4 Town x Reader vs Flatpacks
So, after offering virtual moral support for my own IKEA flatback endeavors, @4townlove agreed to collab on this fun piece with me! It was so much fun, and we’ve actually already been brainstorming another fun scenario between you and 4 Town…
There’s a tiny bit of swearing in this, hope y’all don’t mind. And yes, it’s all T.
Without further ado, enjoy the pure chaos of 4 Town helping you move into your apartment! 🧡
Scribbling your signature on the proof of delivery and bidding the delivery guy farewell, you began shuffling the IKEA boxes inside.
Once all of the smaller ones were safely stowed inside, you eyed the 6ft cardboard package with contempt. Damn wardrobe. Why hadn’t your new apartment come with a fitted one?
After only a few moments of your best efforts- which are honestly pathetic- at moving the box, you heard a familiar voice just as the whole thing threatened to squish you.
Z grabbed the cardboard with ease just before it toppled, his protective instincts towards you kicking in. You didn't even realise that you were in the brace position until he spoke again, “be careful.”
“Sorry, and thanks. Wouldn’t want ‘death by flatpack’ on my tombstone, would I?”
Z chuckled, jutting his head towards the door, reassuring you that he’d got the box and encouraged you to head inside. You had to admire his capability, lifting the thing like it weighed nothing.
Shutting the door behind him, you noticed that T had also arrived.
“Jesus,” Z winced, “you think they got new sets of ears for me and Y/N in one of these boxes?”
T just rolled his eyes, “It’s my way of helping.”
“Did helping me carry the boxes never occur to you?” you cheekily quipped.
“Hey! You volunteered so that the delivery guy wouldn’t freak out and want photos ‘n shit.”
“Right, I forgot that your target audience is men in their mid-40s.”
“Shut up! I’m still proud that a freakin’ pensioner asked for my autograph.”
“That’s not something to be proud of, T.” Z sighed, having settled the largest box down.
Before T could begin a full-blown speech, the other guys finally emerged. Jesse eyed the boxes, “You brought all these in yourself, Y/N?”
“Guys, guys!” Tae calmed the Aarons down, “Why don’t I make us all some tea?” Tae was no stranger to 4 Town’s flatpack endeavours, and knew well enough that some sort of soothing hot drink was a must to calm everyone down.
“Ew, no! Make mine hot chocolate,” T cut in, “tea is gross.”
“Kinda ironic that you hate tea.” Jesse hummed, referring to the brunette’s given nickname. The realisation earnt him a fist pump from Z, while you and Robaire chuckled.
“Right, Tae and Ro, you sort the drinks. The rest of us will unbox the packages.” you instructed. Someone had to take the lead with these guys, after all. Yes, it had been kind of them to help you move into your new place, but you could already foresee pure chaos.
T comedically saluted to you before dramatically ripping the nearest box to shreds. Jesse and Z went about it more methodically, while Tae and Robaire were happy to avoid the whole thing altogether.
One thing was for sure: this was gonna take a while.
“That’s all the boxes. Who got the instructions?” Jesse wiped his forehead with his arm. Who knew that opening fifteen boxes would be tiring?
You scanned over the packages in front of you, trying to make sense of all the loose wooden fixtures. Annoyingly, there wasn't a pamphlet in sight. Z shrugged, also having the same problem.
“The instructions? Oh, I tore ‘em up, they’re in the trash.”
“T!” you collectively shouted, exasperated. Of course it was T, who else would it be?
“Yo, chill! Imma find the English ones.”
Z pinched the bridge of his nose and Jesse just gawked at the brunette. Tae and Robaire froze in the doorway, beverages in hand. All you could do was sigh, “T, there aren’t any English instructions. It’s IKEA.”
“Then how do we put the shit together?” T babbled, utterly clueless.
“The pictures. You use the pictures!” Jesse refrained from screeching, putting his head in his hands.
A wash of something akin to realisation swept over T’s features, and he snapped his fingers, startling everyone. Especially poor Tae, who nearly spilt tea all over himself.
“Well, we got two linguists in this group, right?” T proudly pointed out.
“T, I don’t speak Swedish.” Robaire immediately shut down the premise.
“Alright, alright, but what about Jesse?” T gestured to the blonde as though it were the most obvious suggestion in the world. Everyone looked to the Jesse, and then back to T.
“What about Jesse?” Z looked unimpressed.
“Jesse looks Swedish, so…” T faltered.
“Sorry, just to be clear, you assume I can speak Swedish because I’m blonde with blue eyes?”
