Work Text:
“Are you talking to me?” Kravitz asked, startling Taako as he hung up his umbrella at the door, “We need to talk”
Kravitz was… in his house. Taako knew he was the grim reaper, but him being on the moon base, especially in his house with no warning was odd to say the least.
“I agree!” Piped Taako, happy his boyfriend came to visit, even though it was kind of at a bad time.
“You and your friends added… quite a bit to your death count haven’t you?” Kravitz stated, tone full of borderline disappointment towards his partner.
“There’s that,” Taako replies with a shrug, “But before we start… I have a question for you.”
To this, Kravitz raises an eyebrow. He was here to talk to Taako about the fact that he died about a hundred times in forty-five minutes (which even he couldn’t deny was impressive).
“Would you like me to whip you up a little dinner?” Taako asked, leaning over the counter at a bewildered Kravitz. At some point he took his braid down, and Kravitz took note at how lush his hair looks cascading down his back.
“This.. I’m.. I’m afraid I came here on business, Taako!” Kravitz responded, stuttering slightly at the offer from his boyfriend with a small grin tearing at the corners of his mouth.
“Oh, good!” Taako responded without missing a beat, “Cooking is my business.” Taako finished, with his left hand holding his head up, the other flipping a spatula to himself (which he caught without breaking eye contact with Kravitz).
Kravitz paused for a second before sighing and responding: “Sure, but we are talking about this later.”
“Sure, sure, whatever floats your boat babe.” Taako responded before turning his back to face his fridge. The fridge was full of fresh fruits and vegetables Merle grew because he was mad they couldn’t get fresh fruits and vegetables on the moon base,
(“It’s sooo annoying! The house always smells like dirt because Merle always tracks it in every time he gets back from gardening!” Taako complained on a walk with his boyfriend a few days ago.
“Well aren’t you happy that you have fresh food to work with? And I bet Magnus is happy he doesn’t have to eat the mess hall food anymore.” replied Kravitz, turning his head to look at Taako’s face as they kept up their pace. So far Taako didn’t seem to notice the small glances he’s been sneaking at their interlocked hands.
“First of all, the end doesn’t justify the means, babe. Second of all, I only cook for myself. They’re full grown adults and can feed themselves.” Taako explained, drawing glances from Killian and Carey who also seem to be taking their own walk together, turning to meet Kravitz’s eyes. His tired expression softened when he saw Kravitz blushing looking at their hands.)
“Hello? Dome to Kravitz? Ya there?” Taako said while waving his spatula in front of his face, having noticed Kravitz reminiscing on their last date together, “I was asking you like on your tacos”
“Well I think you look really cute in that jacket with the patches-”
“Not me, the food dimwit,” Taako got out before bursting into laughter. Kravitz’s response to this was to turn bright red in the face as he remembered Taako was making dinner for him.
“But hey,” Taako managed to get out after the laughter died down a bit while walking back to the fridge he was previously at, though he was still giggling a little, “thanks for the compliment babe! I’ll wear it more often.” Taako responded, blowing a kiss at him with a wink.
“Well I’ve never had a taco before so you tell me.” Kravitz responded much to the horror of his ironically named boyfriend.
“I beg your finest pardon,” Taako said while doing a slow turn to stare it him, “on one hand, I’m honored I’m the first taco you’ve met, but on the second hand how the hell have you made it this far in life without having the best food in existence? Have you been living on a different plane of existence or something?”
“Yes Taako, I literally have been. I live on the ethereal plane my love.” Kravitz responded, doing his best to not laugh at the newfound look of realization on his partner's face.
“Well still, you could’ve mentioned it at some point when your boyfriend's name is literally a misspelling of ‘taco’.” Taako responded with his familiar teasing tone replacing the previous voice of horror, “Looks like you’re getting the old Taako Special.”
Kravitz couldn’t stop the small laugh that came out of him at the irony of the situation. He took a seat at one of the bar stools next to the counter Taako was preparing what he assumed was taco seasoning at. Taako turned his back for a minute as he casted some sort of spell over the spices he picked out. He looked so concentrated and focused on the food he was preparing, his tongue sticking out a bit as he ransacked his spice drawer looking for a small bottle of chilli powder in.
