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The portal crackles faintly as Kravitz draws it closed with his scythe. He lets the instrument go, and the rip hanging in the air vanishes in the low wind.
His shoes crunch on the rocky ground, and he’s surprised. Back in Neverwinter, where he spends most of his time on the Prime Material, it’s been snowing for a couple of months already, but it’s only comfortably cool here and the ground is bare.
There’s a modest wooden house before him, connected to a larger storefront. But he goes to the front door rather than the store’s porch. Kravitz knocks on the red wood, and he’s met immediately with a cacophony of dogs barking. It swings open and Magnus fills the doorway, ruffled and out of breath.
“Oh, hey, Kravitz!” One of the dogs pushes its face past his legs curiously and he tuts at it. “Sorry, they like guests.”
“Hi, Magnus,” Kravitz says. “I didn’t know when to come… is this a good time…?”
“It’s fine, I was just about to feed the dogs. I didn’t expect you to come to the door,” Magnus says as he turns inside and beckons Kravitz after him. “I figured you’d just cut a portal inside.”
“I find people usually don’t like that very much,” Kravitz says as he steps over the threshold. “I mean, it’s not typically a worry of mine when it comes to necromancers? But I, uh, didn’t wanna be rude.” Make a good impression. Not his first impression… but he’s trying to hopefully do better than that.
“Ah, you don’t need to worry about it,” Magnus says. “People randomly portal in here all the time, it’s what you get for having a family of, like, ninety percent wizards. The other day Lup dropped in without any warning to ask if I had wood shavings laying around—which, obviously I did—but she portalled to right where I was, instead of just into the house, and I was showering at the time, hah! She was like a wet cat, making a face like it was my fault, and it’s not like she can’t just dry herself off with a spell. It would be so nice to be a wizard,” Magnus continues. “It would make laundry so much quicker, like a dryer. Do we have dryers here yet or does everyone still hang clothes up outside? I hang my clothes up outside, but if there’s dryers I wanna get one.” Magnus pauses and looks behind him with a grin as they come into the living room.
“Uh, I—well, to be honest, Magnus, I have no idea,” Kravitz says. “I don’t really, um, own real clothes? Mine are just part of my construct… and even if they weren’t they’d have to be dry cleaned, probably.”
“Oh, yeah. Forgot about the whole dead for millennia thing!” Magnus laughs, but he looks troubled for a moment. “Well, uh, speaking of, then, is Candlenights different now than when you were alive?”
“Almost certainly,” Kravitz says, “but I haven’t exactly kept up with it, and also your world’s traditions are probably different too, so I’m—I’m not sure what we’re doing? I figured you had a plan, and I’d just… portal you where you needed to go.”
“That works!” Magnus says. “Okay, so, basically the gist is, we give gifts. Back home, it was different in different places, but where I grew up, it was kind of like a game. You leave your gifts at peoples’ doors, and you try not to get caught. We did it on the ‘Blaster, too.”
“What happens if you get caught?” Kravitz asks warily. There was some kind of celebration earlier in the year, that involved crushing eggshells filled with confetti on everyone’s heads and shoulders. It got in Kravitz’s hair and a lot of people were touching him and some of them used way too much force; that was one of the unpleasant sensory experiences so far in his ’learning what it’s like to be alive again’ journey. Not as bad as when Lup told him to bite into a chili pepper, and he just trusted her, because he thought they were friends—he’s still sort of upset about that one, honestly, even though she apologized and said she didn’t expect him to really do it.
“You lose,” Magnus answers. “So I don’t wanna get caught, for bragging rights. That’s why I asked you. And we gotta be sneaky.”
“I can be sneaky,” Kravitz says. Right, of course—Magnus approached him for help because the holiday tradition is to… go behind his family’s backs, he couldn’t very well ask Lup or Barry. And he’s quickly learning bragging rights are very important to this family.
He doesn’t remember anything like this from when he was alive. There was something to do with giving, though, in the time and place he grew up, he thinks.
