Play The Game

"What do you think?" AJ asked Punk, standing in their new living room in their new house. Punk was in the midst of building the coffee table whilst AJ was standing by the mantel.

"About what?" Punk shook his head, trying to figure out what he was looking at.

"Uh… the clock. How nice is it?" AJ pointed as Punk looked at the very simple and basic clock.

"Gorgeous." Punk hummed, turning back to the coffee table as AJ made a face. They'd been moving things into the house and buying new things, and it finally felt like it was all coming together. Upstairs was completely finished. It felt bizarre to even have an upstairs for Punk. He'd only ever known the apartment. The kitchen was also done with just a few finishing touches, and the living room was just a coffee table away.

"You've been trying to build that all morning." AJ grumbled, walking over to him where he was building the coffee table.

"Yeah well me and Ikea instructions don't get on well." Punk informed her, "They always end up sending you the wrong parts or no parts. One or the other." He moaned as AJ smiled.

"We all love a trier, though." AJ assured him as he nodded, "Did you tell Dean that we'd be officially moving into tonight?" She asked him. She couldn't help but feel more at home and content in their new home than she ever did with her house with Ben. It really felt like they could have a home here. A place to make amazing memories.

"Yeah, he knows." Punk said, "Although, I've not saw him since a few nights ago when I picked the pizza up for us on the way home from your work. He's been either at work or we've just missed one another coming and going." He said.

"Maybe he's with Anna." AJ shrugged.

"Maybe." Punk said, "But I don't know… was it just me or was it kinda awkward the other night?" He asked her as she sat down on the couch in front of him.

"What do you mean?" AJ asked him.

"Well they barely spoke to one another." Punk said, "I don't know, maybe I just sensed it." He shrugged.

"They were quieter than usual I guess but they were both just finished shifts at work. They were probably just tired." AJ shrugged as Punk nodded.

"Yeah." Punk agreed, trying to screw a screw into the table which didn't fit, "Fuck this shit, honestly." Punk started to lose his cool as AJ smiled watching him, "Why can't they just make fold up coffee tables or something? What's the point in all these fucking screws?" He cursed as AJ smiled.

"You're supposed to be a handy man." AJ laughed.

"Yeah, with cars." Punk said, "I don't know coffee tables." He said.

"You can do anything you put your mind to." She reminded him, "I'm gonna make sure all the boxes are unpacked from the kitchen." She told him, standing up and leaving the living room.

They're house was adorable and perfect for what they were looking for. It was warm and cosy without it being too small. It was a three bedroom, they obviously took the big one because of priorities. Their room had a bathroom in it, as well as a bathroom in the hall too. The kitchen was huge with a dining table across the space and also with an island in the centre of the kitchen, and their living room next door was warm and comfortable with the mantel, their couch, their TV and other bits and pieces. It really felt like their home already.

"Motherfucker!" Punk yelled from in the living room as AJ smirked to herself as she made sure all the kitchen appliances had been unboxed, she then heard a knock at the door which confused her a little, "You get it, I'm mad." Punk told her as she laughed and left the kitchen to go answer the door.

She swung it open and saw an older woman standing with a casserole dish it looked like.

"Hi." AJ smiled pleasantly.

"I thought I'd come introduce myself." The woman smiled cheerfully, "I'm your neighbour." She said, "Lesley." She introduced, "I made this dinner for you, just as a welcome gift. It's nice to have new neighbours." She said as AJ smiled. She was a very cheery woman and it was nice to be positively welcomed into their new home.

"That's so kind of you." AJ smiled, taking the dish from her, "Come in. My boyfriend is just in the living room." She explained as Lesley stepped into the house, and AJ cared to notice as she began to look around curiously.

"What a lovely place." Lesley said as AJ smiled.

"Yeah, it's perfect for us. Just what we were looking for." AJ explained, walking into the living room where Punk was still concentrated on the coffee table.

"April, I'm gonna boot this fucking table out the window, I swear." Punk shook his head as AJ coughed loudly as Punk looked up and saw they had company, "Oh." Punk shook his head.

"Phil, this is our neighbour… Lesley." AJ said, "She brought us some dinner." She said as Punk got to his feet.

"Nice to meet you." Punk extended his hand.

"Oh, and it's lovely to meet you." Lesley smiled dreamily as AJ watched closely.

"Yeah." Punk said, wondering when she was going to give him his hand back, "Just trying to build this stupid thing." He shook his head.

"He's been at it all morning." AJ said, "He's losing his patience." She said.

