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noodyl-blasstal · 1 year

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JustIn from the Beyond!

Do I have plans for this? Yes! Do I have time to make them happen any time soon? Debatable! So you can have what'll hopefully be the first chapter, as a treat. -

Kravitz frowned down at his phone, double checking the address from the email was the same spot the map app had led him to. The office block in front of him didn’t seem like the kind of place that would contain Justin From the Beyond: your direct line to the spirit world, he was expecting some kind of difficult to find Victorian building, not a grey box with wildly unhelpful company names like Loccarion, Applewell, and Plaxistics on the sign. People in suits kept striding past him doing what he could only assume were important business things. Actually, scratch that, they all had a whiff of stock market about them, so maybe not that important. In fact, with that in mind, the location made a lot more sense - ghosts were a lie and so were stocks, of course they were in the same building. Maybe he could try and get an interview with some of them for his next block of episodes… no, one job at the time. He was a nightmare for dropping projects for the next fancy idea, but this week he was fighting ghosts, next week he could take down the stock market.

He glanced down once more, just to be sure, and the map pin stayed resolutely in front of him, definitely no GPS wizardry, this was the right place. It had taken him 10 months to get this appointment so obviously he’d shown up two and a half hours early. By the time Kravitz accounted for traffic, his own disorganisation, and the possibility of unreported strikes, break downs, and walking at half pace from the very furthest possible station in the city (‘just in case’ he missed four other stops) he might have slightly overestimated his actual travel time. He couldn’t leave though, if he went to grab a drink or something time would disappear and he’d end up late. Better to just stay put. In fact, if he could sit in the waiting room he might even be able to get an idea of the other clientele, all good background for his report. Flawless planning, every inch of it on purpose.

Kravitz gave himself a critical once over in the window, smoothed his long woollen coat, put on his very best business face, and headed inside. The email had instructed him to head to the 13th floor. Kravitz rolled his eyes when he read it - although on reflection, it was impressive dedication, it must have taken an age to find a building which actually had one. Oh, maybe the rent was cheaper because of the luck thing? He made a quick note in his phone to look into it - spooky aesthetic, money saver, or both? Probably both, Justin was smart, he marketed well, was consistently in demand, and somehow every public review was positive - regardless of where it was posted.

Sure, Kravitz could have investigated any old grifter and done it much faster, but the cons with a veneer of legitimacy were his actual targets. Most people knew that the bloke on the street corner offering you a direct line to death for a few dollars wasn’t likely to be the real deal - at least he wasn’t exploiting people as much. Justin though? This guy had a massive waiting list and prices to match. Most people could only dream of getting an appointment, let alone three. Thankfully Kravitz could afford it and the revenue from the episodes should more than cover the cost. Kravitz, of course, tried to keep his ethics intact but it was hard to turn down ads when they let him break stories that helped. If keeping people safe meant he occasionally had to extol the benefits of certain underwear brands or enthusiastically tell his listeners about his pubic grooming regime then sobeit.

The display ticked from twelve to thirteen, the lift binged pleasantly, and the doors slid smoothly open. Kravtiz stepped straight into a waiting area, “News JustIn!” was scrawled across a banner facing the lift, a ghostly phone cord underlined the writing. He’d clearly escaped faceless, corporate McBusinessland.

“Welcome to Justin from the Great Beyond, handsome. How can I help you out today?” The receptionist asked from behind an ornate wooden desk which appeared to rest on chicken legs, the work on the feathers was exquisite and Kravitz only tore himself away from admiring the craftsmanship to admire the man behind the desk instead. The receptionist was perched on a dusky pink cocktail chair which clashed marvellously with the fluffy mustard carpet (the kind Kravitz would love to bury his toes in). The receptionist was long and lean, clean shaven and his eyeliner was smudged just enough that Kravitz couldn’t tell if it was on purpose or not. His roots were showing, there was a gap in his front teeth, and Kravitz thought he might possibly be the most beautiful man he’d ever met. Before he could talk himself out of following that line of thought, the receptionist noticed Kravitz’s roaming eyes and winked lasciviously. Was Kravitz allowed to flirt on the job. Probably not? He’d better check with HR… He was HR and it was very important that he made the man call him handsome again.

“I have an appointment with Justin, my name’s Dante Bellefleur.”

“Ah yes, Mr…” The receptionist paused and side eyed him. “...Bellefleur. You aren’t booked in for a while, are you happy to wait?”

“Of course, I was so worried about being late that I made it a little bit early instead.”