“Perfect. I knew I picked the right guy for the job!” Magnus heaves up a large bag. “Just lemme feed the dogs first.”
-
Kravitz carves a portal into the air and on the other side, a beach house wavers into view. He holds the tip of his scythe against the corner of the rip and gestures politely for Magnus to go through.
“Aw, dunk, it’s still daylight all the way out here,” Magnus says. “At least Merle’s not super perceptive.” He’s holding a long, shallow wooden box in his arms, with a pair of bags of hard candy inside. “Planter,” he explains when Kravitz glances at it. “And candy for the kids. Always a good way to go with Merle, he grows a lot of plants.”
“I’ve… heard,” Kravitz says. “I don’t talk to Merle much,” he admits. “I always feel uncomfortable around him, since, you know…”
“What, the plant thing?” Magnus asks. “I mean, he does some freaky shit, for sure, but like, seventy percent is just goofs. Well, maybe sixty,” he corrects thoughtfully. “Actually, probably more like half and half…”
“I meant the whole, causing him to lose his arm thing,” Kravitz says with a grimace. “But that’s not really helping either.”
“Oh, yeah. Well, that’s a shame,” Magnus says. “He really likes you.”
“What? Why?” Kravitz asks in disbelief.
Magnus shrugs his shoulders. “I don’t know! Alright, I’m gonna sneak on down to the front door and leave this there. Keep a lookout!” He takes off down the beach.
Kravitz shifts his feet in the sand and glances back and forth. There’s not much to watch out for. He sort of thought the point was to sneak past the people inside the house.
He’s been here a couple of times, with Taako and Lup and Barry. A couple of times with just Lup and Barry, too, when one or the other of them got injured on the job. They still have living bodies for the time being, so they can’t just reform their constructs like he does, and they, like, bleed all over the place until they’re healed. He finds that an unpleasant part of living, too. It seems messy.
He watches the waves lap at the shore. The times they’ve come here for non-urgent matters, his… friends? New family? Boyfriend and in-laws? Boyfriend and coworkers? His… Taako and Barry have swam in the ocean. They seem to have a lot of fun. He’s thought about joining them but never has. Perhaps if the water were warmer. Besides, lying in the sun with Lup is nice, even though she always teases him about turning to dust in the daylight.
“Alright, present delivered!” Magnus says from suddenly beside him, and startles him out of his thoughts. “You ready to move on?”
“Oh—yes,” Kravitz says. “Who’s next?”
-
When Kravitz steps out of the next portal, he waves sheepishly at a confused onlooker. The quad of the Bureau of Benevolence is fairly busy with people rushing to and fro. Magnus waves cheerfully, too, and marches off toward a collection of domes.
The first is right nearby, the one Kravitz recognizes as having the dorms inside. The dorms are really the only reason he’s come to the moon before. Magnus picks the lock of one of the doors while Kravitz nervously glances up and down the hallway, and then he slips inside and leaves a bottle on the table. “Avi appreciates good booze,” he says as he shuts the door, and they hurry back outside.
Magnus still has in his hands a long, polished piece of wood shod with steel at the bottom and beautiful carvings around the top. “Lucretia got used to having something to lean on,” he says as they walk, “but the Bulwark Staff is kinda full of bad memories for everyone, you know? So I thought I’d make her something else to use.”
“It’s beautiful work,” Kravitz says truthfully. The wood is shaped naturally and draws the eye, the lacquer is shiny and smooth, and the decorations are finely detailed with scrollwork and lunar symbols. “I’m sure she’ll love it.”
“Thanks!” Magnus says. “There was a long time I wasn’t really carving anymore. After… my wife, you know…” Kravitz nods sympathetically. “But the last year I’ve been back to it. It’s funny how it stays with you. I learned during the cycles, actually. When I first showed up in Raven’s Roost, I didn’t remember knowing how, but Stephen—my father-in-law—while he was teaching me, I just… knew things. It always really bothered me, why I couldn’t understand how I’d learned them.”
