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Angus looked up at Julia and Magnus' sky blue house with wide eyes. It was nowhere near the size of the McDonald manor house, of course, but it was so much warmer and obviously full of life. The front yard sprawled in front of him: lush, green clover with actual wildflowers growing in it, little stone decorations and fairy homes dotted around in front of the house. When he turned to his left, Angus could see past the wooden gate around the side of the house to a partially hidden garden, dim and warm and close compared to the sunny face of the house.
He jumped a little in surprise when Taako's hand landed on his shoulder. "Like it?" Taako asked, smirking up at the house himself, familiar with and unmoved by it. "Julia will probably recruit you to work on her garden today." Taako glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. "Say no if you wanna. She won't push."
Angus nodded slowly. He doubted he would say no, but the option was nice all the same. "Can I ring the doorbell?" he asked shyly, quietly excited to see if the inside was as pretty as the outside.
Taako laughed, gently squeezing Angus' shoulder. "Knock yourself out," he said while gesturing forward with his other hand. Angus shifted his backpack higher on his shoulders and walked up the cobblestone path to the door, using the stairs instead of the ramp to one side.
He stopped short at the top of the stairs. Where the doorbell would be at a normal house, there was a Mario-style question mark block about the size of Angus' palm. He looked back at Taako, still standing in the walkway with his hands on his hips, and got an encouraging smile. When he turned around and pushed the button, a coin sound rang through the house, audible even through the door. Angus thought he liked the Burnsides when Magnus and Julia visited Taako's apartment, but he instantly liked them that much more.
"One second!" Julia called. There was a worrying thump, and then a few dogs barking, and then the front door opened, revealing a harried-looking Julia. "Oh, Angus! Come in, sweetheart." She playfully glared back at Taako. "You too, short stuff."
"We're the same fucking height," Taako grumbled back. When he entered the house, he lost his faked upset look and leaned forward to kiss Julia's forehead. Angus peered around the two of them, studying the rack of muddy boots and dog leashes in the foyer. "How have you been, my dude? Puppies keeping you up at night?"
They both laughed at the way Angus perked up at the mention of puppies. "They're in the den with Magnus," Julia said, pointing past the gently winding staircase toward an open doorway with a baby gate across it. "You can go say hi. We'll get started on lunch."
Angus smiled at her and then toed his shoes off, leaving them neatly on top of the boot rack. Taako held out a hand for his backpack and Angus passed it over, along with his windbreaker. Then he walked quickly (definitely not running, no matter how much he wanted to) toward the baby gate and peered over it.
Four small black dogs were rolling around on the thick green carpet in the den. Two other, older dogs were lying on big dog beds, pretending not to be interested in the puppies' antics. Angus gaped at them all, watching them nip at each other and step on each other's ears for about a minute, before Magnus startled him by standing up from the couch. "Hey, Ango, didn't know you got here yet. Here, let me--" He stepped up to the gate and reached out to lift Angus over.
The promise of small dogs kept Angus from panicking and pulling away from the sudden movement. Instead, he lifted his arms and Magnus very quickly and perfunctorily picked him up and set him back down again. Angus took a moment to re-find his balance, and then dropped to his knees, giggling as the puppies ran at the newest thing in the room. They immediately swarmed him and tried to smother him with their little paws.
Magnus chuckled at them playing together, sitting a few feet from Angus and in his line of sight, keeping his hands to himself despite how physically affectionate Angus knew him to be. The fact that Taako had supposedly warned him not to touch Angus made him a little sad, even while he was holding a warm puppy in his arms.
"I like your house," Angus said, not quite meeting Magnus' eyes but still facing him. He got a good look at the painting of Bolster and Tang behind Magnus instead, noticing the signature read "Lup" with a heart at the end
"Thanks!" Magnus grinned and rubbed the back of his head, mussing his hair more than it already was. "Everything outside is Julia's. Most of the furniture though, that's all Magnus."
Angus let the puppy in his arms jump away and another one wriggled into his lap. "You… carve wood, right? I didn't know you did furniture."
Magnus' excitement that Angus was having an actual conversation with him was palpable. Just how antisocial had Angus been the first time he met Magnus the month before? "I can pretty much carve anything," Magnus bragged, exaggeratedly studying his nails. "Comes with the Rustic Charm, you know." The fact that he could hear the capital letters made Angus laugh.
"Will you make a bed for the puppies?" he asked, now with two dogs in his arms and one climbing his shoulders.
"Maybe." Magus' smile faded a bit. "We're going to give most of them away. We already have Bolster and Tang, you know, and me and Julia have full time jobs."
Angus couldn't say he wasn't disappointed, but it wasn't like he was unfamiliar with disappointment. "I hope they get good homes," he said, and then kissed on of the puppies on the head.
Magnus cleared his throat and scratched nervously at his beard. "You could, uh, have one, if you wanted?" he said. "I mean, I don't know what Taako thinks--"
Angus was already shaking his head. "It's okay, sir. I don't think I would be very good at taking care of one."
Instead of disagreeing with him, Magnus said, "Maybe in a few years, then." Three puppies barked in agreement.
A knock on the doorframe drew Angus' attention. Taako was standing outside the gate with an oven mitt on one hand, an unreadable expression on his face. "Come eat, you animals," he said. "Wash your hands first."
Angus, still unused to Taako's mercurial moods, immediately snatched his hands away from the dogs in case he was doing something wrong. "Yes, sir," he confirmed quickly.
Taako, who had half turned away before his sentence was even finished, looked over at Angus much more warmly. "How old do you think I am, Angles?" he teased with a grin. "Just Taako. Hurry up, before it gets cold!"
The puppies started going ballistic when Angus stood up, climbing all over his feet and yipping excitedly at him. Magnus took pity on him and got up as well to lift Angus back over the baby gate. The nearest bathroom was just across the hall, so Angus carefully washed his hands in the sink that he was just able to see over with the same hand soap he and Taako had at home. He wondered if Taako gifted it to Magnus and Julia or the other way around.
Angus wasn't quite sure where the kitchen was, but he could follow the smell of warm buttered bread and Swiss cheese well enough to turn down the correct hallways. Taako stood at the stove with a cast iron pan and a spatula, plating the last of several steaming hot grilled cheese sandwiches.
Julia was standing at the other end of the kitchen with a stoneware mug held in both of her hands. "Hope you're hungry. Taako went overboard, as usual," she said.
Taako scoffed without turning around. "You love it," he muttered under his breath, and then louder, "Swiss or cheddar, little man?"
Angus pulled himself into one of the chairs at the little round kitchen table, wondering if Magnus built the table and chairs too. He considered his options, and then shyly asked, "Could I get half of each?"
"The boy's a genius!" Magnus said, already piling his plate with sandwiches.
Taako placed a plate with two different halves of sandwiches cut into triangles on the table in front of Angus and planted a kiss on the top of his head. "He gets it from me," Taako said smugly, a statement Magus immediately began to protest.