Work Text:
Harvey fiddled with his key that, very stubbornly, would not fit into the lock. His arms were full and he was balancing a bag of groceries on his knee, attempting to get the stupid thing to fit. Why the door was locked, he couldn’t hazard a guess. Gen nearly always forgot to lock the door, or rarely did in the first place. A small town where they knew all of their neighbors didn’t really require the safety of a lock.
“Dammit,” he cursed, struggling to keep hold of everything. “Genny?” He called out. “You home?”
When there was no response, he sighed. She was probably fishing, or at Leah’s, or had gone to the island for the day. Either way, he was screwed. And his hands were freezing.
Without ceremony, he dropped the groceries to the ground, wincing at the thud they made on the porch. He was finally able to straighten the key, despite cold and shaking hands, and insert it into the lock. With one twist, the door creaked open, and his jaw dropped.
In the middle of the room were several boxes, boxes that he remembered putting in the attic when he’d moved in, open, and his belongings strewn everywhere. Groceries forgotten, he followed the mess as it went further and further into the house, stopping when he reached the second bedroom.
“Well,” he cleared his throat and raised his eyebrow as he found his girlfriend, hammer raised to strike the wall and nails held tightly between her lips, staring wide-eyed back at him. “This is new.”
She immediately lowered the hammer and reached up, removing the nails from her mouth and smiling nervously. “You’re home early.”
He leaned against the doorframe, unimpressed. “Is there a reason all my stuff is out?”
“Yes,” she at least had the wherewithal to look a little sheepish. “I hoped I could finish this before you got home – I wanted to surprise you, Harv. And not with the mess in the living room.”
He stepped further into the room, finally taking a moment to see what she’d done. The mattress had been disassembled and removed from the room, she’d already put several new shelves up, his old desk was put together and was sitting askew in the corner, a faint aroma of paint hung in the air and sure enough, she’d even painted the walls a beautiful Aegean blue. His bookshelves had been put together with all of his books painstakingly alphabetized by author and separated by category, his old ham radio was set up, and she’d even already hung some of his posters and artwork. A leather-worn chair he’d been admiring at Robin’s the other day sat cattycorner to the desk and tucked between the bookshelves, a small table and lamp beside it.
He blinked back the start of tears at the realization of what all of this meant. “Gen– I–” He cleared his throat. “What is this?”
Her expression softened as she saw his reaction. “You’ve lived here for five months, Harv. We kept saying we’d make time to get you more settled, to finish unpacking your boxes once we had the space, but they’ve just been sitting in the attic. And… we have the space. I wanted this to really be your home, too. We can change it if you don’t like it, but I wanted to give you something that was really yours: an office, where you can do things for work, or your hobbies – whatever you want. You shouldn’t have to keep digging in the attic just to find a book, or not know where your things are in your own home.”
His jaw tightened as his emotions threatened to spill over. “I– That’s really nice, Genny. Thank you. You didn’t have to go to all of this work, just for me.” His voice was hoarse with the weight of what he felt for her.
“Of course I did,” she stepped down from the ladder and walked towards him, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist. “I love you, Harv. I want you to be happy. I want you to feel at home. Because you’re my home.”
He slammed his eyes shut and hugged her tightly, burying his face in her thick, auburn curls. “I love you, Genny. Thank you.”
She leaned back and slanted her lips over his, kissing him deeply. A shaky, still-cold hand slid into her hair as he gently cupped her skull and kissed her back.
As they separated, she grinned up at him, her hand tight in the fabric of his coat. “So, what do you think of it so far?” She asked hopefully, studying the room and all of the changes she’d made to it.
He didn’t see where she was looking, his verdant eyes solely focused on her. “I think it’s the start of something beyond incredible.”
She turned to face him, her amber eyes saying more than anything he’d ever hoped for. And he smiled.