“I know what you mean,” Kravitz says. “There are some things like that for me, that I knew how to do in life, and even though I don’t remember it, the muscle memory is still there. Like, I never forgot that I knew how to play string instruments, they were a large part of my life and identity,” he explains. “But one day decades after my death, I picked up a flute and just knew how to play it. I don’t remember ever learning.”
Magnus looks at him oddly. “Have you forgotten a lot of your life?”
Kravitz shrugs. “Quite a bit. It was a very long time ago. It’s been centuries since I died.”
“Wow,” Magnus says. “And I thought one century under my belt was a long time.”
“It’s certainly still more than most humans,” Kravitz points out.
“True that. Is that how memory works for everyone?“ Magnus asks. “Even if you don’t have the memories taken. You’re around long enough and you just start… forgetting things about yourself?”
“Well, I’m sure there’s plenty you’ve forgotten about in the last century,” Kravitz says. “You know, little things. It’s like that, but long enough… yes, you lose more. It, um. It doesn’t help that for a long time I tried not to think about my life. It made me sad, thinking of what I’d lost and how little I’d accomplished. And by the time that pain eased, I’d forgotten so much.”
“I’m sorry,” Magnus says, sounding genuinely sad for him. “That sounds really terrible.”
“It’s alright,” Kravitz says, offput. “As bad as it sounds to say… I don’t really miss what I don’t know. I’m not particularly attached to the first few decades of my existence, it’s a very small amount of time, in the grand scheme of things. The people who are attached to life tend to be the living.”
Magnus nods. “That makes sense. Still, it sucks not to remember things.” They arrive at the entrance of a dome and Magnus leans his staff against the wall beside the door. It has a note tied to it that Kravitz didn’t notice before. “Mission accomplished,” Magnus says, glancing furtively behind him. “I think we’re good to go.”
They hurry away to the shadow of the other domes and Kravitz cuts their portal away.
-
The black night sky mirrors in the still, dark water when Kravitz cuts them a rift to the deck of the ship. It’s anchored in the middle of the sea, alone for miles, so Kravitz has to triangulate using Davenport’s soul and then carefully try to move them far enough away not to pop out right on top of him, but also not in the ocean. It would be difficult if it weren’t a skill he’s honed for hundreds of years. The first few times he tried to portal into necromancers’ lairs he ended up clipping into the solid rock of cave walls. It was unpleasant.
They step out on the deck and Kravitz closes the portal behind them as silently as possible. Magnus creeps toward the door beneath the raised stern deck, which presumably leads to the captain’s quarters. Clutched in his hand is a brass compass inlaid with cosmic filigree, containing constellations Kravitz does not recognize. He wraps the string it hangs from tightly around the door handle.
As soon as he lets the heavy compass drop to hang from the handle, enormous magical floodlights flare down from the mast and a loud siren sound begins to wail. Kravitz shields his eyes as Magnus stands up straight.
A loud, triumphant shout comes from within the door. “I caught your ass!” Quick footsteps approach. “Who is it—?”
“Go, go, go!” Magnus hisses frantically, crashing into Kravitz, pushing him, and he fumbles to summon his scythe and cuts a portal just as the door flies open.
Magnus dives through and Kravitz is just slow enough to make eye contact with Davenport, who says with utter confusion, “Kravitz—?” before Magnus yanks him through the rift.
-
The two of them tumble into the field outside the Hammer and Tails. Kravitz realizes with a bit of embarrassment that he’s breathing hard despite the complete lack of necessity. Magnus meets his eyes, still a little wide with panic, and then he starts laughing wildly.
Kravitz echoes him with nervous huffs, and Magnus bumps his shoulder with the back of his hand as he guffaws, and Kravitz lets the weird breathing become genuine, relieved laughter. “What—what the fuck—was that—?”
