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The bakery was buzzing with activity. Angus was trying to keep out from underneath everyone by sitting at Taako’s work table and practicing spells. Taako periodically came over to check on him or give him a word of advice, but was otherwise distracted with overseeing the catering preparations and icing the small cake on a turntable. The boy kept getting distracted watching the intricate pattern coming to life with his dad’s hand.
One of the younger bakers, Ginger, walk over and smiled down at him as she glanced over the instructions pinned to the wall. “Hey there, little guy. What’s in the scroll for today?” Angus smiled up at her.
“Oh, just practicing with some wind spells,” he replied cheerily. She nodded as she tapped on the design on the wall.
“I made too many icing flowers, whoops,” she laughed and held one out to him.
He took it, admiring the swooping swirls and glittering touches of edible gold. Taako had complained about the amount of edible gold for the last few days. It took a long time to make and they had to be exact or the bakery would run over budget on it. This amount wouldn’t be missed, though. “Oh, ma’am, this is much too pretty to eat.”
She blushed at the praise. “It’s my first time being allowed to make flowers. I was up all night trying to get it right. You know how Mara and Taako can be on wedding days,” she mock whispered. Angus laughed and nodded; he did know. The younger bakers always got the worst of it, too. She ruffled his hair and went back to her station to touch up the colors on the flowers. Angus set the icing flower aside. It really was too pretty to eat.
He took a breath and went back to concentrating the cantrip into a focused shove of magic. He aimed his wand at the the rock he’d been trying to push across the table without shoving any of the other nearby, lighter stones. The magic was on the tip of his tongue and he tugged.
“Hey Ango!” Magnus slapped Angus on the back, startling him badly. The magic whooshed out of him in a line straight at the cake. Taako’s centerpiece slammed against the wall. As the spell dissipated, the bakery went silent. Angus looked on in horror. It slid down the stones to the tile in messy chunks of cake and icing. Taako stood frozen, still holding the bag of icing as the gold icing dripped onto the counter. “Shit,” Magnus swore.
Angus couldn’t breath as Taako slowly turned around, looking furious. Mara started snapping orders immediately. Angus tried to take a deep breath, but couldn't find it. His chest felt too tight and his heart pounded in his ears. Magnus shifted by his side nervously. He dropped his wand and covered his face. He wasn’t aware of anything else but the panic.
Taako wouldn’t love him anymore. He’d have to go to an orphanage and he’d never have a family again. There was no way he could ever be forgiven for something like what he’d just done. Angus felt soft hands taking his and easing them away from his face. “Deep breaths, pumpkin, deep breaths,” he heard someone murmuring distantly. “Magnus, fuckin’ - stop freaking out! You’re not helping, asshole. Pat the kid on the shoulder or somethin',” that same someone barked out angrily. He felt a hand patting him on the shoulder a moment later.
Someone touched his face gently. “Hey, c’mon, peanut, take a deep breath. On the count of three, we’ll do it together, huh? One, two,” a small pause. “Three.” He heard a great inhale of breath and Angus finally managed to take a deep breath himself. “Out,” the voice said soothingly. Angus let it out slowly. "Good job, my dude, good job. C'mon, again. One, two."
The voice kept instructing him like this until Angus managed to claw his way back out of the panic and anxiety. He felt suddenly, sick. “Mags, get a bucket.” Tears were streaming from his face, still, as he leaned over the bucket. Someone pushed his hair back and another hand rubbed soothing circles on his back.
Angus was finally back in his own, trembling head to realize the person in front of him was his dad, of course, and the person rubbing his back was his Uncle Magnus. He opened his eyes, feeling his hands still shaking violently. “‘M sorry, sir,” he whispered. Taako was looking down at him, face pinched with worry, multi-colored charcoal staining his hair and face. “Pl - please don’t make me go to an orphanage.”
Taako bit his lip, but the smile escaped anyway. Magnus chuckled softly behind him, squeezing his shoulder. “Lose my apprentice over a stupid cake? Nu uh, you owe me a lot in student loans, homie,” he pulled a handkerchief from his apron pocket and wiped off the sweat and tears from Angus’s face.
“Besides, I’d adopt you if Taako was ever dumb enough to get rid of a good kid like you. Have you carry my bags, Anglo,” Magnus teased, then paused. Taako put the handkerchief away. The adventurer seemed to seriously consider it. “That’d be really useful, actually. But who’d take care of Steven while I was gone?”
Angus giggled weakly. Taako smiled at Magnus and Angus went alert. That smile had an edge of viciousness to it. “You won’t need to worry about that, Maggie. Because your life is over,” he laughed, wickedly. Angus turned in time to see confusion pass over Magnus’s face.
“What?” The adventurer’s voice was sounding smaller than normal.
Taako stepped forward menacingly. “Do you know how much that cake costs? Or the wages I have to pay my workers to stay up all night and make a new one for the wedding tomorrow? No, of course you don’t, homie. Because you can’t conceptualize how stupid it is to surprise a wizard in the middle of a spell,” he laughed. Angus realized the elf was on the edge of hysteria. Magnus noticed how upset Taako was, too. It took Angus a moment to realize that edge was fake. “Then, you make my boy cry and have a panic attack.” He shoved a finger against Magnus’s chest, who held up his own hands in surrender. “You owe me and him.” Angus felt a bit bad that he was frankly glad it was Magnus and not himself get the bad end the heck stick.
Magnus laughed nervously. “Uh, ice cream for Agnes, two-hundred gold for you, and my life for me sounds like a good deal, Taako.” He grinned, the corners of his mouth twitching. Taako’s fists bunched in Magnus’s tunic as he still smiled. “Okay, okay! Just give me a bill!” Angus felt the wisps of magic around Taako summoning the illusion of fire. “I’ll carve something for you! C’mon, man,” he complained. Agnus held back a laugh by covering his mouth with an only slightly trembling hand. The visual of someone as strong as Magnus being taken to task by someone like Taako was pretty funny.
The magic faded and Taako let go of Magnus, patting out the wrinkles in his tunic. “Good, I need a box for this stupid earring I got Kravitz,” the elf replied casually, examining his nails. “Now, go take Angles to get that ice cream and get out.” He threw some keys from an apron pocket at Magnus who fumbled to catch them. “Get him some blankets and books before you bring him back, too. I’ll be here all night.” Taako flicked Magnus on the nose as he walked over to where younger bakers were furiously stirring more colors of icing.
“Geez,” Magnus grumbled. “It was an accident.”
Angus picked up his wand and put back on his apprentice hat. “It’s a wedding day, Uncle Magnus. No goofing on wedding days. You should know that, sir,” he chastised. Magnus turned around and Angus climbed onto his shoulders. He ducked down and clung to his hat as they passed through the side doors.
“Yeah, well, he didn’t need to get all -,” Magnus made claws with his hands and growled like a bear.
The detective wished Magnus could see his unimpressed look. “That’s because he hustled you, sir,” he stated plainly. Magnus stopped in his tracks. Angus patted the top of the man’s head, even though he wasn’t the slightest bit sympathetic to self-inflicted plight.
“What!”
Angus smirked, knowing Magnus couldn’t see it and wouldn’t hear it. “However, he did seem pretty upset about you scaring me into crying. Don’t worry, sir, he can still set you on fire, but I’m sure he’ll calm down if we can find him a new spellbook at the bookstore.”
The world’s greatest detective knew that Taako wasn’t the best person in the world. He didn’t think it hurt to have someone he wanted to be like.