“Not cool, bro.” Z deadpanned.
Everyone eyed T with exasperation. “T, you know I’m not Swedish!”
“You’re not?” T looked genuinely surprised, “Guess you learn somethin’ new every day.”
“Some of us have more to learn than others…” Tae sing-songed under his breath, setting the mugs down. T just scowled at him.
“My Dad’s family were from Russia, and my Mom’s Irish!” Jesse exasperatedly corrected.
“Aight! I didn’t ask for your family tree.” T held his hands up in surrender, and it was now Jesse’s turn to look irked.
You were starting to feel that way, too, and clapped your hands together like an elementary school teacher. “Right! Enough about Jesse’s heritage, we need to figure out a way of getting those instructions back.”
“I’ll look online.” Robaire sensibly offered, heading off to his computer, dodging T as the brunette began to use one of the pieces of wood as a skateboard. Tae grabbed T, shoving his hot chocolate into his tanned hands to distract him.
“God, I’m gonna need something stronger than tea by the end of this.” Jesse flopped on the ground, how blonde hair without its usual golden sheen.
“Nothing is stronger than the almighty T!” Aaron T quipped, hot chocolate froth coating his top lip, which had turned upwards into his signature grin.
Z just sighed and raised an eyebrow, already fed up with his name twin's jokes.
You chuckled, wondering if surrendering to delirium would make this whole process simpler. For now, the tea would suffice.
“Aight, I printed the instructions off,” Robaire reemerged, “no one let T near them.”
“Can we just start now?” you raked a hand through your hair and Jesse agreed.
Robaire directed everything, organising some sort of procession line. Z was put in charge of the heavy lifting, Jesse deciphered instructions, and you organised all the bolts and screws. Robaire assigned himself the job of fixing everything in place.
“Why don’t I get a job?” T whined, earning him deadpanned expressions from everyone, including you. He just shrugged, content with his hot chocolate as he went back to sipping the sweet drink.
“Tae, you wanna do something?” you sweetly offered while Z passed you your tea.
“No thanks! I’m good over here.” the faux blonde declined, wringing his hands in anxious anticipation.
You smiled over at him before passing Robaire the nails for the new bookshelf. Scanning your eyes over the somewhat-orderly room, you set your hands on your hips confidently.
"i cant believe... we lost.... to a flat pack...." Aaron T wheezed, the bags under his eyes finally becoming pronounced as he collapsed to his hands and knees, panting with exhaustion.
Robaire was sat with his head in his hands on the couch, Jesse trying to deny their failure by insisting with a weak and delirious laugh, "C-Come on guys.. I'm sure theres.... there must be another page we haven't-"
"No." Z cut in dryly, staring at the ceiling fan and getting lost in the hypnotic whirring of the arms til he couldnt feels his limbs anymore. "We just failed."
Taeyoung was trembling with fatigue, his arms as heavy as lead at his sides as he panted, "W-well.. at least it's upright...right?"
and as if a wind of poetic justice blew its way through the apartment, the frames began to tilt and as all your eyes widened, the whole wobbling shelf keeled over and crashed back to the carpet for the 27th time.
silence hung in the stale air like an odour, so thick breathing was uncomfortable. you, staring into your empty teacup beside Robaire, barely had the strength to look at he failed attempt, but the more you sat in that silence, pondering the possibility of a swedish furniture store conquering the best of all boybands, a smile pushed into your jaw.
Jesse, finally progressing to the next stage of grief, let the loose and crinckled instruction manual slip from his calloused fingertips, his blue eyes bloodshot and kneels quivering.
T choked out between stiff breaths, "A- *sniff* a-at least we... we tried out... *sob sob* our best and... and worked... at least we worked as a team!!!!"
Z rolled his eyes into the back of his head and shut them for a moment, frustration silently coiling in his mind. but you were snickering now.
how absurd this all was, to think that IKEA had defeated you, had drained all attempts at being handy while having all the tools to make handiness seem easier.
"Oh my god..." you chuckled under your breath, your surprising amusement now audible enough to get Robaire's attention. blinking about of his pensive state, he turned to you, grinning at your strange reaction. "....Y/N?"
"Uh oh." Z muttered without having to open his eyes, though a very faint smile lifted to his lips. "I think we did it, guys."
"W-what?" Taeyoung sniffed, only then realising his eyes had been pooling with pearlescent tears, but pushing them away from the back of his hand, your trembling shoulders came into view and he frowned.
