THE CAVE: CONTINUUM
Part Twenty-Seven
"Kanda, would you hang a picture for me before you go outside to work?" Allen asks, finishing his sandwich.
"Oh, and we're out of soba and rice. Do you think you or I could go into the village to pick some up for tonight's dinner?" he adds, getting up off his cushion.
"I'll go into the village I need some other supplies anyway. It's not safe for you to be out alone. I'll have Cross come over to keep an eye out while I'm gone, but I'll hang the picture before I go," Kanda says, grabbing Allen's ass as he leaves the table.
"Show me where you want it hung," Kanda chuckles as Allen turns his head slightly, grinning, and lightly bats at his hand to release him. Kanda quickly gets up from the table, placing his hands firmly on Allen's waist following him into the bedroom.
"It's a fairly large picture, but I'd like to hang it over there. What do you think?" Allen asks, showing him the location. He leans back against his lover's solid chest, and Kanda tightens his arms around Allen's waist, resting his chin on his shoulder.
"Looks great to me," Kanda says, releasing Allen to take a closer look at the picture.
"Bean Sprout it doesn't have anything on the back to be able to hang it," Kanda states, checking the back of the frame.
"Oh yeah, I found this saw tooth looking clasp that I believe needs to be put on the back and the tiny brads that go with it. Will that hook and nail work to hang it up?" Allen asks, showing Kanda the assortment of picture hanging materials lying on the table along with the hammer.
"That'll work. I'll have to put the clasp on the back first before it can be hung," Kanda replies, picking up the clasp with the brads and hammer.
"I'm going to be out here painting the walls, but if you need any help let me know," Allen offers, smiling.
"I'm only hanging a picture, Bean Sprout, not erecting a wall," Kanda quips with light sarcasm and a smirk.
Kanda lays the picture face down on the floor and lines up the clasp on the back of the frame. Taking one of the tiny brads between his fingers he holds it upright.
'Shit, could they make these brads any smaller?' Kanda's thinking as he holds the tiny nail then taps the end only to tap his fingers because it had sunk in-between them.
"Damnit," Kanda mutters and tries again holding the tiny brad in place. When he taps the top, it once again slips between his fingers.
"Fuck," Kanda whispers, straightening the brad upright, once again.
He tries to hold the tiny brad as steady as he can, his brow forming perspiration he's concentrating so hard. He hits it harder this time, the clasp shifts quickly, flying off the wooden part of the frame and he smashes his fingers hard with the hammer.
"This fucking thing!" Kanda grumbles loud enough that Allen pokes his head into the room to see what's wrong. He finds Kanda on his hands and knees searching for something.
"What's wrong?" Allen asks, curious as to what Kanda is looking for.
"I'm trying to find the fucking clasp that flew off the frame," Kanda growls, getting annoyed with the little task. "When it slipped I smashed my fingers with the damn hammer!"
"Let me look at your finger," Allen says, and stops once Kanda gives him the evil eye.
"O…kay, let me help you find the clasp then," Allen says, walking around Kanda seeing a shiny object under the table and picks it up.
"Here it is!" Allen says triumphantly, holding it in the palm of his hand, showing it to Kanda, who snatches it from Allen's hand irked.
"Are you sure you don't need some help with this Kanda?" Allen thought he'd ask just to make sure there isn't something he could do.
"Fuck no! Why would you ask me that," Kanda snarls, losing his patience he's so annoyed.
"Well, I have heard a lot of grumbling in here and that usually means something's gone wrong—" Allen's cut off.
"Get the fuck out of the room, Bean Sprout. I can hang the fuckin' picture alone!" Kanda orders, his face flushing, and beads of sweat forming on his forehead. Allen quickly retreats from the room.
'How the hell am I supposed to hold this tiny brad? It's so damn small it gets lost between my fingers,' Kanda thinks, mulling the problem over in his mind.
He wipes his brow, missing the sweat that drips down between his eyebrows then wipes at it again.
"Aha!" Kanda whispers to himself.
He goes outside and rummages through the tool box. The sound of tools clinking and clanging arouses Allen's curiosity and he walks outside to investigate. There's Kanda pushing tools around inside a box, pulling some tools out, tossing them aside, until he finds this tweezers looking tool.
Kanda's smirk doesn't go unnoticed by Allen once he had found the tool of choice, turning it over in his hand and head's back into the house. He brushes past Allen without a word and went directly to their bedroom. Allen just shrugs his shoulders, rolls his eyes and goes back into the house.