“Cap’n’port set a trap!” Magnus howls. “He nearly got us! Gods, that was always how it went on the Starblaster, too,” he says, wiping his eye. “Dav never let anyone get past him, he had trip wires and shit all over his room. At least that one was only an alarm, one time I got trapped in a net and he left me there all night! And this one year, Taako got hit with a sleeping spell that knocked him out cold into the next morning. You know how strong a sleeping spell has to be to work on an elf? Dav doesn’t lose games.”
“Well, I don’t think he saw you,” Kravitz says. “He saw me, but you were already through, so it, uh, it seems like he lost this time.”
“Fuck yes!” Magnus pumps his fists. “One for Magnus! I always knew this day would come.” He holds out a fist. Kravitz doesn’t know if the gesture is modern or alien, but it is certainly new to him; thankfully he’s seen Magnus do it before. He knocks his own knuckles against his. It’s satisfying, the shared victory.
“I bet we’ll get around even setting it off next year,” Magnus says. “He won’t even know we were there till he sees the gift.” Next year? Well, he’ll want to give gifts again, Kravitz guesses.
Magnus sobers suddenly. “Okay, but that was only a taste, Krav—the hardest ones are yet to come.”
“Goddess,” Kravitz says. “That’s ominous.”
“We gotta do Carey and Killian next,” Magnus says grimly.
-
Kravitz steps into darkness. This portal is somewhat far from their actual target; he tracked the Fangbattles’s souls to a small town down the hill Kravitz has delivered the two of them to the crest of. Magnus stares stonily down at the cheery collection of lights.
“So, um,” Kravitz says, “what do we need to look out for?”
“I don’t know,” Magnus says. “Carey’s a master rogue. She can set traps as well as she can disarm them. I’m expecting a real gauntlet, Krav. We may be fighting for our lives.”
“It’s Candlenights,” Kravitz says. “She doesn’t want to kill her friends, surely?”
“Not our lives lives. I mean our pride. I’m gonna be really embarrassed if we get caught.”
“And you think she… trapped the entire town?”
“She taught me everything I know. We can’t be sure what she’s capable of.”
“Right,” Kravitz says. “Well, shall we?”
They sidle down the side of the hill in the dark. Magnus pauses every few steps to look back and forth and shush Kravitz. Is this his rogue skills on display? After a while they get to the edge of town, and begin to creep through the shadows at the sides of the streets. There are bright red lanterns hung between the buildings. It’s very festive, and as they go Kravitz stops focusing on imaginary traps and takes in the sights.
There are exchanges going on, neighbors gathering at corners and on doorsteps, handing one another baskets. But it’s late and it seems like most of the town has gone to bed, and all that’s left on those streets are the lights.
They arrive at an unassuming house with nobody outside, but there’s light in the windows. Magnus creeps onto the porch—freezes at the creak of a board—then when nothing more happens, he sets down a glossy wooden gameboard, and a pouch full of gentle clacking noises that Kravitz assumes to be the pieces.
And there’s… nothing. No voices from inside, the door doesn’t open, no traps spring—Kravitz cranes his head and looks around, but he doesn’t see anything. Magnus hustles off the porch and when he gets into the street he grabs Kravitz’s arm.
“We got lucky,” Magnus mutters. “She’s visiting her brother’s family for Candlenights. She must not have had time to lay any traps for me.”
Kravitz nods. Magnus looks at him expectantly, and he mumbles, “Magnus, do we have time..? I wanted to see something a few streets back.”
“Sure,” Magnus says. “What’s up?”
“I thought I recognized something,” Kravitz says, starting off back toward where he’d seen the people gathered. There had been something, a smell maybe, something tickling the back of his mind… He remembers Candlenights, he remembers living Candlenights, feeling the cold, feeling the lights on his eyes, anticipation, sticky fingers. Sensations that are nearly alien to him, now, fuzzy and long-forgotten.
