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Everyone assumed that Ragnor Fell did not use a glamour. It was an easy assumption, considering his green skin, horns and double jointed fingers, all of which he did not hide even when he was in the most judgmental of situations. Truthfully, Ragnor liked to pretend that he did not use a glamour. He was proud to be a warlock. He was proud to show off his less than mundane features. The fact that he used a glamour was undoubtedly embarrassing and Ragnor had hoped that no one in his life would ever know it to be the case.
He’d simply use it so efficiently that no one would ever find out it was present. Being starkly uninterested in any kind of romantic connection made this easy to obtain. There were no prying partners who’d find out and Ragnor had assumed that was as simple as that. Who else would get close enough to him to ever find out? Who else besides a partner who would never exist would find out?
Ragnor came to the assumption that his glamour would be easy to hide well before he had the unfortunate experience of meeting Magnus Bane. The moment Magnus came into Ragnor’s life, he could see the impending disaster from a mile away. He only regretted not acting on his instincts and staying as far away from the other warlock as possible.
Unfortunately for him, Ragnor had a minor lapse in judgement and during that time, Magnus had managed to wiggle his way into Ragnor’s life so efficiently that Ragnor could not shake him.
For a long time, Ragnor managed to keep Magnus at arm's length. More specifically, he managed to keep Magnus far enough away from him that he was just as blissfully unaware of everything Ragnor preferred for people to not know about him as everyone else was. Then, Magnus had managed to do the unthinkable - he’d made Ragnor feel bad for him.
After an unfortunate incident with the Roman Institute, Magnus was looking for a place to hide and it only took a sorrowful expression on Magnus’ face and one pitiful line about how he had no one else to turn to for Ragnor to let Magnus stay with him.
He should have known that it was a bad idea. He should have known that living with such an insufferable warlock like Magnus would mean that Ragnor had to forfeit the privacy he’d cherished for centuries.
It took about three days of Magnus living with him for it to happen. Three days to undo centuries worth of effort on Ragnor’s end. Three days for Ragnor’s most private aspect of his life to be aired out in the open.
Ragnor was almost surprised it had taken three days, considering who Magnus was.
Magnus Bane had the peculiar effect of getting Ragnor drunk more often than anyone else, even though in his personal life Ragnor preferred to abstain from the heavy intoxication Magnus seemed rather fond of. When Ragnor was younger, he’d gone through a phase much like the one Magnus seemed determined not to outgrown. Ragnor had spent about an entire century drunk and that had given him more than enough reason to not want to get drunk for a very, very long time.
Though, alcohol was a little easier to take when dealing with Magnus. Ragnor imagined he had that effect on a lot of people. Which is how Ragnor found himself sitting with Magnus in his previously meticulously cleaned house, drunk off his ass and trying to stifle the laughter that was bubbling in his chest at Magnus’ ridiculous story.
He didn’t want to encourage Magnus but that was rather hard to keep sight of when every word that came out of Magnus’ mouth seemed to top the last in terms of ridiculousness. When he was drunk it was rather hard for Ragnor to keep in mind that he was annoyed by Magnus. Drunk, everyone of Magnus’ endearing qualities seemed to bubble to the forefront of Ragnor’s mind. Which was aggravating because Ragnor did not want to find any part of Magnus’ antics endearing, not openly at least. He could find Magnus endearing deep in his heart but he was not going to inflate Magnus’ ego by admitting it aloud.
The only issue was that the more and more alcohol Ragnor ingested, the more inclined he seemed to be to forget that. Which is how Ragnor ended up with his feet propped in Magnus’ lap, letting his head fall back as his drink teetered dangerously close to the rim of his glass. Laughter bubbled out of him like a river breaking open.
Magnus had that ability on the people around him. He made everyone, drinking or not, into more of a fool than they had been a moment before. It was his special trick, making people do things they didn’t think they would with his charism alone. Ragnor was not invulnerable to it. Around Magnus, he no longer felt like a centuries old warlock, worn down by the years behind him. He felt like he was light, in love and a fool.
It was only inevitable that his glamour would slip. How could it not when he was around Magnus? How could it not when the world was soft and he was choking on laughter?
Ragnor’s glamour slipped and Ragnor didn’t even notice until Magnus went silent across from him. Magnus’ hand was frozen raised in the air, half way between a motion he’d been making to explain some vague aspect of his story. His expression was not one of horror or shock but his mouth was slightly agape before he snapped it shut pointedly, as if hoping Ragnor would not notice that he was entirely taken back.
Ragnor stiffened instantly. Any warmth that had been consuming him from the alcohol and the laughter vanished. Ragnor felt cold and stiff and painfully human. Which was ironic given what Ragnor was well aware Magnus was staring at.
In a flash, they were gone as Ragnor’s glamour went back up. Ragnor slipped his feet from Magnus’ lap, trying not to look as painfully uncomfortable as he really was. He was good at ignoring stuff. Maybe, if he got up and pretended that none of this ever happened, Magnus would let it go.
Magnus’ hand snapped out for his own before Ragnor could rise to his feet. Ragnor stilled again, not looking over.