"I bet." Lesley said.

"Well thank you so much for this." AJ nodded to the casserole, "It was nice to meet you." She smiled, walking out of the living room with her and back to the front door to escort her out.

"Oh, you two." Lesley smiled, "Is it just the two of you?" She wondered.

"Yeah." AJ nodded, "And you? Is it just you next door?" She asked.

"Me and my son. He's fourteen." Lesley nodded as AJ smiled.

"Well it was nice of you to come around. Looks like we have tonight's dinner sorted." She said as Lesley smiled.

"Enjoy it." Lesley nodded to her, leaving the house as AJ shut the door over, taking the casserole into the kitchen and sitting it down as she headed back into the living room.

"She was nice." AJ nodded, "Although, I think she liked you better than me." AJ teased, folding her arms as Punk laughed.

"Well can you blame her?" He said as she laughed, "No, for real. I don't think she was gonna let my hand go." He said, screwing away at the coffee table.

"She was sweet." AJ waved her hand, "She didn't have to come introduce herself." She said.

"Ah hah!" Punk smiled triumphantly as he turned the table onto all four legs, "Who would have thought?" He smiled to himself, standing up as he looked on at the coffee table he had finally built successfully.

"You really are my hero." She said, resting her head on his arm as he smiled.

"I know I am." Punk said, kissing her head as she smiled. It was so exciting making this move in their life. It was something that she always thought would have happened, and it felt so right to finally be putting the wheels in motion. They were really getting the chance to move on now, and although everything that had happened in the past year was still something that played with them, they had each other to get through it, and they weren't wasting any more time.

Dean had just gotten home from work. Everything had been down on the low-key ever since he found out that the place Anna had told him she worked, wasn't actually where she worked. He'd tried to paint so many scenarios in his head of why she would lie to him about her place of work. There were so many possibilities, but either way, he was mad and upset she had lied to him, and he had yet to call her out on it, wondering if he could catch her out without having to confront her. He was a little mean like that.

"Dean?" Anna exclaimed as she walked into the apartment. She'd got a key for the apartment which Dean had given her, as she was pretty much always around.

"Yeah. I'm here." Dean walked out of his bedroom wearing a pair of basketball shorts with nothing on his top half after just getting out of the shower.

"Oh, hi." Anna smiled over to him as he smiled back.

He wasn't playing her by any means, but he figured that if she was lying, he deserved to wait for her to explain why, and catch her out, as he felt pretty hurt that she had been lying to him in the first place. He thought things were going great with them. They'd been dating for six months. They spent a lot of time together and there was no denying that it was working for them both. He'd never felt the way he felt about her before, which made her lying all the more upsetting.

"How was work?" Dean asked her as she smiled and nodded, walking over to him and wrapping her arms around him.

"Exhausting." Anna said, "I had a lot of clients today." She said casually as he nodded, watching as she leaned up for a kiss as he kissed her back, "What about you?" She asked, pulling back and taking her coat off as Dean watched.

"Yeah, it was alright." Dean nodded, following her into the living room, "That's AJ and Punk officially moved out now." He said.

"Oh, is it?" Anna asked, "Are you gonna miss them?" She asked him.

"Yeah, but… they're just five minutes away. I'll still see them." He said, "At least now we got a little bit of our own space." He said, taking a seat on the couch as she sat down with him.

"Yeah, I like that." Anna smiled up at him, "I could really go some Chinese food in front of a good movie." She said, curling into him.

"We can make that happen." He smiled, playing with her hair as she smiled to herself. He felt like a home itself to her. He made her feel comfortable with herself. He made her feel safe. She'd never had that with anyone before, "Hey, why don't we grab some breakfast tomorrow before work too? I can drop you at work?" He asked her sneakily.

"Oh, I'm uh… I'm off tomorrow." She looked up at him as he just nodded slowly, "And you know I'm not big on breakfasts anyway." She said, "I don't stomach much in the morning."

"That wasn't the case this morning." Dean nudged her as she looked up at him and smirked.

"Well, certain things maybe." She smiled.

"What about the next day then?" He asked her, kissing the side of her head as she tensed a little but stayed calm.

"You don't need to be running around dropping me off anywhere. It's fine." She told him, "We can always meet for lunch on our breaks." She said as he just nodded to himself. He wondered how long she'd keep it up, and he wondered how long he could play the fool.

"Ok." Dean nodded to himself, continuing to play with her hair whilst she leaned into him.

A/N: Let me know what you think!