The receptionist snorted loudly and Kravitz glared before he could stop himself. Fuck, he couldn’t be sulky at work, that was how he lost opportunities. This guy could get him booted and it had taken enough effort to get this appointment, falling at the final hurdle because he couldn’t take a bit of light mocking would be mortifying. At least if the guy was going to mock him Kravitz could write off the flirting. He tried to settle his expression to something more neutral and looked anywhere but at the man behind the desk… which was a shame because even if the guy was a prick he was nice to look at. Maybe he could sneak a few glances as he waited? It was perfectly reasonable to occasionally look at the other person in the room.

Kravitz spent a few more moments staring placidly at the wall before subtly shifting in his chair and looking quickly towards the desk. Taako looked right back at him, Kravitz hurriedly looked away again and focused on retrieving his book from his bag. He could just chill out here, see if anyone else came in, see what Taako actually did.

It turned out that the answer to that question was ‘Not Much.’ Every time Kravitz glanced over Taako had moved slightly, knee tucked up under his chin, one leg splayed out and the other curled under him, legs crossed under him. Every time Kravitz glanced over Taako noticed and smiled his handsome smile right back. Kravitz knew he should say something, but he didn’t know where to start. All he wanted to do was get a good long look at the other man. Instead he had to focus on his book, which of course was one he was reading for show and not enjoyment. After a painful hour in which he made it through three pages, retained none of it, and pointedly avoided looking at the man directly, Kravitz tried again.

The receptionist was now sideways, legs slung up on one arm of the chair, and, worse than improper use of furniture, he grinned wide and wiggled his fingers at Kravitz as if he’d been waiting for this. “So, come here often, kemosabe?”

“You’re the receptionist.” Kravitz replied flatly. “Wouldn’t you recognise me if I did?” Was this some kind of trap?

“Great point… So what’s a guy like you doin’ in a nice place like this?”

“The same thing as everyone else I imagine.” Kravitz’s tone remained placid and polite but if this guy wanted to get under his skin he was certainly doing a good job of it. He could smile his stupid lovely smile all he wanted, but that was outright rude. Sure, Kravitz was accustomed to this - personal insults weren’t uncommon when your job was uncovering dirty secrets, but that usually came after he’d been busted not before. Usually at that point he could give back as good as he got, but this guy might not even know what he was part of. There was no way he could retaliate though, he had to be on his best behaviour until he’d got what he needed, and that included not snarking or sulking. He took a moment to stamp out the sparks of irritation that ignited in his gut and decided to attempt redirection, may as well get some information out of this exchange. “Although, having said that, what’s the main reason people come?”

“Conversation with yours truly, mostly.” The receptionist replied. He slid a drawer open, slapped a magnetic badge on (Kravitz didn’t have any thoughts about the swathe of brown skin this motion revealed), then tapped it. “Taako Taco, here to blow your mind before Justin gets the chance to.” He wriggled until he was sat cross legged again, uncapped what looked to be a sparkly gel pen, and started doodling on the desk planner. Kravitz wasn’t sure if he hated or envied him - how much did this gig pay? It wasn’t like the phone was ringing off the hook. In fact, he couldn’t actually see one on the desk. “Is that why you’re here, Dante, to be blown away?” They made eye contact about that comment, they made eye contact about it really hard. Maybe he should look at a sexual harassment angle for the episode, but honestly, he had stared at the guy so much that he didn’t have a leg to stand on. He was going to choose to believe this treatment was specifically for him and not the usual experience clients had, certainly none of the extensive reviews had mentioned it.

“I’m here to get the answer to some questions I have.” That was true, he wasn’t going to lie if he could help it… well, any more than he had already, but there was only so much you could do when you were the first google result for ‘Kravitz’. “Have you ever…” Kravitz trailed off.

“There isn’t much Taako hasn’t done.” He uncapped another few pens and switched between them as he doodled.

Kravitz wanted to see what he was drawing, Taako was concentrating so intently that his brow furrowed and Kravitz needed to know what was important enough to make that happen. More importantly, he needed to stop staring, he needed to remember that Taako was ridiculous and rude and bold and terrible at customer service. This wasn’t someone he should be interested in, Taako was hot as fuck and he knew it, he was conceited and unkind. That wasn’t what Kravitz wanted.

“Spotted something interesting, Dante?” Taako had stopped drawing. He’d stopped drawing because Kravitz was staring right at Taako and Taako had noticed and fuck this was going badly. It was fine, he could fix it.

“I was admiring your name badge.” Kravitz said, gesturing at the incredibly ordinary badge with zero distinguishing features to offer any follow up on.

“Uh huh. Which aspect?” Taako didn’t resume drawing, of course he didn’t. Instead he smirked and waited patiently for an answer, the bastard. He knew why Kravitz was staring at him and sure it took a lot of bravery to investigate crime and put yourself in compromising positions with dodgy people; but telling a guy he was hot and you’d quite like to get into some compromising positions with him? Absolutely not. Especially not when that guy was doing his job - no matter how loose that concept seemed to be for Taako.

