Work Text:
Rae pulled his glasses from his face, rubbing tiredly at his eyes as he stumbled into their kitchen. Muscle memory led him to the coffee maker, turning it on and filling it with barely a thought. He turned to grab his favourite mug from the cupboard when a large piece of parchment on the counter caught his eye.
He raised an eyebrow, frowning slightly as he moved to take a closer look. It wasn’t like his husbands to leave any of their work around like this.
The handwriting was instantly identifiable as Caspian’s, his mostly legible scribbles notating what looked like a rough sketch of their bedroom. Rae’s frown deepened, his fingers finding the edge of the paper as he read more of the notes. There was a plan to push one of the walls out, giving them more space, and a section put aside for a small walk-in closet with enough space for the three of them that lived there consistently, and additional space for the various others that tended to stay on occasion. Not that they didn’t just wear each other’s clothing when needed or wanted.
Soft footsteps pulled him from his focus, the man in question greeting him with a sleepy smile as he entered the room. Caspian walked up behind him, wrapping his arms around Rae’s waist from behind as Rae’s tail wrapped around his leg. Caspian rested his head on Rae’s shoulder, going on his tip toes to peak over at what he was looking at.
“Oh,” Caspian said, and even without ewing him, Rae could imagine the blush creeping up his face. “I… didn’t realize I’d left those out here.”
“Were you going to tell us about your plans to renovate our bedroom?” Rae asked, a teasing tone to his voice as he looked over his shoulder at his husband, “Or were we just going to find out afterwards?”
“I was going to tell you!” Caspian argued, “...Probably.”
Rae laughed as Caspian buried his face into his shoulder, twisting in his grasp so they were facing each other. He put his hands on Caspian’s face, bending slightly to place a gentle kiss on his lips, both of them grinning at the affection.
“It looks really nice,” Rae said after a moment, nodding back to the plans when Caspian gave him a questioning look. “If you want, we could ask my mom to watch the kids this weekend, then you, me, and Aax could try our hands at it.”
Caspian raised an eyebrow at him in what rae recognized as hesitant excitement. Despite being together for years, and all the positives that had come into their lives, this was that occasional flash back to who Caspian was when they met. Rae ripped down for another kiss, wiping the nervousness from his face.
“If you think your mom would, then that sounds amazing,” Caspian said finally.
Rae rolled his eyes, “Please, as if we won’t have to fight her to take them back after.”
Caspian laughed, leaning into Rae’s chest for a long, comfortable silence, before the coffee machine finished and Rae remembered the weariness that had brought him to the kitchen in the first place.
“Alright!” Rae said, stepping into the bedroom. “Mom has the kids, Fenris and Violet know our plans and are prepared to come help if we fuck up, and I stopped by Starbarks on the way home so we have snack!”
Aax and Caspian both let out a little cheer at the mention of snacks, matching grins on all of their faces. They’d moved as much of the furniture as they could out of the room for the time being, leaving, essentially, just their bed frame and dresser, neither of which they could be bothered to move, even with Aax’s strength.
Caspian was leaning against the far wall in work pants and a white tank top that showed off what muscle he had, the plans in his hands as he looked over their materials. Aax sat on the floor in the middle of the room, the only difference to his usual outfit being he’d changed out his top for a looser, dark teal shirt with sleeves that came just past his elbows. Rae was going to get so distracted.
He tried his best to focus as Caspian started explaining his plans, volunteering to start putting together the closet inserts while they took down the wall. Caspian pointed him to a pile in one corner and the matching bag of screws and tools he’d need to put everything together. Then, he sat back and watched as his husbands set to their task.
It was still early in the day, the morning sun filtering in through their windows as he started on the instructions, not being subtle as he glanced up to watch his partners work. Caspian was motioning around the wall, pointing things out to Aax that Rae couldn’t quite hear from his side of the room.
Then the real fun began, Aax taking, well, an axe, to a spot in the wall, tearing into it and exposing them to the warm air of late spring. He swung again, tearing away another section as Caspian set to pulling away smaller pieces Aax missed.
Rae got about half way through attaching two pieces before he had to pause for a minute to just watch them. Not even just for the view, but for the almost feral grin on Aax’s face as they took down more and more of the wall.