Taking the thin tip tweezers, Kanda uses them to hold the tiny brad while he taps it into the frame—this time with success. He repeats it with the next brad until finally the clasp is secure on the frame and ready to hang.
Allen doesn't hear any more profanity coming from the bedroom after the tapping had stopped. He chances another peek into the room. Kanda's kneeling, leaning back on his heels, smiling from his accomplishment in getting the clasp onto the frame. Allen grins to himself at his husband's victory over the first phase of hanging the picture and quietly goes back to his painting.
Kanda picks up the picture holding it near the wall getting an idea where to place the hook. He scratches the spot with the tip of the nail then leans the picture against his legs. He takes the nail and slides it into the hook holding it to the wall where he had marked the spot then carefully taps it into the wall.
Happy with this, he picks up the picture and hangs it on the hook. Standing back it's crooked, so Kanda lifts the picture to straighten it. The clasp catches and doesn't release, flinging the hook and nail off the wall pinging to the floor.
"Damn it!" Kanda raises his voice and drops to his knees to search for the damn hook—luckily finding the nail right off. Allen's nervous that Kanda might have hurt himself, so he peeks into the room fearing he may see blood gusting out of Kanda's finger.
"What happen? What are you looking for?" Allen asks, seeing Kanda on the floor kneeling.
"I'm looking for the fucking hook, that's what," Kanda snaps, angrily, sliding down onto his stomach.
"Now get the hell out of here, Bean Sprout, I'll find it," Kanda grumbles. Allen's learned from past experience it's best to leave Kanda alone when he's like this, or he'll only get more frustrated with him around.
"Hah, there you are," Kanda mumbles, on his stomach, reaching for the damn hook that had bounced under the dresser then pushes himself up off the floor.
He puts the nail back into the hole on the hook, placing it against the wall, ready to tap it with the hammer when his fingers slip flipping the hook and the nail sideways, knocking the nail out of the hook hearing it ding to the floor.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Kanda yells, dropping to his knees once again, now searching for the damn nail. Allen rushes into the bedroom only to find Kanda on the floor.
"What are you looking for?" Allen asks, seeing his husband on the floor searching for something again.
"I'm looking for the fucking nail!" Kanda snarls, angrily.
"I thought you were looking for the hook?" Allen queries, confused to why Kanda is always looking for something different each time he comes into the room.
"I was, now I dropped the damn nail and I'm looking for that, now leave!" Kanda fumes, losing his patience for this task.
Kanda looks for that damn nail and couldn't figure out where the hell it had fallen and rolled off to. In his frustration, searching, Kanda's foot accidently hits the picture and it clatters to the floor only adding to Kanda's already foul mood.
Pissed, he yanks the picture up off the floor, upside down, and the nail rolls out from where it had fallen into the crease of the frame. Relief flows through him that he can finally get this stupid picture up. He opens his hand to put the nail through the hook only to find the hook isn't in his hand—it must have slipped out.
"Fuck the hook," Kanda sputters to himself, now really annoyed.
"This picture is going up without the damn hook!" Kanda growls, his voice a deep rumble.
He takes the nail, places it back into the hole and lightly taps it into the wall. Picking up the picture he slips it onto the nail—he didn't even have to adjust it—it looks perfect to him.
Standing back, he folds his arms across his chest, completely satisfied with himself. Allen peeks in again after hearing the swearing stop, his husband is standing there, his face beaming with pride at his accomplishment.
"I told you I didn't need any help," Kanda says, turning his head to smile at Allen. Allen grins back, chuckling inside at what his husband went through to hang this picture for him.
Kanda briskly walks over to Allen pulling him into his arms, looking intently at him.
"What's the matter, Kanda?" Allen asks, seeing the stern look on his husband's face.
"Now, I'll get Cross and go into the village to pick up our supplies. But after this little ordeal, I'll need to blow some steam off and you're going to help me blow it off when I get back," Kanda says, with a mischievous smile and a glint in his eyes. Allen gives Kanda a big, wide grin, happy to oblige his husband's wish later.
"Hmm … maybe I can find another simple task for you to do after I finish paying you for this one," Allen snickers in delight, thinking about what thoughts are going through his lover's mind for later.
To be continued …
A/N: I hope you enjoyed this short chapter. This actually happened to me and thought this was a great Kanda and Allen act. It also sets the tone for the next chapter which I have been working on. I dare say no more, or I will ruin the next one coming out! Thank you for all the lovely reviews, they're very uplifting!