A/N: They try to fix the monstrosity of decor...

Chapter Thirty Four

All You Cool Cats and Kittens

When they'd left the house they almost didn't want to leave it, ached to just be there and working on it, but they made an offer and it was theirs. So easy, so simple, the company had probably been trying to sell the it for a bit longer than expected given how lovely a house it was, people blinded by the hideous taste in decor about the home, but soon enough they were planning the move. Luke's apartment was able to be left at short notice and most of his furniture was so impersonal he actually just returned some of it and pawned several more or donated it to local charities and the few things that were personal or so practical enough to be used in the new home he drove to Spencer's and kept it there until moving day. So technically their first home together, however brief it would be, was Spencer's apartment.

The whole thing had worked out nicely given Spencer's length of required notice to his landlord and when the house was available to them having overlap meaning they'd might as well get some of the decorating started while living easily at the genius' apartment and not working around their necessary furniture to get rid of the awful decor. The most practical thing that had to be done first was the master bedroom, between the decal removal and the number of coats it would take to cover the bright orange it was the top priority as it would be nice to be able to sleep in the room on their first ever night in their new house.

After work Luke and Spencer drove to the new house, JJ and Penelope close behind in another car feeling in dire need to see the abomination before it was fixed. As they pulled into the garage and the girls parked in the driveway they eyed the seemingly lovely home, both ladies very excited for the couple to be moving in together but it was definitely curiosity that had them entertained to see just what kind of project awaited. This time with no need to be polite the moment blue eyes met with the purple striped hallway Jennifer started laughing and looking around wide eyed "oh my gosh, Pee-Wee's Playhouse didn't look this bad" she said relentlessly making all laugh with her, Penelope snorting as she quickly started peeking into the house as much as possible trying to see what horrors were up next.

"JJ, the living room!" the bubbly techie exclaimed as they peered into the greenish gaudy mess.

It was Spencer who said "wait till you see the 'wild cat' room…" and both women grew so excited to find out whatever the hell that meant and the genius offered to show them while Luke started a pot of coffee, one of the few appliances they'd brought over with them given the amount of work and caffeine needed to tackle the craziness.

As he heard the coffee machine doing its thing Luke was pulling out the mugs they had as he heard both women from upstairs burt into gasps so loud before hearing a loud cackling, and for Luke he couldn't blame them, every time he looked at it the more he tried to tell himself it couldn't possibly be as bad as he remembered from last time and yet he would open the door and be reminded that yes, yes it was that bad…maybe worse.

After hearing the three doing a quick walk around, more laughter with each room revealed, he eventually heard them walking down the stairs, teasing and chatting as they went when a grinning Garcia "well hey all you cool cats and kittens, I do believe a tacky bomb exploded in this here house and nobody reported it to the authorities" she joked and then noticeably put her phone in her pocket, likely having snapped several photos on her journey. After a few jokes and reactions to the odd decor the girls brought out a pad of paper and placed it on the island in the kitchen to start brainstorming.

"So what's the aim for today?" JJ asked, still smiling from all the silliness.

"Luke is going to try and remove the bedroom decal today," Spencer started, leaning against the kitchen counter with a smile, their reactions to the 'wild cat' room nothing short of hilarious and he couldn't shake the ridiculousness from his mind.

Alvez then nodded and added "yeah, if there's any damage to the wall from it I'll even it out and maybe get a first coat on it."

JJ nodded, the girls were helping partly as extra hands but mostly for ideas in decorating, it was one thing to say what they didn't want in the rooms and totally another to decide what they did want. "Well if you want Penelope I'm sure will happily take down the other decal in the cat room" Jennifer added and Penelope was quick to explain "I've had a hundred different decals up around my apartment, I've got it" she assured with a grin.

Just then the door rang and the couple looked to each other with surprise when Penelope admitted "that might be a certain chocolate thunder" and that explained everything. With a smile Reid headed to the front door while Luke could finally pour the coffees including an additional one for their new arrival. The expert additional hands more than welcome as Derek too came into the kitchen with a warm smile in place and giving hugs out happily, Spencer following behind having received his hello hug at the door.