He traces their way back, but there are even less people out. It’s past midnight now. The moon is high overhead, past the lanterns. He can’t remember which street had spurred the memory. But it sticks in his mind thick like honey.
-
They’re far from the lights of the town, shining beneath them in the lee of the hills; they stand looking down at them in the dark, beneath the crisp winter stars and the new moon.
The wind that buffets them is cold; Kravitz breathes in through his nose even though he doesn’t need to, just to feel it. It’s sort of pleasant, in an odd sharp way.
Magnus says, “Hey, Kravitz.”
Kravitz looks sidelong at him. “Yeah?”
“Thanks for helping me out with this,” he says. “I was really worried about not being able to do it this year.”
“You don’t have to thank me,” Kravitz says. He’s happy to help.
“I just appreciate it,” Magnus says. “This has always been my favorite night, and I woulda been fine just doing it back in Raven’s Roost, but it means a lot to me to be able to still give all my friends gifts just like I always used to, you know?”
Kravitz nods, though he doesn’t, really. For being around for so long he doesn’t have much in the way of history. Just those bits and pieces.
Magnus sighs, a little melancholy, and continues, “We all live so far away now… I didn’t wanna miss out on things we used to do ‘cause we’re scattered. And I want them to know I’m still thinking about them.”
“I’m glad to help, Magnus,” Kravitz says. “I—it’s been a very long time since I’ve celebrated… anything, really. This is—I’m out of practice. But I’ve always enjoyed games. I guess you probably know that, considering how we met, eh?” A year ago to the day, actually. Things have changed quite a bit since then.
“Never been so glad to beat someone at cards!” Magnus laughs, and Kravitz laughs too. He’s never been so glad to lose. Magnus looks out at the lights below. “Did you expect this to be where last Candlenights would lead?”
“Oh, good goddess, no,” Kravitz chuckles. “No, I never in a million years expected this.”
“Is it weird?” Magnus asks. “I mean, sorta living after being dead for, you know, a million years or whatever?”
“It’s so weird,” Kravitz admits. “Magnus, you can’t imagine how fucking weird it is.” He glances over at Magnus; he’s looking at him and smiling slightly. This is a moment, isn’t it? They’re—this is bonding. Kravitz turns to face him. ”But it’s—it’s really good weird. I’ve been enjoying it,” he says.
Magnus faces him too and lays huge hands on his shoulders. “That’s great, Krav. I’m glad, you know? I’m glad you’re here with us.”
Kravitz can’t help but smile. One of Taako’s closest friends likes him. One of the ones Kravitz tried to kill last year, no less. He’s going to get such a good grade in boyfriend.
It’s more than that, though, much more than just that, it’s… well. It’s been a long while since Kravitz had anyone he could call a friend, before his life—undeath—changed a year ago. And now he has a few, and more as time goes on. So he’s still a little caught up in how exhilarating it is to be with other people, and have his company enjoyed. To enjoy their company, too. To feel warmth.
He grabs Magnus’ arms back because he doesn’t know what else to do with his hands and they both just stand there in the night grinning at each other. The wind ruffles Magnus’ shaggy hair and the collar of his jacket. Kravitz figures it’s probably pretty cold; his nose and ears are red. But his eyes are bright and his smile is thrilled and his hands are warm, and Kravitz is… Kravitz is having fun.
“Where to next?” He asks, and Magnus laughs and says, “Man, you’re gonna love this…”
-
“Ah,” Kravitz says. “Taako’s house.”
The woods surrounding are dark and quiet with snow, and he can only just see the lights of the school far away. There were gift exchanges going on down there, between the students, and a staff party earlier in the evening, but everybody should be home by now. Evidence of the party from the first night of Candlenights is still clear in the yard; there’s an enormous pile of char from the dead bonfire, blanketed in snow, and a barrel of frozen candlewax.
The house is mostly dark. Magical dancing lights hang beneath the eaves, winking warmly. There’s candlelight in the windows. Kravitz can see Barry’s silhouette in the window to his office, where there’s a lamp on. But the rest of the rooms are dark. The kitchen’s on the other side and Kravitz hopes the twins are both occupied with dinner.
