#there are never enough cargo pants in my humble opinion

[aguas-ucia]

Six AM doodles bc I can't sleep

[taztaas]

Thank you, come again

for @taakitzweek day 2 Notes: Modern/Café/Library AU, Kravitz is a tiefling, Taako is thirsty. Magic Brian is getting married. ao3 link

“Thank you, come again.” Taako droned on autopilot as the customer left with a take-out cup of coffee in hand.

Working at the library’s cafe was pretty much the worst thing ever. Most customers were either snot-nosed kids after a cupcake or old ladies who kept squinting at the menu silently for like 20 minutes and when asked what they want they just say a coffee with two sugars. It was a public library, so there weren’t many students coming in and most people were at work during the hours Taako was manning the counter so it was pretty quiet. And boring.

Taako sighed. At least Brian was there to keep him company, even if he couldn’t talk about anything else but his wedding plans. He glanced at the drow in question, sitting in an armchair near the counter so that the two of them could keep up a conversation. Brian was going through a pile of wedding magazines and Taako was pretty sure that he had hoarded every single issue of Fantasy Brides magazine in the library’s collection.

Taako watched as Brian flipped to another page, pushing his sunglasses higher on his nose as he did. Taako snorted; Brian was one of the few people (besides Lup and himself) that could pull off wearing sunglasses indoors. The shades were round and purple-tinted with silver frames. Taako had the same pair in shell-pink and gold.

Taako sighed again, bored. He leaned on the counter, propping his chin on his palm. He stared into the middle distance until he heard Brian’s phone chime with an incoming text message.

“Brad?” Taako asked, even though the answer was obvious when Brian’s lips, painted with black matte lipstick, curved into a soft smile.

“Ja.”

“Fucking, Brad,” Taako muttered, looking away, “I’m still wondering how you managed to score a hunk like that.” Brad wasn’t exactly Taako’s type, he had nice arms but he wore polo shirts and cargo pants which were a definite hard pass in Taako’s not very humble opinion.

“Vell, you know, a magician never reveals zeir secrets.”

Taako rolled his eyes, “Fuck off.”

Brian tittered but was soon absorbed in an article about color schemes. Taako watched him read for a lack of anything better to do. He stayed quiet until he saw Brian frown at the page thoughtfully.

“Listen, I’m telling you, black. Black and purple. With silver accents.” Taako said, for the hundredth time.

“Oh, I guess you’re right darling,” Brian said, turning the page and skipping the rest of the article.

“Of course I’m right,” Taako said and maybe he puffed his chest out a little, proud and confident. “Cha’boy knows colors.” He was an elf of many talents and one of them was color scheme design, while cooking was his forté.

Taako had been elated when Brian had asked him if he wanted to do the catering for the wedding. He had played it cool of course, unwilling to let on how flattered he was by the request. Though he had a feeling Brian had known anyway but mercifully enough he hadn’t made a big deal out of it.

Brian went back to leafing through his magazine. Taako sighed again.

He pulled out his phone from his back pocket, just to check the time. He had gotten too many warnings from his employer about fiddling with his phone while working so he didn’t dare to keep it out otherwise. It was almost noon, and Taako visibly perked up.

Kravitz’s shift was going to start in a few minutes.

Kravitz was the only reason why Taako hadn’t quit his shitty job yet. Kravitz was a librarian, and every day he had a two-hour shift at the reference desk, giving Taako a reason to get up and trudge his way to work every morning.

Taako maybe liked to stare at Kravitz a bit.

Taako had maybe memorized Kravitz’s schedule to ensure he was working at the same times and got the maximum amount of eye-candy available.

Kravitz was a tiefling, and dreadfully handsome. He had horns, decorated with gold bands and other jewelry, which curved down to frame his face. He also had some gold around his wrists and fingers, but it was all tasteful. Taako could appreciate a man who knows how to accessorize. Taako has also maybe thought about holding on to said horns during certain activities.

When Kravitz smiled, and he smiled a lot because he was a decent person and good at customer service, Taako saw a hint of fangs and sometimes Taako had thought about how it would feel to have those sharp teeth biting gently at his sensitive elven ears.