"Hey, congrats on the new place…I'm glad you guys weren't scared off" Morgan said as he accepted his mug of coffee from Luke, and the ex-agent's preparedness for the visit didn't go unnoticed complete with tool belt around his hips.

"Definitely onto an ugly duckling story here" Luke replied "but once it's less…this…it'll be great."

"You should have seen it with furniture, man" Derek said shaking his head as though it was some traumatising experience.

JJ quirked a brow and asked curiously "so what was that cat room for?" and everyone fixed to now chuckling man.

"As it sounds" Morgan answered "the room had ceiling high cat trees for climbing over and luxury cat bed and all that stuff" before pulling out his phone and searching through the photographs, mostly of Hank and his other projects but after a moment he had found what he was looking for and showed it to the group whose jaws dropped. In the image the tall cat trees in a tiger print, in complex arrangement for a furry friend to play with and expensive looking, a large leopard print rug on the floor and a cushioned cat bed designed like it was for royalty, with plush, velvety reds and gold coloured frames.

"Are those…photos of the cat on the walls?" Spencer eyed from the photo and everyone peered closer and started giggling, yes, hung up on the wall were framed pictures of the furry friend and only the one cat, looking as prized as any child or sports star.

Penelope giggled and teased "you could make it Roxy's room, get it all dog themed" she said barely able to get through her words as Luke just gave a half serious death glare over his coffee.

Everyone got to their tasks and lending a hand, Jennifer only able to stay for a short while in order to see her family later but had helped not only in decor ideas but also went around the house measuring and noting everything down that she could consider helpful, from how much carpet would be needed in the den to what lengths for curtains and blinds were required for each window and on the walls that would be getting wallpapered taking those measurements as well. Given the size of the house and internet searching for products to collect and ideas for the house she eventually had to take off meanwhile Penelope had removed the decal in the small room pretty quickly though it was much littler than the one in the bedroom and it was around the window which made it easier to take down. Proud of her work she gathered the ruined vinyl for the trash before joining the boys in the bedroom to help Luke with the larger one, both finding that the vinyl seemed thicker so it took a fair while to bring it down.

The floor was covered in protective sheets and any frames were lined in easy to remove tape as Spencer went about applying the base coat to the bedroom walls he could get started on, the initial paint only barely covering the alarming orange colour underneath but that was part of the process. It was amongst these tasks that Morgan stepped back into the bedroom, his job completed as he'd pulled up the carpeting in the den, the man quick to point out that their hadn't even been any underlay and that the Morgan treatment wouldn't settle for anything but excellent and he added the underlay to the growling list of things to buy.

Grabbing a free roller Morgan joined Reid in painting and teased "I'm surprised you don't have the paint all in your hair yet, pretty boy" with a smirk lightly.

Spencer took it in good stride as their brotherly bond often inspired them to before replying "maybe I'm not as clumsy as you remember" he lied "also maybe you don't get it in your hair because you don't have any" the sassy comeback making Derek stop in his tracks, jaw dropped and smiling in an impressed expression, in the background Luke and Penelope were giggling like school children.

"Oh is that so?" Derek said collecting his composure with a grin "you know I've seen you trip over nothing, right?" he brought up.

"Technically I would have been tripped up by a temporary imbalance which can be caused by a variety of stimuli" Spencer answered back with a technicality and a smirk proving the retort was purely for smarminess. "And I simply pointed out that it would be pretty tricky for you, regardless of clumsiness level, to get paint in hair you simply do not have" he added with a smirk and more giggles could be heard behind them.

Derek shook his head but was thoroughly amused as he continued to help painting "hey, who helped you find this place, huh?"

"Yes, thank you Morgan" Spencer admitted graciously but both knew the silly jokes weren't over with and both continued to jab at the other verbally in good humour.