Maybe it’s the lights, the peace, the quiet, but he feels at ease. This isn’t like the other houses, he doesn’t feel like a stranger standing outside. He could push the door open now and be welcomed inside. It’s odd, a feeling he’s still getting used to. He likes it very much.
Magnus creeps forward onto the porch. He sets down a bundle of red fabric, a scarf; a dark, glossy wooden cutting board with decorated edges that evoke the look of magic; and—Kravitz stifles a sigh. It’s lined with raven feathers, but the thing itself is made of denim. Barry is going to love it. Kravitz is going to be seeing more of that fucking cloak.
“We’ll say it’s from both of us,” Magnus whispers to him.
“No we will not,” Kravitz mutters back.
Magnus glances up furtively at the door and carefully backs up. No alarms sound. Barry’s silhouette doesn’t move and the curtains don’t part. The house is quiet and peaceful. Kravitz doesn’t think he’s ever seen this house quiet and peaceful except when the occupants are all asleep. And it’s too early for that.
Something catches the corner of his eye, nagging at his senses, something dark, a fleeting shadow. He whips his head around, but there’s… there’s nothing there.
“We should get out of here,” he murmurs, suddenly unsettled. He doesn’t want to be caught here. He’ll never hear the fucking end of it.
-
Kravitz closes his last portal, and steps back onto Magnus’ inviting porch. Home turf, for the sake of this night’s game. Mission accomplished.
He grins at Magnus and Magnus grins back. “Thanks for the help, Krav,” he says, holds out a hand. “We did it!”
“We make a good team,” Kravitz says, and shakes it.
There are a few gifts lying on the porch beside the door; Magnus scoops them up, and doesn’t seem too upset over not catching their givers. They push the door open and the house is warm, an immediate drastic change from the cold outside, and Kravitz revels in it. There are a lot of things he’s making efforts to feel nowadays, but warmth has been one of his favorites since the beginning. He didn’t feel the cold outside much, and it certainly wasn’t uncomfortable to him, but it makes the warmth feel much stronger, and so he appreciates it for that.
He follows Magnus down the hallway to his living room, and they round the corner, and—
Lounging on the couch in pajamas with his feet up on the coffee table is Taako.
“Heya, Mags,” he says easily, sips from his mug and gestures to the other on the table, still steaming slightly. “Want a drink? Least I can do, as thanks for the lovely gifts…”
“What—what—“ Magnus splutters, and turns, accusatory, to Kravitz. “Did you—?”
Kravitz throws his hands up. “I’ve been with you all night!”
“Lup portalled me here,” Taako pipes up. “Krav didn’t say shit, I’ve been planning this for weeks. I didn’t know how you’d pull it off but I knew I had to be a step ahead.”
“This doesn’t count!” Magnus wails. “You didn’t catch me! You just waited for me to come home!”
“That’s where you’re wrong, mon frere,” Taako says with a smug grin. “I didn’t just catch you at my house, my dude, I caught you at every house. I enlisted someone sneaky to tail you and I’ve been watching through a crystal.” He holds up and wiggles what looks like a straight up rock.
Magnus’ eyes widen. “But the only person who could outsneak me is…”
A pair of clawed hands grip his shoulders from behind and a voice in his ear shouts, “MAGNUS!”
“No!” Magnus exclaims, stumbling as Carey thuds into his back. “No, no! I can’t lose! I was so careful and devious!” Carey wraps a scaly arm around his neck in a headlock, which he seems largely unbothered by. “I can’t believe you’d turn my best friend against me,” he laments, deploying sad eyes at Taako.
Taako stays unswayed. He glares and says, “You literally kidnapped my boyfriend for your evil deeds.”
“I don’t think giving gifts is really evil, Taako—“ Kravitz starts.