“What was that?” Magnus asked softly. His eyes were a little wide. He looked half excited to have discovered something about Ragnor that he did not know before and half put off that there was something so essential about Ragnor that he did not know.
Ragnor dared a glance over and Magnus was staring at him like he was a small animal he was scared he’d spook away. He was doing a poor job at trying to look just uninterested enough that he thought Ragnor might tell him instead of shutting down.
Ragnor pulled his hand from Magnus’ grasp, his eyes darting away again. “I assume you realize that you’re not the only warlock with a mark?” Ragnor quipped.
Magnus’ eyes pointedly flickered over him. “Well, yeah but I thought I knew all of yours. You never mentioned that you had-”
“Tentacles?”
“-weird magic things.”
Ragnor looked over to Magnus with a glare.
Magnus blinked. “Tentacles, yeah.”
Ragnor’s glare intensified before he was pulling himself off the couch in a flourish and vanishing the glass that was previously clasped in his hand. His plan at that moment was to get as far away from Magnus as he could and then promptly kick the warlock out in the morning but Magnus stopped him before he could start walking away, calling his name with enough urgency that Ragnor stopped in his tracks.
“Can I see again?” Magnus asked.
Ragnor’s immediate answer was no but Magnus seemed to be able to tell he was going to say no because he kept speaking before Ragnor could. “I’ve just never seen something like that before.” Magnus’ eyes darted to his back, where his tentacles had been before. “And you never told me…” Magnus murmured, unable to help himself but to press for an explanation.
Ragnor rolled his eyes instantly. “There’s a reason I never told you,” Ragnor snapped.
Magnus appeared to be instantly offended. “Why?”
“Because they’re private,” Ragnor snapped.
For a moment, they both stilled and Ragnor thought that finally, Magnus was about to let this go but before his hope could get too high, Magnus was frowning and opening his mouth again. “They’re sexual? Is that why you don’t like dating anyone?”
Ragnor’s gaze sharpened enough so that Magnus let out a sudden, amused laugh.
“They’re not sexual,” Ragnor hissed.
“So… what then?”
Ragnor glared for a moment longer before hesitantly eased himself back onto the couch. He was settled against the edge of the seat, ready to bolt at one more ill timed question from Magnus. Magnus seemed to sense how quickly Ragnor was willing to flee and quieted.
“They’re not sexual,” Ragnor snapped again. When Magnus did nothing but sit and wait for him to keep talking, Ragnor frowned and obliged. “They’re a manifestation of my magic. It’s not a normal warlock mark.”
Magnus nodded seriously, though he didn’t quite seem to understand. “So, why do you hide them?” Magnus murmured curiously.
Ragnor sighed softly. “It’s just dangerous to have the core of your magic so visible and it was something I was planning to keep to myself.”
Again, Magnus nodded. He seemed to understand that and Ragnor felt like Magnus just might let this go now. “That makes sense,” Magnus murmured softly. Magnus cocked his head slowly. “So… can I see them again?”
Instantly, Ragnor’s customary glare tightened.
“Well, I’m not going to do anything,” Magnus snapped instantly.
“I’ll show you once,” Ragnor insisted, a vague threat in his tone that had Magnus nodding seriously again to reassure him. “And then you’re never to bring it up again. It’s as if you don’t even know.”
Again, Magnus nodded and with a dramatic eye roll, Ragnor dropped his glamour again, this time intentionally. Ragnor didn’t look over his shoulder but he knew what Magnus was seeing. Coming out from his back, passing easily through his clothes, were sprawling emerald tendrils of his magic. They shifted in the air, moving softly and passively as they fluttered.
Ragnor glanced over to Magnus and when the amazed expression on Magnus’ face became too annoying to look at, Ragnor rolled his eyes and threw his glamour back up, making his tentacles vanish as if they’d never been there. Given their deal Ragnor assumed that, as he’d said, they’d move on and never talk about it again.
Magnus himself seemed to have a short term memory. “Can you feel them?” Magnus asked instantly. He darted forward to sweep his hand across Ragnor’s back to see if he could feel anything. Ragnor knew he couldn’t and he was irritated that Magnus would try in the first place. “Are they there even when you’re glamouring them?” Magnus asked as he twisted, trying to see something in the invisible space beyond Ragnor’s skin. “Or do they disappear? Are you forcing them back in?”
Ragnor turned to look at Magnus with a sharp gaze. “I didn’t say you could ask me a million questions after. I said I’d show you and we’d drop it.”
Magnus blinked. “Right…” Magnus’ mouth twisted down. “But I don’t think it’s fair to show me and not answer any questions.”
Ragnor groaned and threw himself onto his feet, leaving Magnus behind him on the couch to stew in all his entitlement to Ragnor’s personal information. Ragnor would answer Magnus eventually. He wouldn’t have shown Magnus again if he truly expected Magnus to drop it after. He’d known that Magnus would have a million questions and he’d bear them for Magnus alone but that didn’t mean that Ragnor would jump to answer him.
He’d pretend for a while longer that he was not going to entertain this. It was just too much fun to avoid. Besides, Ragnor thought that he deserved something in return for putting up with Magnus’ shit.