YOU Get A Big Banana, and YOU Get A Big Banana, and YOU Get A Big Banana! [closed post]

[summerdude]

"Okay, just another minute," Magnus says.

It's a hot day out, so holding Galahad's hand is a sweaty affair... and Magnus's current use of his alf seidr isn't making matters any more comfortable. The grass is tickling at Magnus's back -- his shirt has ridden up while he lies, spread-eagle, in the middle of the lawn. Galahad is always so smart about his clothes, Magnus bets he's not getting the grass itches at all.

But he can put all that aside. Grass tickles are good tickles, and the heat of the sun is -- to Magnus -- always more refreshing than it is annoying. There's a trickle of sweat at the side of his neck, but even though it's hot out it's not really a temperature extreme, so as usual he feels regular about it.

All his attention is on the plants around them. Feverfew and milkweed, black-eyed susan and queen anne's lace, aster and boneset and flowering spurge and yarrow and tickseed and teasel and wild thyme and forget-me-nots and poppies and and and -- well. He's not sure what else is in the mix. He's been trying to get better at plant identification with Claudius's guidance, but the package he found earlier that morning only said FIELD SEEDS. He's doing his best! Right now, his 'best' is less focused on identification and more focused on growing them to flower, high enough that some of them are providing shade to both him and Galahad, in a very neat outline of the grass they've politely crushed between the two of them.

Eventually, he's done all he can without overtaxing the plants. "There," he tells Galahad. "Summer snow angels, check."

Comments

[summerdude]

"Better than being dead inside-colored!" Magnus says brightly.

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad frowns at him.

[summerdude]

"That's not a being-dead joke. My eyes were like this when I was alive, too." Magnus shrugs. "It used to be really handy for getting people to back off. Most folks don't like the haunted scary empty stare."

[onthewillowsthere]

"I like your face."

[summerdude]

"You wanna see my stare in full force?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"Yes."

[summerdude]

Magnus sits up straight and leans in a little, then looks at Galahad dully, eyes slightly widened, the rest of his face slack, in the same way that both used to make his mom laugh, scrub a hand through his hair, and call her my spooky little pumpkin, and would, later on, get some of the rougher people on the streets to think twice about rolling a scrawny little kid.

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad gazes back into his eyes for a moment, then begins to study his face. Only because he and Magnus have been friends for so long, he can recognize that it's not Magnus' normal expression, that there's something particularly sad(?) about it. It's hard to read exactly what's going on, though.

[summerdude]

Magnus blinks, and the look intensifies: it's like he's seeing ghosts -- cruel ghosts -- but he's anhedonic about it.

[onthewillowsthere]

He keeps staring, but he's definitely not getting it. He does feel a strange and overwhelming urge to hug Magnus, though.

[summerdude]

Magnus blinks one more time, until he's at peak Dead Eyed Haunted Gaze, which he holds for about ten seconds before sitting back. "So that's it."

[onthewillowsthere]

"And people didn't like it?" He's really not sure what he's missing.

[summerdude]

"They think it's creepy." Magnus sounds proud about this.

[onthewillowsthere]

"Will you be happy if I think it's creepy?"

[summerdude]

Magnus laughs. "You can think whatever you think. Alex always says she's seen creepier." He sounds pleased about this, too.

[onthewillowsthere]

"Your face always makes me feel happy. Because it's yours."

[summerdude]

"You sweet-talker," Magnus says, tipping forward into a heavy hug. "Love you, buddy."

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad holds him for a long time; he doesn't want to let go, so he doesn't. Finally, he asks, "Now that we know about Lancelot, do you feel less weird?"

[summerdude]

Magnus, who doesn't think of his secret sword lessons as being particularly about Lancelot, is visibly confused. "Now that -- what? What about Lancelot? Was there some kind of Lancelot thing? Did something hap--- sorry. Too many questions. Let me sum up: huh?"

[onthewillowsthere]

Patiently, "You are training with Lancelot. You were hiding it from me and from Lan Wangji."

[summerdude]

"Oh, that." Magnus -- slightly disappointed by the lack of fresh new Lancelot dirt -- considers this. "Yeah. I think so? Do I still seem weird?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"You seem less weird." He pauses. "In the kitchen, when we made falafel, you lied to me."

[summerdude]

"I did what?" Magnus says, frowning. "I mean... I did? Did I?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"You said that you weren't being weird because of Lan Wangji training me. You wouldn't tell me what was happening. You pretended that everything was okay." His fingers flutter for a moment. "You know that I have a hard time understanding things that are-- subtle. I'm easy to mislead, and you misled me. It hurt me. I am still hurt."

[summerdude]

Magnus's heart plummets in a nauseous sort of free fall. He sits back, frowning, pulling free from the hug in the process. "I -- what? Gods, I never -- I'm sorry, Galahad, I -- how did I mislead you?"