Let Me Catch Up With Ya’ Honey
Summary: Setting up a new office for your architecture business takes a turn for the best.
[No Use of Y/N] [Established Relationship] [Domestic Fluff] [Pet Names] [Kissing] [Accidental Proposal] [IKEA Furniture] [Interrior Decorating]
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Notes:
I've had the idea for a while but only got around to writing it recently. Surprisingly, carpal tunnel didn't hinder this one, rather my inability to execute my own ideas and Resident Evil brainrot. Currently out of ideas so hopefully something hits me soon or someone gives a good prompt.
Gender-neutral reader once more :)
As always, character playlist plug.
Reposted from AO3
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A door slammed, echoing in the sparse room. You were focused on the sheets of wood and bolts splayed across the cold vinyl flooring, not minding the slight commotion behind you.
“Is that the last of it?” you asked the person behind you, continuing your work on what should be a coffee table.
“Yup, U-Haul’s empty. Now, all we need to do is put together all this furniture.”
You gained the will to stop working on your first project to face your boyfriend leaning against one of many large boxes surrounding the entrance to your office. Chairs, desks, tables, and cabinets. All for the two of you to start your next big step in life. Despite his efforts to beat the midday summer heat by wearing one of his crop tops and thin shorts, he still had broken a sweat from lugging all the boxes out of the portable oven you had rented. Luckily, the office managed to stay impossibly cool.
“Do you want help with that one, or should we work on separate pieces?” he asked.
“I’m alright. Besides, I’m a God at putting together furniture,” you said, staring at him with a straight face.
“Alright, point taken. Now, what to build?”
Nightowl turned to look at all the boxes, eventually picking out the desk he had picked out for himself. He dragged it over to the area you were working in and set it down gently. When he sat down, you slid him the box cutter you had so he could get to work. It took you a moment to figure out what exactly he chose to work on.
“Starting off with the heavy hitter?”
“Why not?” Nightowl shrugged. “It’s gonna be the thing I’m glued to for the rest of time. May as well get used to it now.”
The two of you worked in comfortable silence for a while. Partially due to the intense concentration you bestowed upon your respective pieces. When you were finishing up with the small table, Nightowl broke the silence.
“I think only now the whole ‘we’re making our business super extra official’ thing is setting in on me.”
You lifted your head. “The loan we took out so we didn’t have to sell our organs for this didn’t do it for you?”
“Okay okay, that felt pretty real,” he laughed. “Seriously though, being in our actual office together and getting it all set up makes it feel like we really did it,” he smiled, now focusing his attention on you. You did the same.
“I get what you mean. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t feeling it too. The realness is kinda anxiety-inducing, though.”
“In a good way, right?”
“Yeah, in a good way,” you smiled, going back to your table.
The two of you had started this business a while back. Nightowl had gotten a lot of recognition quickly at the company he started with when he finished grad school. While the idea originally was that he’d be working with a team, soon enough, it became clients requesting him to work on their projects solo. With his name being as known as it was, working for a company seemed somewhat pointless to him. So, he asked you what you thought about taking the plunge. After mulling it over, you agreed. He would be the architect, and you, the accountant and secretary.
It started by working out of the apartment you shared. In-person meetings taking place in coffee shops and online ones in the kitchen with a bedsheet as a background. The living room partially turned into Nightowl’s office, while the kitchen table was yours. After a year of the somewhat disorganized setup, you decided to upgrade to a real office space. Thus, started the lengthy process that brought you here.
Screwing in the last bolt, you stood up. “One down, a million more to go.”
“Don’t remind me,” he groaned.
“Come on, with me here it won't be so bad,” you said as you picked up the table and put it as far away from everything as possible. Nightowl continued his gaze, though it filled with adoration.
“God, what can’t you do?” he praised, eyes following you as you walked back to him. Still sitting on the floor, he looked up at you as you leaned down, giving him a quick peck on the lips.
“I’m letting that go to my head.”
“By all means, let it.”
