle and the sound of dishes being set down.

"That's gross, sir,” Angus scolds, and yet again he can’t help but giggle. It feels like he’s spent this whole stone call laughing - only Nate can make him laugh more than Taako.

“And like. He’s treatin’ you right, right?” Taako says, quieter now. He’s speaking softer and trying to sound nonchalant, but Angus has known him for nine years now and can usually see Taako’s heart through all the bravado he covers it with. That tendency of his used to be way worse, but with Magnus, Merle, and Kravitz in his life, Angus can tell he’s gotten a lot more comfortable in himself. (He hopes that he’s also part of that, but he wouldn’t want to presume.)

“Of course, sir,” Angus replies. “Nate’s real sweet to me. Always pulls my chair out for me and holds the door.”

“Well, good!” Taako sniffs. “You should be able to divine out all the good dudes; I’d be pissed the hell off if you didn’t use your stupid crystal ball for something actually useful, unlike those super-whatsits. But if he pulls any shit, let me know and I’ll send Krav to reap his ass.”

“The only ass I hope to reap is yours, dear,” Kravitz says, and Angus offers up a token noise of disgust at the sound of a kiss. It doesn’t actually bother him (he’s happy that Taako’s still so happy! It gives him a lot of hope), but he’s figured out what kind of responses to give in order to satisfy Taako. It’s no trouble to him.

Kravitz continues, closer to the stone now (holding it?), “But yes, Angus, give us a call if you ever need any advice or muscle, although for the latter Magnus is probably your better bet. Have you called him yet with the big news?”

“I was planning to after I told you guys! He might come visit soon; the last time we spoke he said he was a few days ride away. And after that I’ll call Mavis, and she’ll pass it on to Merle. And after that I'll try and catch Carey and Killian, although they said they might be undercover for the next few days. But I'll try anyway!”

“Well, we’ll let you get to it!” Kravitz says, and Angus can hear Taako mutter and I am not letting dinner get cold just to hear that little dweeb talk about holding hands in the soda shop, no fuckin’ way. Kravitz sighs fondly and adds, “And yes, dinner is on the table. Good talking with you, Angus, feel free to visit us any time you have a spare moment.”

“You too, sir!” Angus replies. Raising his voice a bit, he says, “Talk to you later, Taako! Hope dinner tastes good!”

“Of course it tastes good, I made it,” Taako huffs, and with a soft thump grabs the stone back. “Bye, I guess.”

The stone stops glowing as Taako disconnects the line, and Angus is left there smiling like nothing else.

He can’t wait to introduce Nate to the rest of his family.

 

-

 

Additional notes:

Prompted by tianchimonster on tumblr: "ango coming out (in any way) to his death dad and elf dad?" Hope this works! Tried to balance out Taako's sour personality with some of that good domestic family garbage that I die over every day. I didn't think "coming out" would be as much of a deal here, since I like to think the TAZ world is more chill about all that. I wasn't trying to make any metaphor out of the conjuration thing - I just think Taako would be the sort to get pissy about that, like how I automatically think poorly of someone who plays the alto saxophone (feel free to fight me).

Thanks to Ol from looking this short burst of a fic over for me and for the title! I always appreciate your help.

Find me on tumblr at flovvright for theories that Angus is quite possibly a gnome. It makes sense, guys.