Summary: A brief scene from everyday life. Slight Eric/Alan if you squint.
Disclaimer: Kuroshitsuji belongs to Yana Toboso
Reviews always welcome.
D.I.Y. Home Improvement
Eric swore colourfully over the din of falling books before clambering out of the chair, in which he had been 'just resting his eyes' before Alan came home, and went to survey the damage. It wasn't a pretty sight. The number of dents, pockmarks and scrapes on their living room wall made it look like a smallpox survivor. A roughly hewn shelf swung above a wall-bracket, still suspended by a few nails knocked in at odd angles. The other bracket was presumably buried under the pile of books on the floor.
"Stupid cheap nails, last time I get the rookie to stop by the hardware shop for me." Still muttering, Eric began moving the casualties to one side. Their existing bookcases were already over-stuffed but Alan was quite insistent that they were certainly not getting yet another bookcase... but he had said nothing about shelves. Besides, he'd been meaning to do something useful with that tree they felled for ages.
"Must have planed the wood wonky..." He briefly considered starting again before glancing over at the pile of wood shavings and the now overflowing collection of kindling which consisted of off-cuts, overly thin planks snapped in half and a few remnants of wood that looked suspiciously like they
had been bashed about in sheer temper. With a harrumph he kicked a stray "practice cut" he hadn't gotten around to tidying up yet into the open fire.
He was so occupied with moodily watching it burn that he didn't notice his partner had returned until he felt a light tap on his shoulder.
"Give me the hammer," Alan greeted while holding out his hand expectantly. When it was not forthcoming he simply took it, spent a couple of moments sizing up the wall and set to work.
"A-alan! Your health! You don't have t-" the protest died on his lips as Alan quickly affixed the shelf to the wall in such a way that it could have been part of the original architecture. The smaller reaper's pretty mouth curled up the tiniest amount at the corners.
Eric sighed as Alan began arranging the books (alphabetically then sub-categorised by date, their supervisor's influence was far reaching) and wandered over to the kitchen, "Beer?"
"Please."