“Where are you getting these spices from?” Kravitz asked, snapping Taako out of whatever seasoning induced trance he was in, “I know Merle has that garden but it isn’t big enough to have that many spices growing at once”
“Lucretia got them for me. No idea why but she got me a variety after Merle’s garden started to actually produce plants.” Taako responded, pausing what he was mixing for a second. He was grateful for the gift that she keeps replenishing, but she can’t help but be paranoid over her slipping something into them. (Kravitz doesn’t need to know he casted Detect Poison on the spices before mixing them. He couldn’t detect anything coming from them, but he’s still a bit nervous over the situation).
“Do you want to help at all babe?” Taako asked, trying to stop the doubt crossing his mind.
“Taako, I’d love to but I have no idea how to cook.” Kravitz responded, looking down at the counter and being unable to stop the rush of embarrassment that flowed from him. In response, Taako put his hand on his lover’s cheek.
“I can teach you babe,” Taako responded, “I mean you're looking at the best cook in the dome! I’m sure I’m able to teach you the basics.” Taako’s hands slid down to Kravitz’s, rubbing circles into his palms, “Come on, you can just chop stuff for now and we can do the harder things another day.”
“That sounds perfect,” Kravitz responded, pulling away from Taako to stand up and cross to the other side of the counter, “What do you want me to chop for you?”
“Start with these limes,” Taako responded, handing him said limes, “Just cut them into slices, then dice those tomatoes and mash the avocados. When you’re done with that dice these two” Taako said while handing him various onions, a bit of cilantro, and seedless jalapeno.
Kravitz stared at his lover blankly, “Is this a bad time to say I don’t know how to dice vegetables?”
“Oh you weren't kidding when you said you were helpless in a kitchen babe.”
“Hey I didn’t say that, I just said I didn’t know how to cook!”
“Hey whatever you say.” Taako responded, grabbing a knife from the knife rack and walking over to his partner, “Here take this,” he said as he handed Kravitz the knife. Taako then positioned himself behind Kravitz as he grabbed both his hands, guiding him in how to dice a tomato correctly.
“So you want to cut it into rows then columns- don’t put your fingers in the way of where you're cutting!”
“I said I have no idea what I’m doing love!”
“I know but it’s common sense to not put your hand right next to the blade!”
“Sorry”
“It’s okay, but remember Merle is off doing whatever old men do so we don’t have a way to put any lost fingers back on.”
“I mean, if he could do that then he would probably have to flesh arms”
“Yeah it’s almost like someone tricked him into accidentally turning his arm into a clump of crystals” Taako replied, a familiar smug smile creeping into the corners of his mouth
“Okay my bad alright! But I get the thing about not chopping my fingers off, my love… So what do you want me to do now?”
Taako guided Kravitz through the basics of how to dice a tomato (he thought that his boyfriend would know how to dice something when he’s literally the grim reaper) until he was able to do it on his own. Afterwards, he turned his attention back to the chicken he was previously seasoning. He made sure that the non-canned part of a chicken he was using for the recipe (which Lucretia also gave him instead of the stuff the rest of the dome is stuck using for some reason. However he already was able to make sure that the chicken wasn’t poisoned from his earlier spell) was fully coated in the taco seasoning mix before starting to pan cook it.
“How’s the guac going babe?” Taako asked.
“Pretty well I think.” Kravitz responded, pride in his tone. Taako decided to walk over and check how it was going, and was pleasantly surprised. All the various vegetables he had given him were cut and mixed into the mashed avocados. Kravitz was currently juicing a bit of the cut up lime he had handed earlier to mix into the guacamole.
“Wow, you did that quick.” Taako said, smiling at his lover, who looked up from the lime he was juicing.
“Well I guess it comes pretty naturally when you're a reaper” Kravitz responded, matching his boyfriend’s expression.
“Really? Because you didn’t seem to be a few minutes ago.” Taako responded while crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow.
“Well maybe I just wanted to hold hands with you,” Kravitz said while blushing like a madman, “Your hands are always so warm and soft. Forgive me for wanting to hold hands with my boyfriend every once in a while.” Kravitz said playfully.
