(Almost) Everything Is Comin' Up Chase [closed post]

[summerdude]

Magnus, triumphant, has finally managed to make some old bamboo sprout. With Drosera fed recently enough that she's not complaining of hunger and resting in her new favorite perch (lounging on his shoulder tucked right against his neck, her beak tangled in hair that is once again getting long), he sneaks it into the Mansion, hides it in a large gift-bag a closet gives him, and hangs it on Claudius and Galahad's doorknob with a quickly-jotted note that reads Claudius, What next? - MAGNUS CHASE.

Then, since he's already inside, he figures, why not wander around until he finds someone to talk to?

Comments

[onthewillowsthere]

"Did it help?"

[summerdude]

Magnus considers the question seriously. "...Eventually," he decides.

[onthewillowsthere]

"Did you ask anyone else?"

[summerdude]

"Yeah, like fourteen other people," Magnus admits, face blazing. It's still so embarrassing that he did that, so he tries to deflect. "Hey, speaking of sounding like Claudius, I told him I was going to write down the way he says all the stuff he says and use it to make Alex laugh at me."

[onthewillowsthere]

The thought of that makes him laugh, too -- Alex is so blunt and straightforward, and he doesn't think Claudius' flourishes would appeal to her.

[summerdude]

"Exactly, you get it," Magnus says. "He was like, 'what are your desires?' and obviously I was like, 'pretty much just to make Alex happy,' and he was like--" here, Magnus tries to do an impression of Claudius, sitting up straighter and doing his best to emulate his voice. "'It's a heady thing, to have a lover whose foremost desire is your happiness. You can say so to Alex, say you want above all things to please him -- in your own charming style,' and I was like, 'actually if I say it exactly like you did she would make so much fun of me.' And I guess I'm into that. So then he said I could take notes on Claudiusisms."

[onthewillowsthere]

"You can't do that. I'm not good with faces, I won't know who's in here with me." He does not linger on the content; Magnus doesn't need to watch him blush.

[summerdude]

Magnus laughs. He loves that Galahad's jokes so often come when he could kinda use feeling a little more settled in his own skin.

[onthewillowsthere]

"Do you like it when Alex laughs at you?"

[summerdude]

"Um." Magnus is definitely blushing again! "Yeah."

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad just nods, watching him (he's so grateful for Magnus, with whom everything feels less dire and easier to bear, including his inability to express himself -- Magnus is like Percival in so many ways but in so many other ways he's something new and wonderful, and Galahad loves him).

[summerdude]

"That was one of the things I asked some of the, um. Seventeen people, actually," admits Magnus, who is glad that an adult-shaped adult like Sagramore said some of the things he thinks he might want are normal, but who would rather have the reassurance of his best friend. "If that's, like. Normal."

[onthewillowsthere]

"It is, isn't it?" asks Galahad, who is fairly certain that Magnus is normal, and thus, by transitive property, so are his desires.

[summerdude]

"To, like. Really like it?" Magnus shrugs. "I guess."

[onthewillowsthere]

He contemplates. "I really like it when Claudius does what I tell him to do," carefully -- he's trying to commiserate, which always makes him nervous; it's easy to get wrong.

[summerdude]

It works! Magnus visibly relaxes, slumping against Galahad's legs^* with relief. If Galahad is into it (albeit from the other side) then maybe possibly it's actually genuinely fine. "I think I want Alex to tell me what to do," he admits.


*This typist realizes they forgot to write Magnus sitting down at some point, but he did! On the floor next to Galahad.

[onthewillowsthere]

"I like to decide for him. It reminds me that he's mine, too, not just that I'm his. And-- I take care of him better than he takes care of himself."

[summerdude]

That sounds a little kinky, actually! Magnus had no idea that Galahad was a little kinky. "That's cool, man," he says, leaning back and propping himself up on his elbows so he can look up at Galahad. "I like... Alex has always kind of called the shots, with us. He knows what he wants and what he's comfortable with. And I like that. He says it's to help me live in the moment instead of worrying about the future, but I also, like." Oh, he's blushing again! He's not even talking about, like, sex, really, except for how Claudius had told him that regular relationship stuff can become sex stuff, maybe. So. He's been thinking about it. Musingly, sounding the words out as he says them: "I like when I feel like I have no idea what's coming or what he's going to do next and he laughs at how clueless I am but it doesn't matter because he wouldn't do anything I hate."

[onthewillowsthere]

"You trust him."

[summerdude]

"With my death!" Magnus says, hoping the joke lands.

[onthewillowsthere]

"With your death." Galahad reaches down and pets Magnus' hair.

[summerdude]

Magnus relaxes gratefully into the touch. "It's getting long again," he says, about his hair, and then: "What's new with you, dude?"

[onthewillowsthere]

He considers this question. He and Claudius pressed the flytrap flower in the press Magnus gave him for his birthday; it's waiting to dry before it can be opened. He chose Claudius' outfit for the first time. He's been spending more time with the record player now that it gets dark so early, and keeping a list of the songs he likes, to share with Magnus and possibly Laertes. But then something more pressing occurs to him.

"Are you angry with Lancelot because he struck me?"

[summerdude]

"Yeah, why?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"Claudius is too. I didn't realize. We had a fight about it." He pauses, gathering threads. "It's all right between us -- Lancelot and me. We spoke about it and it's settled. You don't need to be angry."