“It is when it’s trying to beat me in a game!” Taako says. “Which you’ve been aiding and abetting, by the way—“ So much for that good grade in boyfriend, but Kravitz smiles sheepishly at Magnus, who smiles back, and he decides it was worth it.
Carey slides off Magnus’ shoulders and says, “You got got, bud. Thank you for the gift, though, by the way.” He beams and she jumps up into his arms for a real hug, and then whispers in his ear, “But you didn’t catch me leaving my gift.”
Magnus grins and says, “Bet Angus did, though.”
“Your stealth is very impressive, ma’am!” Angus pokes his head out from the hallway. “But you’ve been caught.”
“Excellent dramatic timing, little man,” Taako comments from the couch.
“Oh, shit!” Carey laughs as she slips to the ground. “Secret detective up your sleeve! Joyous Candlenights, Angus!”
“Joyous Candlenights, Miss Carey,” Angus says, trotting out into the living room, and Carey ruffles his hair. “Let me get you a drink,” he grins, and she laughs and follows him into the kitchen.
Magnus looks at Taako on the couch, sipping his drink. He glances over the rim of his mug and realizes Magnus is staring.
Taako sighs and swings his feet off the table and stands, picks up the waiting mug. “For real, my dude,” he says. “I got you, you lose. Have a drink.” He stands in front of Magnus and holds it out expectantly.
Magnus lays a hand on his shoulder. “Taako, set it down for a sec.”
“No way!” He glances down at the hand like he doesn’t know what to do with it. “I’m sealing my victory.”
“Put it down so I can hug you, dude.”
Taako’s eyes narrow. “Well now I don’t want to put it down.” Kravitz recognizes that, playing at not wanting affection, but he also knows it’s probably more habit than anything real, and Magnus knows too.
“Do you mean that?” Magnus asks. Taako blinks, so Magnus plucks the mug from his hand and takes an exaggerated sip with his eyebrows raised, and then leans down to put it back on the table. Taako still doesn’t say anything or move away, and Magnus steps forward and pulls him into a hug. He squeezes him and Taako puts his hands on his back. “Joyous Candlenights, Taako.”
“Yeah, whatever,” Taako grumbles, laying his head on his shoulder and melting into it. “You too.”
Kravitz is suddenly very jealous, and distantly he feels a bit blindsided by it. That looks like a quality hug. Magnus is probably very warm, and sturdy, also. And there’s such a soft thoughtful gentleness to the way he holds Taako. They’re so familiar with each other. And his arms are so big and his chest is so broad, it probably feels like being surrounded and protected and—
Taako catches his eye over Magnus’ shoulder, catches him staring, and his ears twitch and his eyes glitter a little as he gives Kravitz a smile.
He lets Magnus go and says, “What, no hug for Krav? After he carted your ass around all night?”
Magnus gasps and spins to face him. “I’m sorry!”
“It’s—it’s okay,” Kravitz stutters, “I’m not—you don’t have to feel bad—“ Was the longing on his face that apparent?
Taako rolls his eyes fondly. “It’s his favorite thing in the goddamn world. Don’t deprive the man, Krav, it’s Candlenights.”
“I give hugs year round!” Magnus says. “But especially for friends and especially during the holidays. Get in here, dude!”
“Oh—okay,” Kravitz says weakly. He doesn’t doubt Magnus is genuine—he seems like the kind of guy who’d hug anyone. But he said friends, and Kravitz isn’t really, and he’s cold and weird and out of practice—he takes a stiff step forward and Magnus reaches out and pulls him to his chest.
Oh, it’s exactly as good as Kravitz thought it would be. Magnus is very warm and very strong and very gentle, his hands cradle his back and Kravitz’s cheek squishes against his chest and his arms’ grip is firm but not bad, and he kind of smells nice, a little bit like cinnamon, which may just be the drink, and also a little bit like dogs. Kravitz’s face starts to burn, maybe from Magnus’ body heat, maybe from self-consciousness, or maybe from the fact his heart’s started beating in his chest.
