Chapter Text
Keyleth came in, put down the five wicker baskets of flowers she was precariously balancing, came over to her girlfriend and leaned down to give her a kiss.
“Pike! I got the flowers!”
“I know, I saw! That’s a lot of flowers! They’re very nice.”
As Keyleth turned to look at the exact amount she brought in, she realized a slight problem.
“We don’t have a big enough of vase, do we?”
“I’m not sure if we have a big enough table, dear”
“I might’ve gotten a little bit… overzealous. It’s just so exciting to have an actual garden instead of some balcony boxes. What should we do about the… extras?”
Pike thought for a bit. They could split up the flowers, put them in separate arrangements, although truthfully every surface in their house basically had some kind of plant on it. They could…
Pike and Keyleth looked at each other and spoke at the same time “…flower crowns.”
“It’ll be great. All of our friends will wear one.” Keyleth squeals excitedy “I can finally make the twins wear a color.”
“…you do know Kashaw is coming, right? But please go for it anyways. I wanna see Kashaw’s face when you give him a flower crown to wear.”
“What do you need help with in the kitchen? I can sous chef for you.”
“We’re doing good on time. And on wine, both equally important. The meat’s in the oven, the extra-Grog meat I made yesterday, we need to make the mac and cheese, everything else other people are bringing, right?”
“You’ve made the entrée, we’ll do the mac and cheese, we’ve got a trunk full of junk food and popcorn to lay out, I made sure we had carrots, celery, and dip.”
“Good, good”
“Grog’s bringing ale, Scanlan and Kaylie are bringing stuff for mixed drinks, Percy’s bringing drinkable wine…”
“…will that be enough alcohol?”
“Grog’s bringing personal caskets.” Pike whistled. That’s a lot of booze. And yet, somehow, still probably not enough. “Vex is bringing pie, Vax is bringing a side, Kima is bringing a mystery side…”
“…oh no.”
“It’ll probably be fine? Allura’s coming too and she’ll probably stop something too much. Cass is bringing a cheese plate, Gilmore is bringing cake, Zahra’s bringing a pasta, and Kashaw is bringing a vegetable because, and I quote ‘I don’t know how any of you malnourished motherfuckers survive.'”
“Keyleth, dear, will our house survive its house warming?”
“I think divine miracles are more your forte than mine.”
“…fuck.”
“Yeah.”
So, side by side, they finish getting ready. They finish cooking, finish measuring out ingredients, lay out the food. The radio alternates between a series of news podcasts giving thoughtful and insightful commentary on political matters relevant to the community (because both Keyleth and Pike want to stay informed and stay active in their local politics) and a music playlist primarily featuring rock, punk, and rap (because both Keyleth and Pike want music they work up a sweat to and also it seems a shame to waste the fact that Keyleth has memorized all the intros so that she can point and watch her girlfriend kill it.)
They finish with time to spare, Pike laying down the last fork right when Keyleth finishes the final flower crown. It’s 6:40, they’ve got like a whole 20 minutes before their guests are supposed to arrive.
“You really are a miracle worker. I’m always running late when hosting. Remembered that time when I hosted Thanksgiving?”
Pike remembered that Thanksgiving. All of their friends remembered that Thanksgiving. The police, the fire station, and unfortunately the coast guard remembered that Thanksgiving.
“We should be ready. We’ve only been planning our house warming for like a year.”
“…we were busy?” They actually were. Pike had been assigned night shifts at the hospital, Keyleth got involved in organizing a rally, they bravely fought off a rat invasion lured in by Keyleth’s peach tree out front, they got involved in a drug war with terrorists that threatened the city and they bravely fought those off…
“At least they’ll get to see your garden grown. It’s a lovely garden.” Pike pointed out
“It’s a lovely home.” They shared a grin. It took effort making things grow, making something or somewhere or someone felt loved. It was hard. But they had done it.
“…it was a lovely home.” Said Pike “I would not take a bet that says it’s still standing by the end of this.”
“It’ll be fine. Scanlan will give us a sex toy as a house warming gift—“
“Undoubtedly.”
“—Grog will break a chair—“
“Probably”
“Vax and Kash will start a food fight. Kima will get drunk halfway in and start making out with Allura. Percy’ll get drunk and start daring people to properly say his full name. Vex and Zahra will make snarky comments that will be both flirts and insults. They will all be horribly embarrassing.”
“They’re pretty great, aren’t they?”
“Yeah, we’ve got a good family, you and I.” Pike grabbed Keyleth’s hand as they sat and wait for the world (or at least their house) to end.
“You know, we do have ten minutes…”
“Pike, that’s not enough time…”
“…for anything too fun, yes, I know. But we’ve got some nice ambient music. Would you care to dance? I bet I can still do a lift with you.”
Keyleth’s smile was radiant. “Let’s do it.”