When it was mostly pulled down, Caspian set about extending the floor, reaching down to add supports as he went. Rae saw what was about to happen about two seconds before it did, Caspian leaning forward, forgetting his grip, and practically rolling out the open wall and off the edge.
Rae and Aax both made startled noises, Aax running towards the edge before biting back a smile at something Rae couldn’t quite see.
“I’m ok!” Caspian’s voice came from out of view, his head popping up a moment later as he caught the edge of the floor and started to pull himself up, accepting Aax’s hand as he did. He grinned at them sheepishly, rubbing a hand awkwardly along the back of his neck “It’s uh, it’s a good thing we built into a hill, huh?”
That sparked a round of laughter, and they quickly returned to their work, though Rae could tell both he and Aax were keeping a close eye on Caspian now.
By the time the first of the four inserts were fully built, the other two had managed to extend the room the few feet, and were in the midst of building the walls back up in their new spots. Aax caught his eye, looking between him and the finished insert, then at the planned door frame for the closet.
“Should you build those in here? I don’t know if they’ll fit through the door after,” he suggested, looking to Caspian, who had paused when Aax started talking.
Rae shrugged, also turning to Caspian, who was frowning as he looked between the insert and what would be the closet.
“Huh,” he said finally.
Rae tried and failed to hold back a giggle, biting his lip as Caspian turned to glare at him. “Let’s just move this one in now?” he suggested, “Then I can half build the other ones so they fit in the door?”
Caspian was still glaring at him, trying his best to look annoyed but cracking by the second. He sighed, nodding and moving to help Rae lift the insert and carry it into the open space. They set it in place, then returned to their work.
The rest of the wall and insert building went mostly smoothly, the only minor incident starting when Aax started sneezing from all the dust in the room. With all of their intelligence, not one of them had thought to open a window when they started cutting wood, and a thin fog of wood dust had filled the room.
Rae had grinned when Aax started sneezing, then caught himself off guard with his own sneeze. This, of course, sparked Caspian to laugh at both of them, until his own sneezes joined the ridiculous little symphony.
Aax, covering his nose and mouth with his hand, pulled open the door to their balcony, dragging them both outside to clear their lungs and let the room air out. They’d taken the opportunity to eat some of the snacks Rae had brought, leaning on each other as they stared out over the yard. When Aax deemed the room decently aired out, they got back to work, a lot more careful this time.
Rae stood back as Caspian screwed the last insert into place, Aax leaning in the door frame, also watching. Caspian stepped back, looking over the new shelving with a definitive grin and a satisfied nod, before turning to them for approval.
The main wall of the closet was lined with the inserts Rae had assembled, two with hanging space taking up most of them with small drawers on the bottom, the other two being more split. Their dresser would get moved in along the far wall, and a mirror hung. Rae was already wondering if a small bench or something would be nice too, before realizing Caspian was waiting for him to say something.
“It looks great, love,” he said, wrapping an arm around Caspian’s waist. Aax joined on Caspian’s other side, echoing the sentiment as his and Rae’s tails linked behind Caspian's back. They stood for a moment, looking over the closet, then the main room, and the layer of dust and mess,
…and paint cans.
“...do we have to paint today though?” Rae asked, hoping they felt just as tired as he did.
Caspian and Aax followed his gaze to the paint cans, both letting out their own strangled sighs as they remembered part two of this plan.
“We should probably clean up at least,” Aax said, already moving to pile together some of the scrap material.
Caspian groaned, but moved to follow them a moment later. With a sigh, Rae joined too. It would go faster with all of them.
They realized their other mistake later that night when they went to go to sleep.
“...We do not have a bed,” Rae said for all of them as they stood in the doorway of their partially finished bedroom.
“Fen’s room?” Aax suggested a minute later, which was immediately followed by a chorus of agreement from the other two as they made their way back downstairs.
Painting started normal.
After a quick breakfast that Violet dropped off fresh for them, they’d made their way back upstairs. Each took a bucket and a brush and set about their own tasks. Rae, as the tallest, was assigned to the part closest to the ceiling, despite it still being a few inches taller than he could reach. Aax was lining along the floor, while Caspian followed behind them with the roller, covering the rest of the wall.