Magnus squeezes him and says, “Wow, you really are cold.” It rumbles in his chest and Kravitz can feel it carry through his own.
“I’m not usually this bad,” he says apologetically. “It’s just we’ve been out in the cold and I don’t produce my own body heat—“
“No worries!” Magnus says. “Plus you’re already warming up.”
Kravitz catches Taako’s knowing grin over Magnus’ shoulder and just buries his face in his shirt.
-
Kravitz gets a drink, too—he also technically lost, after all. It’s good, full of warming spices, and he makes himself comfortable on Magnus’ couch while the others sit and talk for a while.
When Taako announces it’s time for him to go and he and Kravitz stand up, Magnus sits up straighter too.
“Wait, Krav!” Magnus says. “I haven’t even given you your gift yet.”
Kravitz blinks. “You—you got me one?”
“Yeah, I got one for everybody!” Magnus reaches into his pocket and pulls out a closed fist. “I, um, I figured I’d just give it straight to you, since you don’t really, y’know, live anywhere, or at all—“
“You could have left it at Taako’s, I would’ve gotten it,” Kravitz says. Taako himself wanders into the kitchen to say goodbye to Angus.
“Well, we were on the same team, and it’s also—so, if you don’t like it, that’s totally fine,” Magnus says. “Really. I’m realizing now you may not even want it, I forgot you’re, like, a construct. I just noticed you wear a lot of jewelry, so I got you this.” Magnus holds out a small golden skull on a cloak pin.
“No, that’s—Magnus, this is great,” Kravitz picks it up and looks at it. It—it hadn’t even occurred to him that Magnus might have a gift for him. “It’s beautiful. I really—I really appreciate this, Magnus.” He pins it to his cloak; the gold is striking against the black feathers.
“It looks good on you,” Magnus says.
“I didn’t get you anything,” Kravitz apologizes.
“You didn’t even know about this tradition until a few hours ago,” Magnus laughs. “Don’t worry about it. And thanks again.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Kravitz says. “I had fun. Thank you for inviting me.”
“Alright, skelly, time we head home, yeah?” Taako asks as he reappears and takes Kravitz’s arm. “Be a gentleman?”
“Of course,” Kravitz says. He cuts the rift to Taako’s house.
“Bye, guys,” Magnus says. “Joyous Candlenights.”
“Joyous Candlenights,” Kravitz says, and he decides to take a leap and reach out a hand to—well, he doesn’t know, and he falters halfway through and puts it on Magnus’s shoulder and squeezes awkwardly.
Magnus returns it, squeezes his shoulder back, taking it in stride.
“Seeya, Mags,” Taako waves, and Kravitz waves, too. “Thanks for the gifts, remember you lost, and also Lupleftourgiftswhileyouweredistracted bye!” Taako hops through the rift and Kravitz hears Magnus and Angus make matching angry noises before Taako’s hand pulls him through the portal, toward home.
-
Snow is lightly falling again, and the soft arcane lights floating around the house casts a beautiful glow on the ground. The smell of woodsmoke floats through the chill air from the chimney, and Kravitz steps up onto the porch.
“Taako,” Kravitz starts hesitantly, “I, um… do you know of any Candlenights traditions that involve, like… I don’t know, cakes? Maybe honey cakes?”
“Honey cakes?” Taako asks, tilting his ears thoughtfully. He looks cold, but the house is sure to be warm. “Um, no, not any I can really think of. Why?”
“Just a thought,” Kravitz says. “I think that may have been something we did when—when I was alive. Would you… would you make something like that for me?”
Taako smiles at him. “Yeah, Krav. Of course.” He puts an arm around his waist and leans against his side, and Kravitz puts his head on top of his. This night’s just full of warmth. He feels bursting with it.
“We’ll sneak some into Maggie’s house, too,” Taako says. “You owe me shenanigans.”
“Of course,” Kravitz says. And he opens the door.