You went to the giant box collection and picked out the next piece. That’s how your day went. Building furniture, moving it either to the opposite side of the room or the vicinity of where you'd think it'd stay, then picking out a new box. Keeping yourselves entertained with a wide range of conversation topics.
As the early evening rolled around, hunger struck. You sent out Nightowl to pick up the cheapest pizza he could find while you fought with a bookshelf. Just as you wrangled it into place, the door opened once more, this time by a Nightowl carrying a much smaller box and a two-liter tucked under his arm. He came over to your workspace, moving aside various tools to place down the box. You immediately dove in while he sat down, him joining in once at your level. The incredibly cheap food felt like heaven in your starved stomach.
“This reminds me of my college days,” you remarked.
“We are eating poor college kid food,” he responded, opening the bottle next to him.
“I mean the situation, stupid. It’s just like when I got my first apartment.”
“Go on,” he said, setting down the bottle after taking a sip. You reached over for it, drinking before continuing.
“It was me and like, four other people in a small shitty apartment. It was our first day there, and we had brought in the few belongings we had to call it home. We were all starving and ordered a pizza because someone had a coupon, but surprise, surprise, we didn’t have any furniture. We all ended up eating together on the living room floor like this and sharing a two-liter because we also didn’t have any cups.”
Nightowl laughed, nearly choking on his food. “How were you so unprepared?”
“I definitely didn't have my shit together then. Besides, we were all nineteen-year-old finance majors that thought it would be so much better to live in an apartment. I don’t think it would have been possible for any of us to know what we were doing.”
“Makes me feel better about staying in the dorms for all of undergrad,” he smiled, taking another bite of his slice.
“You made the right call.”
The conversation continued, both of you reminiscing about your undergrad days and sharing stories you probably have told each other already. Neither of you minded hearing them over again, though. Truth be told, the time spent together made the whole venture worthwhile. Once finished, you threw the box and now empty bottle into the massive pile of cardboard in the corner of the room.
Nightowl got himself up and grabbed the next box from the now considerably smaller collection of boxes near the door. Soon, you joined him and both of you continued the day's work. Box after box, piece after piece, you had chipped away at the collection you had created. Nightfall set in by the time you finished.
Nightowl sighed as he stood up. “Why did we leave the impossible chair for last?”
“Fate must’ve had it out for us.”
“Seriously, if this stumped the furniture building God how was anyone supposed to put it together?” he grumbled. While you had originally been the one to work on it, you soon realized it would have to be a team effort. Nightowl took on the role of the builder as you read the instructions.
“It’s going to my head again,” you said as you got up from the desk you were sitting on to stand by his side.
“I’m more okay with that than you think.” he chuckled, wrapping an arm around you. “Confidence in yourself is hot on you.”
“I think it’s called ego, actually.”
“Basically the same thing. Take the compliment, cutie,” he pouted.
“Alright, alright. I will.”
“Good,” he said, placing a kiss on your cheek. The two of you stood there for a moment, admiring the work you had done.
“We should probably put everything in place, shouldn’t we?” you asked, looking up at him.
“Up to you, cutie. You’re the one in charge here,” he responded with a slight yawn.
“I don’t think either of us will have the energy to come back tomorrow to do anything but drop stuff off after a day of decor hunting.”
“Now it is then!” he declared, sparking his energy once more.
While you had pre-planned the layout, you found yourself stuck between two ideas. Nightowl didn't have a preference between the two, so it was up to you to figure out which you liked more. Unfortunately, your indecisiveness led to an hour of going back and forth between the two, even combining them at some point, before you finally settled on what you wanted.
Nightowl walked backward toward the door, back hitting it before he slid all the way down. “We’re finally done,” he smiled, looking up at you. You made your way over and sat down beside him, leaning your head against his shoulder. He took your hand into his own. “I can’t wait to immediately pass out as soon as I touch the bed.”
“You definitely deserve it. I was the one making you move everything around over and over again.”