Meanwhile Luke and Penelope finally seemed to get the vinyl from the wall and mostly unharmed with only a few parts lifted with the adhesive, overall the whole thing hadn't been as destructive as initially feared. It had also been really funny listening to his boyfriend and Morgan teasing back and forth, Spencer said he didn't have siblings but Derek was damn close, like no matter how far they pushed it sure they might be able to get mad but their relationship was solid and it was endearing, not unlike his own with Mariana being the two youngest siblings.

Penelope helped gather up the vinyl and as she did so she leaned in near Luke to say "they're so cute, maybe another prank war is on the horizon."

"Wait…another?" Luke questioned and she giggled nodding.

"Yeah, as much as I back my hot-choc-delight, boy wonder totally won" she said and just as Luke was about to reply they heard an indignant Morgan holler, overhearing and taking issue with the declaration all while Spencer found himself giggling hard at the man's dismay.

"Nobody won" Morgan denied determinedly "baby girl, ain't no way I'd lose a prank war to-"

"To a genius?" Spencer interjected with confidence "and I don't see any issue with the facts as they are being presented, I do believe I had the last laugh."

Penelope then excitedly chirped "oh, I have it on my phone, it was so funny" she said as she picked up her precious device from her pocket and searched for the clip.

"Hey, who's side are you on?" Derek asked, hand over his heart as though deeply wounded by her betrayal.

Spencer was quick to add "the side of science and facts" only to receive a glare from Morgan but wasn't deterred and chuckled "and besides…that clip isn't how it ended and I definitely won."

"There's more?" Penelope beamed wanting to know more, Derek sending a warning stare to the genius but only half serious. "Oh here" the bubbly blonde said to Luke "so Reid recorded himself and had it play everywhere, Derek's MP3 player, even calls and voicemails and he couldn't get away from it for a week" she explained before playing the voice clip.

Luke was thoroughly curious and the whole thing was increasingly funny and he listened to his seemingly sweet and harmless boyfriend's voice as it said with glee 'we interrupt your regularly scheduled music selection with an important announcement: never wage a practical joke war against an MIT graduate because we have a history of going nuclear. Now sit back, relax and enjoy the dulcet sounds of me screaming in your ear' before it was followed by hilariously shrill yelling and both Luke and Penelope burt out laughing, Spencer shamelessly joining in over his own prank.

"I've never heard you make that noise!" Luke got out through the laughing "remind me never to start a prank war with you."

"No need" Spencer said with a smirk "you know better" before giving a sly glance to Derek implying the other man didn't and this brought on another round of giggles.

"So…" Penelope said though was breathless from laughter and had to take a deep breath, wiping a tear from her eye while trying not to mess up her eyeliner "how did our genius win if that wasn't the end of it?"

"He didn't win" Derek argued like a child only making the whole thing more ridiculous "I just took the higher ground" he said and received a series of "boo"s from all three other occupants of the room in unison.

"Fine…" Luke said, willing to say what it took to hear just what mischief his boyfriend had gotten into "how about you tell us what prank was the last to be played?"

"It was practically nothing" Spencer said with a smirk, like Derek was making a mountain out of a molehill and it got everyone if anything more curious, Derek just shook his head and got back to painting letting them have the story. "We'd kept sending pranks each other's way, if anything I'd say Derek went the furthest just nothing landed" Reid reasoned thusly "we were working a case in Vegas and he decided that every time a sex worker started flirting with him he'd send them in my direction saying I was 'real lonely and great at gambling so lots of cash.'"

Penelope gasped "Derek Morgan" she chastised and he was quick to defend himself.

"I knew it was nothing the kid couldn't handle, he is from Vegas after all" and with that both Garcia and Alvez eyed him narrowly but let it slide before turning to the good doctor and saying "continue."

Spencer smiled unfazed and told the story "well like Morgan said it was a minor thing technically but still a bit toeing the line" and the eager audience nodded in agreement as they listened "so we'd worked a case a little while back and I remembered Derek had gotten a little spooked by a witness' collection of birds" he lay the groundwork and again the ex-agent interrupted for dignities sake.