“Oh how could I ever stay mad at you.” Taako responded. He leaned towards Kravitz and placed a light kiss on his cheek before grabbing his right hand and bringing it up to his mouth to kiss it as well. Taako then casted Mage Hand to mix the chicken in the pan so he could keep holding his partner's hand while they finished the guacamole together.
After the chicken was finished and taken off the stove, Taako moved over to the pantry to grab some tortillas (why does Lucretia keep giving him gifts and why can’t he seem to trust any of them).
“How hungry are you babe?” Taako asked, plopping the bag of tortillas on the counter.
“Oh I’m not that hun-” Kravitz started, only to be cut off by his stomach grumbling loud enough for Taako to hear it from a couple feet away.
Taako lets out a small chuckle under his breath, “That hungry huh? I’ll make you two then.”
Kravitz watched his partner with admiration as he filled the tacos up with all the toppings they’ve spent the past twenty minutes making. He watched as Taako filled his namesake food to the brim with guacamole, lettuce, chicken, and tomatoes (he also noticed how his hands were shaking a bit as he put the toppings on paired with the subtle tone of worry in his face) and then tossed them back on the skillet to cook a bit more. He couldn’t help but wonder why he was trembling while doing what he loves, especially so much the spoon he was holding was shaking.
“Sooo, you excited to get a taste?” Taako said, rubbing circles into the back of Kravitz’s palm, snapping him out of his thoughts.
“I beg your finest pardon?” Kravitz responded, shocked by the comment.
“Of the tacos! Get your mind out of the gutter babe.” Taako said teasingly, resting his head on Kravitz’s shoulder.
“Sorry. But if you don’t mind me asking, why are your hands shaking so much?” He feels Taako’s hand stop and his whole body tense up a little bit. “Sorry if you don’t want to talk about it but-”
“Oh looks like the taco’s are ready!” Taako interrupts, pulling away from his boyfriend. He grabs two plates out of the top cabinet and starts putting the taco’s, guacamole, and a bag of tortilla chips and starts walking towards the house’s dining room.
Kravitz hesitates for a second before grabbing some forks from their utensil drawer (they have a weird kind of train company logo on them, but knowing his boyfriend he doesn’t question it) and follows him to the dining room.
When he enters the room, he sees Taako frantically looking for candles and napkins in the bottom cabinet of a weapons case.
“Sorry, we never have people over so we’ve shoved the fancy stuff all the way in the back of this.” Taako grumbled under his breath, only dropping the mood when he heard Kravitz start chuckling in response.
Eventually, Taako was able to find the napkins and candles he was looking for and sets the table. It did turn out a little all over the place, with the candles almost falling over a couple of times as he was trying to place a fork right (Kravitz had to remind him multiple times that they were eating tacos and didn’t need every kind of utensil in the house).
Eventually, Taako left to grab the food before it started to get cold. Kravitz took this opportunity to fold the couples napkins into swans and place them facing each other in the center of the table.
“Well I learn something new about you everyday.” Taako said while placing the two plates on the table.
“What? Can a guy not have a hobby? I like having a healthy work-home life balance” Kravitz replied, placing his head on his palm as his boyfriend took his seat next to him.
“Hey I know a thing or two about a healthy work-life balance,” his boyfriend replied, “I mean just taste these amazing tacos after all!” Taako explained as he took an overly dramatic first bite of his taco.
Kravitz took a bite of the food in front of him, making a delighted hmph sound at the delicious taste.
“I’m taking that as a ‘that was delicious and I love you and your cooking so much!’ sound” Taako teased, holding his own hand under the table in an effort to stop shaking as much as he was. Logically he knows it isn’t poisoned (and that he was able to cook for everyone on Candlenights without any casualties directly tied to his cooking) but it still made him nervous seeing his boyfriend eat his cooking after what happened with Philippe.
Kravitz cleared his throat, “So Taako,” Kravitz said as he put the half of a taco he was holding down. “As amazing as this is, we do kinda need to talk about the fact you died like 110 times today. How is that even possible?”