“As long as you’re happy with the layout, I don’t mind one bit.”
“Still, I do feel a bit guilty. Like I was bossing you around.”
“My opinion on your confidence has not wavered.”
“I don’t think-”
“Take the compliment,” he said, cutting you off.
“You are one strange man,” you laughed.
“Maybe I am, but you love me for it,” he teased back.
“That I do,” you responded, squeezing his hand slightly. “Surprising after today since the putting together furniture and arranging it thing supposedly tears apart relationships.”
“If we can survive this happily and do it for a business we started all on our own, I think our relationship can survive anything,” he proclaimed.
“It better. Wouldn’t want to do it with anyone else.”
“Neither would I, cutie. We should make it official.”
“Like get married?” you asked.
“Mhm,” he yawned. A second passed before he realized exactly what he said and how he said it. He let go of your hand and turned a bit to fully face you. “I don’t mean right now. Unless you wanted to then I mean right now.”
You were stunned, trying to comprehend what had just happened. Before his panicked rambling, you thought it was just more conversation. Sure, you had talked about marriage before, but always casually. Never did it come out like this. You continued to stare at each other. Though only for a few moments, it felt excruciating long.
Nightowl slammed his face into his hands. “I’m sorry. I’m tired and my brain fell out of my mouth. You don't have to take it as an actual proposal.”
“I want to.”
Nightowl lifted his head from his hands to face you once more. His face was red from embarrassment. You reached out to hold both of his hands. “Actually?”
“I haven’t exactly pictured my future without you.”
“There’s no way you actually want to marry me now.”
"Why wouldn’t I? We’ve been together for years and already started a whole business together. If anything, it’s a little weird we didn’t get married before that.”
“This isn’t real. We’re really gonna do this?”
“Yeah, we are,” you smiled.
Nightowl immediately dove to hug you, knocking you to the floor. “Holy shit, I love you so much. You actually want to get married to me. I’m so fucking lucky.” he gushed.
“You’re crushing me,” you wheezed. Nightowl lifted his weight off of you to reveal the biggest grin on his face and eyes glossy from joy.
“Sorry! You’re just… everything I've ever wanted and now I get to have you forever. Kinda unbelievable,” he said as he laid himself beside you. “When do we start the planning?”
“Maybe after we pay back most of the loan we took out.”
“That’s gonna take forever,” he whined.
“Did you forget how many projects you have lined up? We’ll get it done in no time. Plus, I got us a fantastic interest rate.”
“What if we did a courthouse wedding?”
“No ceremony or reception?”
“We can do that later. There's no need for us to wait on a legal marriage, though.”
“You are very eager to do this as soon as possible.”
"That I am. I’ll make an appointment for next week if you want.”
“How long have you been thinking about this, exactly? You seem to have everything lined up in your head.”
He paused. “Longer than I’m willing to admit.”
“I bet you have a secret wedding scrapbook,” you joked.
Nightowl’s eyes went wide. “What don’t you know?”
“You’re showing me it when we get home,” you sang.
“How did I accidentally pull this off so well?”
“The things you do accidentally tend to go well. It’s like a blessing to have luck on your side like that.”
“I think luck has been on my side for more than saving my ass.”
“Like how this probably wouldn’t have happened if we didn’t get that impossible chair?” you said as you propped yourself up, now sitting.
“Exactly! Definitely wouldn’t have been tired enough to propose if that thing didn’t exist,” he chuckled.
“We should probably get home before you’re too tired to function.”
“Agreed.”
You two got yourselves off the floor, admiring each other for a moment before Nightowl leaned down to kiss you. Once parted, you gave one last look at the fruits of your labor before going to grab your phones and keys. Nightowl flicked off the lights before leaving and you followed suit. For tonight, at least, the gigantic pile of cardboard would have to live in the office. You fumbled with your keys for a second before locking up. Turning around towards your now fiance, you reached out for his hand, which he obliged. With one last short stare of adoration, you led the way out of the building that housed your little office.