"Y/N?" and then, to make the situation even more out of the ordinary, a soft rolling chuckle began to rise from the back of Aaron Z's throat. slapping a hand over his eyes, it grew, swelling as it fed on the stale air of the sunset-lit apartment that held an aroma of dust and sweat and cold coffee. "We finally did it."
then Jesse started. though he was staring at the wall in slow acceptance of his grief, he shook and began to laugh also.
the concern of 4*Town's leader tightened his eyebrows into a frown but his full lips continued to stretch into a bemused smile. carefully taking the cold mug from your hands as you threw your head back, he placed a hand on your shoulder and asked again, "Hey... what happened?"
"We broke them." Z chortled, rolling onto his side as his laugh billowed into the room. and you, clutching your stomach as the events of the chaotic, desperate day repeated over and over in your minds eye, only fell back onto the bed, wheezing as you finally coughed out, "W-we... AHAHAHA! we got... the one thi-ing... that defeated 4Town... was a damn flatpack bookshelf!! I can't believe this!" and once the words were out, the insanity of the situation finally cleared the atmosphere.
it was Jesse that cackled out next, his blonde hair gleaming in the flittering light of the amber setting sun. and then Taeyoung, whose fatigue slowly slipped into delirium when he glimpsed Aaron T still genuinely crying as he stared at the nuts and bolts and torn instruction manual between his brown hands. "Y-You..." the young Korean snickered, "T, you... you threw away... the instructions... before we'd even started-"
"I WAS HELPING TO CLEAN UP!" T wailed, his tawny eyes swimming and overflowing with tears, and hearing that was enough to erupt the apartment.
You, Robaire, Jesse, Taeyoung and Aaron Z exploded. laughter mixed with the confused and overwhelmed hiccuping of T until you were all rolling around uncontrollably, gently pounding fists into the cream carpet and collapsing.
yes the day had been stressful and draining, but being with the guys, laughing and bickering and sipping sombre cups of tea over the magnitude of your collective confusion had made the day one to remember. through your blurry eyes, wiping away the tears of your pure delight, you looked at them all in the light of the setting sun, their smiles shining just as bright, or even more so.
your heart swelled as you watched Jesse finally let himself lie down after standing or pacing for hours on end, you watched Taeyoung and Aaron Z take T in their arms and comfort his seemingly honest sadness, and Robaire who met your gaze with such warmth as he laughed, "I'll never forget this. I'm certain. IKEA flatpack furniture is going to haunt my nightmares forever now."
"Same" you giggled, sighing deeply and resting your head on the black lead singer's shoulder. "I love you guys...." and then the room was tender again.
the calm settled over the dust and static film the plastic wrapping had left on every surface and stuck to your palms; the other members slowly regained their sanity enough to look at you and each other, a mutual gentle appreciation for everyone in the room shimmering like glitter in the sunset. and then your stomach growled, and your grin returned, sharp and cutting.
"As much as I do love you all too," Jesse began as he pushed himself to sit up, his brain finally recallibrating to return him to the sensible caretaker of the group. "We havent had anything today besides coffee so... how about pizza?"
"All the pizza?" Tae perked up, eyes bowls of starlight. and the other blonde nodded, winking kindly at the young member. "All the pizza. My place is free tonight so we can have a sleepove-"
"I'm sorry for throwing away the instructions!" T blurted out. "If i'd known they had the instructions on them i wouldnt have, i swear!"
You and Robaire exchanged glanced before falling into gentle giggling again, all before you pushed yourself to stand on aching legs. "Yeah we definitely need food. Let's just... get our things and head out. We'll sort out the bookshelf later."
"hey T?" Z muttered, crouching in front of his namesake with a comforting hand on his back. T pushed his hands over his face and looked up at the other, "Hm?" Z grinned and nodded his head towards you as he explained, "Y/N says it's pizza time."
a quiet heartbeat passed before, in an instant, Aaron T was on his feet, springing up like a jack in the box with a smile as wide as the sky as he exclaimed, "HELL YEAH!" and grabbing Taeyoungs hand, raced out the door.
"Don't forget your backpack!" Jesse called after them, picking them up and hurrying after the two youngest. Robaire followed soon after, shaking his head in soft amusement and then it was just you and Z.
with a slow breath, you looked at him and he looked at you. you shared a tender smile before he threw his arm around your shoulder and muttered as you walked out and locked the apartment door behind you, "T was right though... at least we worked together."
"Yeah," you agreed, heart full of warmth. "We did."
Musing Meaninglessly Masterlist