“Well you see,” Taako said, avoiding eye contact, “Me, Magnus, and Merle got stuck in a time loop and when it turned twelve o’clock the town would blow up and everyone would die. Annnddd it took us more tries than I would’ve liked to ya know, stop that.”
Kravitz sighed, “I understand, but I still have to take you guys in for that.”
“Hey I thought you had a healthy work-life balance!”
“Taako.”
“And besides, if we really died today, shouldn’t we be dead?” Taako questioned, waving his hand in a circle as he spoke.
“You do make a fair point my love.” Kravitz said, picking up half of a taco.
The couple went back to eating, with Kravitz trying to make small talk only to receive quick answers right before Taako goes back to anxiously looking back between him and the (now empty) plate in front of him as he ate his own food.
Eventually Taako finished eating and the couple grabbed their plates and walked over to the kitchen to put them in the sink to deal later. Afterwards they relocated to the living room and sat on the floor, backs against the couch, sitting on pillows Taako crocheted.
(“Taako if you don’t mind me asking, why do you like the floor so much?” Kravitz asked one day, curiosity finally getting the best of him.
“It’s comfy,” Taako replied, not looking up from the pillow storage area of the room, “and I didn’t spend weeks making floor pillows to not use them.
Kravitz looked at the pillows Taako was grabbing from what he has deemed ‘The Pillow Corner’. The yarn that made them were different colors that varied from row to row and had many pieces pulling out despite being sewed in and then what appeared to be glued on in a desperate attempt to stop the edges from tearing.
“I didn’t know you crocheted.” Kravitz replied.
“I have to have a hobby other than cooking because then I’d have way too much food. And I only get sent on missions like every three months,” Taako explained, “and it’s calming to sit somewhere and do something mindless with my hands”
“Well I guess that makes sense, but you could’ve told me earlier and I would’ve brought yarn with me every time I visit."
“Yeah I should’ve,” Taako replied with a sheepish grin as he turned towards his boyfriend, “but I've been getting yarn from… other methods.” He said, turning towards his lover.
“Have you been stealing from people? Again?”
“Only Magnus! And he hasn’t noticed and it’s been months so it doesn’t count!”
“Is that where my sweaters have been going!” Magnus shouted from the dining room.
“No!” Taako screamed back, matching his tone.)
Taako placed his head on Kravitz’s shoulder, holding his hand in silence.
“Hey,” Kravitz said gently enough to sound comforting yet not pitying, “if this is about me mentioning that I need to take you and the others in I’m not going to-”
“I know that you're not babe,” Taako said looking at the swan napkins still in the center of the table through the open doorway, “it’s something else.”
“Is it why you were trembling a bit in the kitchen earlier and steadying your hands under the table and why you casted Detect Poison on your spice drawer when you thought I wasn’t paying attention?” Kravitz asked, determined to understand what was happening so he could help his boyfriend through whatever he’s feeling.
“How did you-”
“Unimportant. Do you want to talk about it?”
“I mean… kinda? Like I know I should but at the same time it’s scary ya know?” Taako replied as he removed his head from Kravitz’s shoulder.
“You don’t have to. But if I want to try and help you, so if you feel comfortable I’m right here.” Kravitz offered, rubbing his thumb over the back of Taako’s hand trying to comfort him without being in his space too much.
“Well when we were getting the chalice today, it was showing us some of our worst memories and…” Taako paused for a minute and just stared at the floor. He felt his heart start racing a bit from his nerves of admitting this on his own.
“When I was on tour with Sizzle it Up, at one of my last shows my assistant Philippe poisoned everyone in the audience.” Taako said, his voice cracking a bit, “I wasn’t the nicest to him, but I thought I was just teasing him. I-I thought that’s how our dynamic worked.”
Taako brought his knees up to his chest as he leaned against Kravitz. He could feel his whole arm start to tremble at the memory of that day. He’s long since gotten over the initial guilt he felt over the event, but it still affected him a bit to this day.
“I know it wasn’t my fault, but sometimes when I’m cooking for others I can get paranoid that it could happen again. I think that’s why I got so nervous when you were eating. I know that nothing was poisoned- hell I even went to the length of using Detect Poison- but still I can’t shake the idea of something happening to you because you trusted me enough to eat my food.” He spat out, his hand tightening his grip around Kravitz’s hand as if he let go, Kravitz would die like all the innocent people in the crowd that fateful day.
