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It was during an argument about the merits of crunch versus smooth peanut butter (Wesley had surprisingly strong opinions) that Gunn had said, “If we had our own place we could have both kinds in the cupboard”.
“A place of our own,” Fred said.
So it was decided that they would find a place in the mansion to call their own. They decided they needed two rooms. One room would be their private living space and the other room would be their bedroom. They had thought they would struggle to find the right space. That had been the easy part. The difficulty that emerged was deciding how to decorate it and what bed to choose. Cordelia refused to get involved.
“I am Vision Girl not a relationship counselor,” she said. “I don’t do bedroom disagreements.”
Sofas, wall decor, and lamps were all topics of discussion. No one could agree about seating. Gunn and Fred had Very Definitive Lighting Opinions; Fred and Wesley could not agree on room decor; but none of that mattered (yet) because Gunn and Wesley had come to a stalemate about paint colors. Wesley was pushing for cream or eggshell and Gunn was set on, “you know, actual color. There is only so much whiteness a brother can take”.
Wes simply stated that, “Neither cream nor eggshell are technically white”.
Gunn rolled his eyes. Fred put her hands over her mouth to hide a relationship-inappropriate smile. She was not taking a side in this because she was too busy trying to convince Gunn and Wesley that they could fit a sofa into their space; a navy blue one to be specific.
They had finally decided that Fred would pick out the room decor and Gunn would stock the kitchen area. Before this could happen, Gunn and Wesley needed to pick out paint.
Today was D-Day because Gunn refused to call it “P-Day” no matter how much Wesley insisted. Fred decided that this called for pancakes so they were downstairs in the kitchen as Fred sifted flour, Wesley cracked eggs, and Gunn tried to steal kisses even though Fred has insisted that public displays of affection were unsanitary around food.
They dug into their pancakes with syrup purchased from Wesley’s favorite Black-owned grocer. A grocer who had a calico cat that had taken a liking to Wesley and a cheese selection that Fred had taken a liking to. As soon as they got in the car, Gunn and Wes were allowed to start talking paint samples. Fred had forbidden them from pressing this issue with her. She was not going to take sides. She said she was fine with any “appropriate” colors which Gunn and Wesley took, correctly, to mean that she got final say.
Fred offered to do the dishes and, after a flurry of sticky kisses, Gunn and Wesley were on their way to Design Within Reach to pick out paint.
The ride to the hardware store was quiet but comfortable. They had done enough arguing up to this point that to actually be on their way was a relief. It was similar to how they still bickered before a fight-anything to distract from the tension and anxiety-but the after fight time was way better now. Assuming no one was injured, which was a big if.
Gunn and Wes parked the car far away from the store and headed inside. Gunn picked up a tail almost as soon as he entered the door and Wesley pretended to ignore the racist store associate because Gunn had yelled at him after they had been kicked out of their seventh consecutive store. They fell into step in the store and came before the large display of paint samples. Each found more and more colors they liked until they had attracted enough, “Would you like my help?” associates that they couldn’t bear to stay there any longer.
That night, over Ecuadorian take out, they spread the samples out on the floor of the room that was going to be theirs. A trashcan soon filled up with rejected paint samples and take out boxes until no food and only a few paint samples remained.
Finally, Fred picked up three and circled a color on each, “I want to try these,” she said.
Suddenly, there was a loud banging on the door.
“Demons,” Angel said. “Cordy says she sees purple people eaters in Santa Monica.”
They crashed at Gunn’s place at 7 am the next morning and slept until 2 pm. Fred had a hard time washing the demon goo out of her hair but the combined efforts of the three of them got her clean. Gunn had to be at Anne’s shelter so Fred and Wes were on paint duty.
They headed back to the mansion with their mini paint cans. After dropping them off, they headed to the beach. They squinted in the sun while sitting on a checkered blanket that Wesley had had since University. Three nannies chased after toddlers who played in the sand and kept trying to head for the water. Two teenagers who had cut school held hands and shared In-n-Out fries. Fred and Wes held hands as well while they fed each other bites of tacos.
They got back to the mansion and painted three stripes down their wall-one in each color. Then there was nothing to do but let it dry and go out for dinner. No demons allowed.
The next morning they gathered in the common room to look at the paint samples under the dawn light that Fred has insisted was scientifically the best.
“That color,” Fred said as she pointed to a hushed tranquil green.
Gunn and Wesley did some kind of complicated handshake that ended with Gunn pulling Wesley in for a deep kiss. Fred had observed this ritual many times and still did not understand who would move and who would stay still. They hadn’t gotten dressed for work yet because Gunn had deemed this “critical to workflow”. Wesley was pulling Gunn’s blue t-shirt over his head. The three of them were late to Angel Investigations that day.
“Angel, guess who is babysitting for Connor so we can have a real date?” Cordelia said as they made their way downstairs. Finally.
Fred and Wesley exchanged a glance at Connor’s name as they often did. For now, the three of them were enough but ‘someday’ spoke to both of them.
Connor was toddling everywhere and had to be watched closely because sometimes the mansion was a little less baby-proofed than it should be. Wesley never liked it when Connor bit into a ancient text that he had absentmindedly left lying around.
The next day Cordelia took Connor out of the mansion “just in case” because paint fumes were not good for developing brains. It only took Wesley, Fred, and Gunn an afternoon to paint both rooms but the fumes were strong and they would have to wait a weekend until they could sleep on the mattress and eat at the card table that were the only furniture they had agreed on.
A vision by Cordelia kept them busy with a solid week of research and fighting off demons before they could really look at each other at the end of the day, each of them reading a different text and trading notes and Chinese food containers and say, “Let’s go home”.
So they did.