So yeah, maybe Taako was a bit thirsty, but who could blame him. Kravitz looked really hot, even in a cardigan and he was ticking all of Taako’s boxes.

Taako only knew Kravitz’s name because he had sent Brian out on a stealth mission to find out the hot librarian’s name. Taako didn’t even own a library card but Brian did and checking out a load of wedding magazines had been the perfect excuse to steal a glance at the man’s name tag.

“You should go talk to him,” Brian said, startling Taako out of his thoughts. He looked at Brian who had his phone in his hands again, probably texting his fiancé.

Taako huffed. Maybe he should, finally. It wasn’t like either of them was getting any younger. He dug out the ON BREAK, BRB -sign out from the cabinet behind him and slammed it on the counter with conviction. He rounded the counter, fussing with his clothes and hair and cursing the fact that he didn’t have a mirror at hand. He could go and check his face in the library’s bathroom but he was afraid of losing his nerve if he didn’t do this now.

“How do I look?” Taako asked Brian, not at all nervous. Though he really wished he was wearing something nicer. He was feeling a bit frumpy in an oversized sweater and jeggings, but after a lecture for appropriate workplace attire - which apparently was not flirty miniskirts, he had decided to play it safe. Jenkins was kind of a prick and Taako had already pushed too many of his buttons, he wasn’t going to risk it.

His makeup was also uncharacteristically simple. But at least his hair looked cute. And librarians like the bun hairstyle, right?

Brian squinted at him and beckoned him over. Taako stepped closer, wondering what was up. Brian reached up for Taako’s face and brushed something off of Taako’s cheek, mindful of his ridiculous acrylics, sharp enough to poke an eye out. Taako blinked.

“Zere. You had somezing on your face.”

“Yeah? Thanks, dude.” Taako grinned and started walking away but he didn’t get far before Brian called his name.

“What?” Taako said, turning around halfway, hands on his hips, eager to get going. Brian grinned at him, showing a hint of fangs.

“Do you vant my advice, Taako dear?”

Taako shrugged, because why not. “Lay it on me, kemosabe.”

“Ask him about zat book he’s reading,” Brian said, a devious look on his face. Taako raised a brow at him, suspicious.

“...Why?”

“Just do eet. Trust me.” Brian returned to his magazine.

“...Alright, I’ll bite. But if you’re fucking with me I’m telling Brad about that one time when we played spin the bottle.” Taako said, but Brian just waved him off, not looking up from his reading. “Ja, ja, go get him.”

Taako turned around again and saw that Kravitz had taken up his seat at the service desk. He let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding and started walking. Kravitz had his nose already buried in a book, as per usual, but he looked up when he saw movement and for a split second their eyes met. Taako gave him his best smile and Kravitz was suspiciously quick to avert his eyes and return to his reading.

Pleased by the reaction, Taako’s smile turned into a confident smirk and he made sure to put some extra swing to his hips for the rest of his walk over. Kravitz was determinedly not looking at him, right up until Taako reached his station and leaned on his desk, efficiently blocking Kravitz from seeing anything else but the elf in front of him.

“Hey,” Taako said casually. Kravitz’s eyes flicked up from his book, but only briefly. He cleared his throat.

“Um, hi.”

“So uh, you come here often?” Taako blurted out and wanted to knock himself unconscious right after. Jesus fucking Christ Taako, the guy works here. Kravitz was also caught off guard, staring at Taako dumbly, like he couldn’t believe what he just heard. Taako coughed awkwardly. “Pretend I didn’t just say that.” Kravitz nodded silently in agreement, equally eager to pretend that what had just happened, never happened.

“Anyway! How you doing Kravitz? ” Taako said, taking great pleasure in mouthing the name.

“Good, uh?” Kravitz trailed off, apparently just now realizing that he didn’t know who he was talking to.

“Taako.” The elf provided with a smile and leaned closer to Kravitz, setting his elbows on the tabletop.

“So. Whatcha reading, handsome?” Taako purred out, trying to steal a glance at the book’s cover, not that he was expecting to recognize the title. To Taako’s surprise and delight Kravitz blushed and fidgeted in his seat before closing the book and setting it down on the desk to hide the cover. He covered the back of it with his arms even, and Taako was suddenly very much interested in this book. His ears perked up and he turned up the flirt factor of his smile up a couple of notches, leaning even closer to Kravitz. “Hmm?”