When Taako looked up at Kravitz all he saw was pity in his boyfriend's eyes. He knew that this was a horrible event that obviously hurt him (no matter how much he tried to deny it), but he didn’t need anyone to feel sorry for him. At this point, all it is to him is a reason he has a hard time trusting people. He doesn’t need his boyfriend of all people to be giving him pity.
Right?
RIGHT?
“Taako I’m sorry that happened-”
“I don’t need your pity Kavitz!” Taako exclaimed, pulling away from Kravitz’s hand standing up as he did so, “I can see it in your eyes. You feel sorry for me and I hate it!”
Taako was now yelling and fully pacing around the room and looking down at Kravitz. He was waving his arms as he did so.
“I don’t need your pity for something that happened years ago!”
“Taako that’s not what I mean-”
“I know Kravitz, I know that’s not what you mean,” Taako said, lowering his voice slightly, “But everyone else does.” He thought back to how Magnus and Merle looked at him when they were resisting the thrall of the chalice. He felt so small and it reminded him of how he felt when he first realised what had happened. “You should’ve seen how sad and pitiful they looked today.”
When the other two looked at Taako, he felt like he was going to cry on the spot. He’s spent years trying to be tough and become desensitized from the whole event, but no matter what he tried, that show haunted him. He had wanted to cry on the spot, but he didn’t. He was so strong for Magnus and Merle, but why couldn’t he be for his boyfriend?
Kravitz got up and walked over to where Taako was now standing still.
“I-I know it wasn’t my fault, I know I didn’t put the poison in the food on purpose, but I still feel like it all could’ve been avoided still. Like how if I was nicer to him then all those people would be alive.” Taako said, voice barely a whisper. As he said this, Kravitz took a second to really take in his posture as he walked across the room where Taako was now standing after pacing. He saw the way his ears were droopy and his arms were wrapped around himself so tightly his hands were turning white.
“Taako,” Kravitz started, pulling his lover's arms away from where he was death gripping himself, “I’m so sorry if I made you feel like I was pitying you. I didn't mean to make you feel that way.”
“I know you didn’t, and I’m sorry for yelling at you,” Taako said, not pulling away from Kravitz’s gentle grip.
“It’s okay love. I know you didn’t mean it, and I’d rather you get your emotions out then bottle them in,” Kravitz responded, trying to be comforting yet not pitying, “I’m sorry they made you feel small and that I made you feel that way too.”
“It’s okay babe,” Taako replied, eyes still filled with tears, “I just felt so small and I hated it.”
“And it’s perfectly fine to have felt that way. You don’t like being pitied and felt emotion because of that. There’s nothing wrong with you or the way you process things. No matter how you feel about what happened, I’ll be right here and will stick by your side. I love you more than you could ever know, Taako”
Taako let go for a second, shocking Kravitz for a moment, only to pull Kravitz into a rib crushing hug. He stood there for a while, squeezing Taako back especially after he started to cry into Kravitz’s chest.
No words were said for a while, they just stood there in each other’s embrace. Afterall, Kravitz wasn’t sure how to comfort his lover without sounding pitying, and Taako didn’t want to talk anymore than he already has. Eventually they moved back to where Taako’s homemade pillows were still on the floor. They sat down and Kravitz continued to hold Taako, who was not noticeably more calm now.
After a while, they separated a bit and (with permission) Kravitz started to braid Taako’s hair. The gesture of trust from Taako made Kravitz feel as warm inside as he did when the couple were in the kitchen together earlier.
(Taako had decided that Kravitz didn’t need to know it was so much more comfortable to sleep without the braid in. Especially after Taako spent so much time a few weeks ago teaching him how to braid hair when he was too tired to do it himself.)
“I love you so much Kravitz,” Taako said, looking up at his lover.
“I love you more, Taako,” Kravitz replied, gently kissing his boyfriend on the top of his head as he pulled a blanket over the two of them.
They both knew it was a bad idea to sleep on the floor, but in each other's loving embrace, nothing could ever be wrong.