“The typeface.” The fucking typeface? “It’s satisfying to look at.” Just like the guy wearing it. This was fine. “I wasn’t bold enough to say it before, but I think I’m justified.”

Taako looked horrified. “Did you just…? Bad, terrible, illegal.” He paused for a moment and Kravitz felt anxiety bubbling in his gut. He was trying to make things better, but maybe puns would be what got him kicked out, not his snarky attitude. Then Taako continued drawing. “I’m going to have to do a citizen’s arrest because right now we’re Sans Sheriff.” Oh, oh okay, Kravitz could work with this.

“Oh no, did the last one experience some hard Times?” That earned Kravitz a long glare.

“Don’t make me curse…ive” Taako grimaced even as he said it.

Kravitz snorted. “Well now who’s going to pun jail?” Taako was hot, Taako was interesting, Taako was willing to play in this stupid space with him. Kravitz wanted to take him out then take him home. Could he just ask Taako out? It didn’t have to be weird. “Hey, can we go on a date, also I’m using a fake name and I’m probably going to be the reason you lose your job because I’m here to expose your employer as a con artist…” Maybe it had to be a bit weird. Kravitz should at least wait until this was over. If he did that Taako might appreciate his integrity? Surely he’d understand why the fake name was necessary. He’d think Kravitz’s dedication to doing the right thing was sexy. Obviously. Just like all his other boyfriends who were definitely still with him and didn’t break up with him because he was too busy doing the right thing and being boring.

“The view’s gonna be good at least, Taako could do some rotting in a cell if you we…” He stopped mid sentence and noticeably clammed up. As if this was the point where Taako decided he had professional boundaries, Kravitz wanted to know where that was going. Did he mean Kravitz would be a good view to see? Good company to be stuck in pun jail with? If Taako thought that then Kravitz could definitely ask him to dinner. Taako stood abruptly, knocking one of his pens off the desk and abandoning it to the floor. “What are you waiting for, kemosabe? I thought you were desperate for your appointment with Justin.” Taako didn’t look at him, just walked towards the door in the corner of the room. Kravitz had no idea what just happened, he didn’t even say anything, was he doing something weird with his face? Looking too eager? It was bang on his appointment time, so maybe Taako just had to be really prompt? Maybe this Justin guy was a horrible boss? If that was the case Taako would surely give him an interview for the podcast. He’d definitely understand why Kravitz had to lie if Justin was treating him poorly. He might even be a little bit grateful for Kravitz’s intervention!

Taako cracked open the door and slipped inside without looking back. Kravitz reached to push the door wider and follow, but paused. He didn’t know what was going on, but it felt wrong. He didn’t want Taako to be in trouble, but he also didn’t want to leave him upset. Kravitz quickly doubled back to the desk and picked up the gel pen from the floor - it was gold and glittery and boy if that wasn’t Taako all over. Kravitz quickly scribbled out a note on the jotter. “Sorry if I overstepped, it was lovely to meet you Taako.” He placed the pen neatly on the desk and, feeling mildly absolved, walked into Justin’s office.

Sat with his legs kicked up on the desk was a man wearing the most ridiculously elaborate wizard hat he’d ever seen. The brim was strung with rows of tiny stars and pom poms, there was an iridescent sheen to the fabric, and a spindly moon charm hung from the crooked peak. The hat was new, but the face it did very little to obscure was familiar.

“Taako? What’s going on? Is there a problem?”

“Nope, you’re here to have a natter with the world beyond, I’m your guy.”

“But you’re Taako.”

“Nope. I’m definitely Justin.”

“You just said your name was Taako?”

“And you said your name was Dante. Apparently that’s what we’re doing here.” Kravitz didn’t flinch, but he didn’t say anything either. He waited an incredibly normal amount of time while the gears in his brain turned. This was a puzzle, he loved puzzles, he could solve puzzles. Sure, no one had ever questioned him so directly before, and okay, he didn’t really have a plan for this. Why didn’t he have a plan for this? Stupid, stupid overconfident prick. There was something about fake names, pride, and infernos in this, but he wasn’t calm enough to make the joke right now. Thank the goddess that Taako didn’t know who he actually was.

“So, Krav, are you going to call me Taako, or will Justin call you Dante?”

Fuck.

#This one gave me the brain worms and there's more; there truly is; but there's also so many deadlines on their way #Taako Tacco #Kravitz #Taakitz #The Adventure Zone #TAZ #TAZ fic #Noodyl Writes

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