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“Mav,” Ice began, cleaning his glasses with the spotted handkerchief he always kept in his pocket. “I love you dearly, but what possessed you to think this was a good idea?”
“Ummm.” Maverick hesitated, running a hand through his still damp hair. “We’re going to be late for work Ice, can we talk later?”
“No we cannot Mitchell.” Ice grabbed him by the arm before he could make a break for the door. Or the window, that had happened before. “Oh come on grumpy, it would be nice to have some life in the house again.”
“We have life. The cats!”
“Enterprise is lazy and Tomcat is unsociable.”
“Enterprise is only lazy because you feed him too much.”
“He’s my cat, I can feed him whatever I like.”
“Why are we arguing about this?”
“Because we’re two old men rattling around a massive house with no company.”
“Bradley’s moving in next week.”
“Yeah, and he’ll hardly spend any time with us because he’s thirty five and trying to get laid.”
“Please don’t talk about our son like that.”
“I’m not wrong though, am I?” Ice sighed, prayed to any God that was willing to listen and let go of Maverick’s sleeve. “Fine. You win. But I am not getting involved. Deal?”
“Deal.”
“Should have got you a bloody dog when you asked for one.” Ice muttered as Maverick went to get his shoes. “What was that, dear?”
“Nothing!”
Ice drove them to work in the Mercedes, immediately putting on the radio before the conversation could continue. His husband was exhausting at eight o’clock in the morning. They went their separate ways after a brief trip to pick up donuts, Ice up to his office and Mav down to meet the daggers. He’d talked to Rooster about their little plan a few weeks earlier and spent the time quietly planning and scheming how best to convince Ice. Now he’d managed that part, the rest of the morning would be for convincing the dagger squad. As per usual Maverick was the last to arrive, the others already waiting in the classroom, discussing some TikTok trend he most likely be the victim of before the weekend. He walked up to the podium with a suspiciously large grin. “Good morning daggers!”
“What’s got you in such a good mood, sir?” Coyote called from the back.
“Glad you asked Coyote. I’ve had an idea.” He ignored the groans that echoed around the room and plugged his laptop into the projector. “So, do I have everyone’s attention?”
Two hours and fifteen minutes later and the daggers were split between Bob’s people-carrier and the Bronco, lists in hand and a shopping trip planned. They started at Ikea, like all good shopping trips did. Halo led the way into the endless labyrinth of furniture. Bob tried desperately to keep half an eye on everyone as Hangman wandered off in one direction and Payback and Fanboy got distracted testing out all the sofas. Eventually, after much shepherding the group made it to the bedroom section, having already picked up a stuffed animal each, two boxes of dinner plates, a towel rail and an armchair. Maverick had woefully underestimated how difficult it was for grown men and women to pick out furniture and so he resigned himself to a good while waiting for them to finish, trying not to think too much about the meatballs waiting downstairs. After what felt like an eternity, though was probably only twenty minutes, Rooster had stopped being indecisive and they could move on, skipping through the rest of the store to begin the challenge of finding the furniture and then paying (Maverick really hoped Ice didn't check the bank account on his lunch break). "Has anyone considered how we're going to get this stuff out of here?" Phoenix asked from the front of the four trolleys of furniture. "Me, Bob and Bradley will load up the van and take it while you guys have lunch."
"Oh I wanted a hot dog." Rooster complained from behind.
"Eat it in the car."
"Fine."
There was a brief moment where Maverick wondered if the furniture was even going to fit in Bob's van, but it just squeezed in with enough space left for the three aviators in the front, laden with two pots of meatballs and a hot dog. "Do you want to put your address in my satnav, Mav?" Bob asked.
"I'll give you directions, it's fine."
"Prepare to get lost Bob."
"I know where I live!"
Bob had listened to everything Maverick had said earlier about the house, but he was still surprised at the size as he parked on the driveway. "Remind me, how do you afford this?"
"No comment."
The job of unloading was a lengthy and tedious one, Bob pulled items out the boot and passed them to Rooster who passed them to Mav who filled the hallway with stacks of boxes.
Several hours later, after much more shopping had been done and an early meeting time agreed for the next morning, Maverick returned home to find Ice standing at the bottom of the stairs, unimpressed face on. "Maverick." He smiled, which meant Mav was in trouble. "Could you, in as few words as possible, explain why you left these boxes stacked in front of every downstairs door?"
"Ummmm. Oh hey boy!" He spied the familiar loaf that was Enterprise and immediately began showering the poor, confused cat in the most amount of affection he'd ever seen. "Wow, the cat gets more attention than me when you get home."
"Sorry darling, how has your day been?" He ruffled Ice's hair, which he knew he hated and dragged one of the boxes out of the way so they could access the kitchen. "You could have moved these?"
"There's no fun in that. Make me a coffee, will you?"
"Go on then."
The next morning rolled around far too quickly for Ice's liking, who had woken up to a cat sleeping on his head. Of course Maverick had taken a photo before offering assistance to move the sleeping feline somewhere else. Maverick had agreed to go collect each of the daggers in turn (in a car, no less) while Ice made a start dealing with the masses of furniture that had made it from the hallway to the landing and were currently being used as a cat playground. This would be no small task to tackle and he was dreading it just from the thought.
Maverick’s first port of call was Rooster, who was sat on the curb outside his apartment, stacks of boxes around. He was dropped off at the house without hesitation, only living around the corner and was happy to return home after so long away. The second stop was for Phoenix and Bob who were furiously debating the end of a series they'd been watching. Hangman was only a few doors down, so joined them in the car, coffee in hand. "There's something you guys should probably know before you go inside." Maverick smiled knowingly.
"I don't like that look, Mav."
"What look? It's the only one I've got, Phoenix! I was just going to say that you guys need to say hello to my husband."
The supposed hello, ended up being a mess of hurried salutes which involved Hangman dropping a box on his foot and Phoenix doing the greatest bit of fangirling Maverick had ever seen. "Do calm down you three, and please stop standing there like goldfish, the house is your home, not the driveway. And don't tell the others I'm here, I'd quite like to surprise them all."
By the time Fritz and Omaha walked in, Ice had hidden himself in a cardboard box to jump out at them.
Maverick and Ice spent most of the afternoon in the kitchen, preparing dinner while everyone else unpacked in their rooms. (Payback and Fanboy weren't exactly unpacking, instead arguing about who got top bunk. And Harvard and Yale had taken to playing with the cats.) For the first time in a long time the house sounded full of love and life. "We've basically gained an extra eleven kids, haven't we."
"Pretty much. This is going to be chaos."
"I wouldn't have it any other way."
"Really?"
"Really. I love you Mav, thank you for bringing these kids into our lives."
"Love you too. Here's to having our family back."