Kravitz was biting his cheek and averting his eyes until he fell prey to Taako’s beautiful face and couldn’t resist.

“It’s uh... it’s vampire erotica.” He muttered quietly and Taako just about managed to not slam his hands on the desk in surprise.

“You’re reading PORN?!”

“Shh!” Kravitz shushed him and grabbed Taako’s arm, looking around, clearly panicked. Taako didn’t pull away but covered his mouth with his other had to keep in his startled giggles. Kravitz was staring up at him, eyes lined with gold eyeliner, a pleading expression on his face and hachi machi, that… that sure was something.

At that moment, Taako realized that he was in way over his head, Kravitz was just too cute. He could feel himself blushing.

“So, would you uhh… recommend it?” Taako said and gestured to the book, startling Kravitz who had been staring distractedly at Taako’s face.

“The uh, the book?”

“Uhh, yes, the-- the erotica,” said Taako, and he couldn’t believe he had just said the word erotica out loud.

“Well,” Kravitz said, took a deep breath, and went off on a tangent about how the characters are stereotypical, and while the plot is really quite redundant, the author has a way of describing the characters’ feelings and making them relatable that has him hooked. Kravitz kept talking and Taako sort of tuned him out, thinking how listening to a guy monologue about shitty porn literature shouldn’t be hot but it somehow really was.

Maybe it’s just Kravitz, he thought, and immediately decided that yeah, it’s just Kravitz. Taako would have been happy to listen to anything as long as it came out of Kravitz’s mouth and that was… Hmm…

“Sorry,” Kravitz cut off suddenly, looking sheepish. “I didn’t mean to bore you.”

“Nah man sounded good to me,” Taako said and the flustered look on Kravitz’s face told him that he really should’ve listened what the man was saying. “I-- I mean uhh--” he fumbled, feeling his face heat up.

Kravitz grinned hesitantly at him, showing off those fangs and Taako’s mind immediately dove deeper into the figurative gutter. It really should be illegal to be that handsome.

“So uh, how is it, working at the cafe? I’ve noticed you look kind of bored a lot?” Kravitz said, trying to save their disastrous conversation and make some small talk like a normal person. Too bad normal and ordinary weren’t exactly Taako’s wheelhouse.

“Hmmm… You’ve been lookin’, handsome?” Taako purred, a smug smile on his face. He leaned back onto Kravitz’s desk and tucked a loose piece of hair behind his ear in a calculated, flirty move.

But before Kravitz had time to say anything, Taako felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. He dug it out and to his surprise, saw that it was Brian calling. He looked over his shoulder to see what was going on and was met with Jenkins’ piercing stare, the man pointing meaningfully at Taako’s on break -sign, now that he had his attention.

“Shit.” Taako hissed under his breath and turned back towards Kravitz with an apologetic smile, fiddling with the sleeve of his sweater. “I gotta run, come over for a cuppa sometime, yeah?”

“Uh, sure.”

“The muffins are shit because they’re store bought but uhh-- if you stop by tomorrow, I can have something homemade for you?”

“You bake?” Kravitz asked with a smile that made Taako feel nice and warm inside.

“Ch’yeah! And I’m fuckin’ stellar at it.” Taako replied and managed just in time to stop himself from going for a hair flip since his hair was done up. He shot a finger gun at Kravitz instead.

“Oh, uh, I guess I stop by tomorrow then, on my break?”

“Yeah, cool!”

“Cool,” Kravitz said a bit hesitant, as if unfamiliar with the word but he was smiling still and that was… good. Very good.

“Bring your book, yeah? I’d love to know more about it.” Taako said with a grin and winked. He wiggled his fingers at Kravitz, as he started to back away, and got a small wave in response. He turned fully around and flashed a discreet thumbs up at Brian, who responded in kind.

Taako walked towards his workstation with a lot more spring to his step than before. Jenkins was tapping his foot and giving him the evil eye but Taako didn’t really give a fuck. He was gonna ask for Kravitz’s phone number tomorrow and after that, he might as well quit and get a better job.