"I wasn't spooked" and was met with looked of disbelief and waved it off "startled, maybe."

"You yelped and talked about how you can't tell what they're thinking and that was freaky to you…" Spencer corrected him but was determined to finally get the story told and ignored the further protests. "Anyway…so when you're in Vegas certain things are really easy to make happen, so…I may have ordered some flamingos into his hotel room."

"F…" Luke got out and trailed off, in amazement as he looked at his smirking boyfriend who was clearly very proud of his work "are you serious? like...actual flamingos?" his dropped jaw partly in a grin at the funny idea of the incident in his mind, Penelope reacting similarly along with him, especially when Spencer nodded in confirmation.

"Some?" Derek protested "try five…five flamingos in my room just going about their weird, bird ways."

"Does that spook you, Derek?" Reid teased flawlessly and had to duck to avoid the slightly paint splattered hand of his friend that threatened to touch his face in response but he managed to get away and Morgan hadn't been trying that hard to actually get him.

"Very funny kid," Morgan said though in his eyes everyone could tell he took as amused by it "and no, I wasn't scared…"

"Liar" Penelope couldn't stop herself from muttering cheekily and Luke chuckled at the whole thing.

Spencer then concluded "and from then on Morgan didn't continue the prank war…you know, since I heard him scream like a little girl and ask Emily to get his things rather than go in where the flamingos were…almost like I won" he emphasised the last part just to bring it home.

"How did Emily never tell us this story?" Luke asked curiously.

The genius just smiled and replied smoothly "she knows what Vegas is about, I don't think she blinked at the birds really" he shrugged and everyone found the idea of their chief being non-plussed at the sudden appearance of pink flamingoes in a hotel rather funny in itself.

Done for the day Morgan and Penelope had eventually headed to their own homes and it left Spencer and Luke to finish up the layers of paint and some stripping of wallpaper in multiple rooms, a real start having been made and looking so much better already the pair felt good about the hard day's work. But as they glanced at the time they knew to call it quits and head out to pick up Roxy form the sitter, but as they stood in the still bare rooms bar decorating equipment both already felt very attached to the place, looking thoroughly forward to moving in properly and seeing their lives unfold.

All afternoon Spencer had been in one of his few pairs of jeans but most adorably was the baggy t-shirt he wore, an old David Bowie top of Luke's the genius had borrowed for the day and it looked gorgeous on him. Being slim the t-shirt looked like it was intentionally for a baggy fit, clinging to the long body in eye catching ways and it was a rare treat to see Spencer so casual. Hazel eyes noticed Luke's brown ones eyeing him up and down as they cleared up enough to get a fresh start tomorrow so long as they weren't called away on a case and it brought a blush to his cheeks.

"Luke, we don't even have a bed here yet and this house is full of paint fumes," Spencer teased "but I can wear this for the rest of the day if you'd like?" he suggested with a smirk.

Luke stepped over to the lithe boyfriend of his and fingertips toyed with the bottom hem of the loose shirt for a moment, before suddenly making a fist into the material gripping it tightly before pulling the genius into a kiss catching him slightly off guard. After a moment of surprise Spencer let himself melt into the heated kiss, their bodies pressing against each other in a move for closeness, both standing roughly where their bed was going to go in future and both smiled into the kiss. It felt charged somehow, something electric in the air and they both just wanted to be in the other's arms.

Parting both looked to each other, enjoying the calm between them in the otherwise empty home before Luke said "it's got a ways to go but every day it looks more and more like a home…"

Spencer nodded and said "just imagine what it'll be like when the furniture is here…when Roxy gets to play in the garden?" and the idea brought them both sincere and copious amounts of joy it almost felt too good sometimes but neither shied away from it.

"I can't wait…so in the meantime how about you distract me with cute ensembles like this?" Luke chanced his luck teasingly, gesturing to the casual clothing currently over his precious genius, and Spencer just giggled with a sarcastic yet playful 'I'll see what I can do."

Quote: "The ornament of a house is the friends who frequent it."

― Ralph Waldo Emerson