Work Text:
“Up, Keith, up up up, oh shit, that was my hand.”
“Well, what was your hand doing there!?”
“I said to go up, not back!” Lance griped, shaking the hand that had evidently gotten smashed. Keith was forced to hold the cabinet up by himself while Lance acted like a big baby.
“Well, it has to go back eventually so that we can screw it to the fucking wall,” Keith replied while Lance readjusted. They moved as a unit this time, successfully managing to get the cabinet onto the cleat.
It’d been like this all. day. long. They’d planned to finish renovating the kitchen during the long weekend, but if the first day was anything to go by, it wasn’t going to happen.
First, they had gotten two cabinets installed before they realized that the rest weren’t going to fit. A phone call to Hunk and a YouTube video later, they’d discovered that they had to start with the corner, which meant they had to take those cabinets down and start over. They took the cabinets off the wall and swore that would be their only setback for the day.
Ha. Riiiiiight.
After that, they’d run out of screws three cabinets in, and Keith had to make a run to the hardware store for more where he got held up for an hour talking to Coran, who was now the zany store owner. Then he’d gotten back to find Lance sweeping up the broken shards of their panes of glass for the front of the cabinets that Kosmo had broken running through the kitchen, which meant they’d have to order more. And now, here they were, trying to break Lance’s hand.
Who knew that remodeling a house was so damn hard?
“‘Let’s buy a house,’ we said,” Keith complained as he reached for the drill to hand it to Lance. “‘It’ll be fun,’ we said. ‘We saved the universe, how hard could renovating a house be? ’”
Lance snorted from his spot atop their counter as he started drilling in the first screw. “You know it’s bad when you’re using memes.”
Despite his frustration, Keith laughed too. He didn’t think it would be this much work when he’d whispered to Lance in the dark one night that he wanted a home that they’d made with their own hands. He kept telling himself it would be good when it was done. It would be warm and homey and full of love and theirs .
But damn, was he ready to be at that finished part.
“Okay, got the screws in up here,” Lance said. “Coming down.”
Keith held out a hand for Lance to gracefully jump down to the floor. When he’d landed, Lance leaned over and gave Keith a quick peck on the cheek.
“Sorry for yelling,” Lance said.
“It’s okay. Is your hand alright?” Keith asked, reaching out for Lance’s other hand. He placed it in Keith’s, and Keith looked it over carefully.
“It’s fine, Mullet,” Lance replied. “Let’s just finish these cabinets. I’m ready to be done for the day.”
Keith nodded and took the drill from Lance. He stooped below the cabinet and looked for their pencil marks that they’d made to mark the studs. When he found them, he leaned in to drill in the last of the screws.
He’d started on the last one when he felt Lance drape himself on Keith’s back. He placed a sweet kiss on the nape of Keith’s neck as he started up the drill.
“I’m thinking pizza for dinner,” Lance said. “Does that sound good?”
“Yeah, sounds good,” he replied as he stood up.
Lance kept his arms around him as they surveyed their work. Despite the frustrations of the day, he couldn’t help but smile.
The cabinets were all up. Sure, the glass was missing and they had to take down the cleats, but Keith could see it.
He could see them cooking dinners together.
Passing a cup of coffee across the island on sleepy mornings.
Dancing in the kitchen light at 2 am.
Making cookies with dough-covered hands, maybe even covering a kid's nose with flour, their kid.
They’d done this, and they’d done it together . Just like they’d bought this house and built a life together .
Just like they would continue to do. Because that was the promise they made to each other.
Suddenly, the problems of the day didn’t matter anymore.
“It looks great,” Lance whispered into his ear. "Looks like ours."
Keith hummed in agreement.
Yes. It was theirs.