Then some paint from Rae’s brush dripped down and landed on Aax’s face, splattering his glasses as he blinked back in surprise. Rae bit his lip to suppress a laugh at how cute his expression was, apologizing profusely.
Aax didn’t say anything, accepting the rag Caspian passed him and wiping most of it up. He’d have to actually clean his glasses later, but he got most of it. Then, with a mischievous grin, he swiped his brush towards Rae, catching his wrist and covering it with the pale blueish grey they were using.
Rae’s mouth dropped open in shock as he stared down at Aax, betrayal written across his face. Caspian’s laughter caught his attention though, both him and Aax turning to look at their paint-free husband, then towards each other, a matching idea forming in their heads.
Caspian had closed his eyes when he laughed, something they both thought was adorable, and very helpful as they both moved towards him, quickly slashing their brushes across parts of his body. His eyes shot open as he registered what was happening, his mouth dropping open in time to accidentally catch some paint in his mouth as Rae dragged his brush across his face.
He spluttered, his surprise morphing to determination as he watched Rae and Aax giggle.
“Oh, it’s on!” he called, raising the roller in the air and aiming for Rae. Rae let out a squawk as he ducked, unintentionally putting Aax in the line of fire in the process. It took barely a minute for it to dissolve into a full on war, each of them taking turns swiping at the others with their brushes until all three of them were more coated than the walls.
“Truce!” Rae called, raising his hands in surrender. His chest heaved as he tried to catch his breath, laughter heaving made his ribs sore as he’d darted around the room.
His partners relented, both dropping their own brushes as the three of them sat to catch their breath. They’d barely finished one wall before their unintended battle, and for some reason, staring up at that sight, Rae couldn’t stop the giggles that bubbled up in his throat.
He didn’t even know if the other two knew what he was laughing about, but pretty soon Aax joined him, and then Caspian, until the three of them were sitting in their mess of a bedroom giggling like maniacs, covered in paint so bad they’d probably have to take multiple showers just to get it all off.
When they finally wrangled themselves, they split up. Aax took the closet, Rae continued with the ceiling, and Caspian traded the roller for a smaller brush to help with the trimming, working opposite Rae so they wouldn’t get even more paint on each other.
By the end of the day, they’d gotten two layers done, all three of them exhausted but giggly as they sat down for dinner. Rae pulled out his comm, shooting a message to his mom that they’d need another day if she was alright with that, and didn’t even have a chance to put it away before she responded saying she’d be happy to keep the kids another day.
She sent along a couple photos of Veah and Cari asleep on her couch, which he showed to his partners and forwarded to Fenris, then tucked the device away as he enjoyed his time with his partners.
Briefly he wondered what Fenris and Violet were up to, knowing they’d been planning on spending some time together since Isla had the kids, but he doubted their weekend had been as… exciting, as theirs.
Rae smiled softly to himself, wondering briefly just when he’d become so surrounded by those he loved, then went back to his food as he listened to Aax and Caspian chat.
The third day was enough to finish it. At least, finish to a degree that they could be happy with and could be finished slowly over the next few weeks whenever they felt like it.
They did one more coat of paint, having learned their lesson from the day before and splitting up so it actually got done without another war. It dried while they ate lunch, and then Rae took to cleaning up the spills and leftover material while Caspian and Aax slowly moved their furniture back in.
By the end of the day, they had a bedroom again. The three of them stood in the doorway, staring at their finished progress with pride, and relief that it was over.
Rae slipped his hands into each of his partners’, tugging them gently over towards the bed and releasing them before flopping backwards onto it. They both followed shortly, landing on either side of him as they all sort of just stared up at the ceiling.
As chaotic as it had been, Rae couldn’t help but feel lighter. He adored his kids, and the domestic life he had built, but a weekend like this, with two of his partners, had been absolutely perfect.
He turned his head, looking at Caspian, and then at Aax. He took one of their hands in each of his, squeezing them tightly. “I love you both,” he whispered, grinning from ear to ear.
“Love you too,” they both echoed, snuggling closer.
He was so glad Caspian had made those plans, and that he’d found them.