Title: Domesticity
By: geekwriter
Pairing: Nick/Greg
Rating: PG
Summary: Written as a Hanukkah present for Cinderlily. Everybody has their own way of doing things.

"Wait," Nick said as he scanned the paper in front of him. 'Do we have all the pieces?"

"Yup," Greg said, putting two pieces of wood together. He looked at them for a moment, pulled them apart and flipped one over, then put them together again.

"Wait," Nick said again. "You're not even...we're supposed to start with piece 'A' and fasten sides 'B' and 'C' to it with the 1/4 inch screws."

"Gotcha," Greg said, reaching for the screwdriver.

"Greg," Nick said, exasperated, "will you wait?"

"For what?" Greg asked, looking over at him.

"The directions. Where's piece 'A'?"

Greg knocked on one of the pieces of wood on the floor in front of him.

"And we're supposed to have six 1/4 inch screws. Do we have six 1/4 inch screws?"

"I don't know," Greg said. He reached for the small plastic baggie and ripped it open, dumping its contents onto the carpet.

Nick sighed and scooped up the screws and dowels and bolts, then counted out each one carefully, checking them against the contents list. He frowned. "We've got seven 1/4 inch screws."

Greg plucked one of the screws out of Nick's hand and began to fasten two pieces of wood together.

"Hold on," Nick said. "Now, are those pieces 'A' and 'B'?"

Greg rolled his eyes but didn't reply.

"Once we put together pieces 'A,' 'B,' and 'C' then we have to..." Nick scanned the directions. "We're supposed to have four dowels. Do we have four dowels?"

Greg put down the pieces he was working on and leaned over. He tipped his head down between Nick's face and the instructions and kissed him gently.

"Greg," Nick said as he pulled away, "I'm trying to concentrate. Now, we're supposed to--"

Greg cut him off with another kiss, pressed his mouth to Nick's, leaned forward until Nick was on his back and Greg was stretched out over him. "Hi," Greg said softly.

Nick tried to frown but he couldn't keep from smiling. "Hi," he whispered, reaching up to run his fingers through Greg's hair. "Careful, I think your knee's on the directions."

Greg reached down with one hand, grabbed the directions, balled them up and tossed them aside. He kissed Nick to quiet his protests before they began. "It's a bookshelf, Nick, not a ballistic missile. Nothing bad is going to happen if we don't read the directions."

"But--" Nick began.

"Bookshelf," Greg repeated. "From Target. Pretty self-explanatory."

Nick sighed as he stroked the back of Greg's neck. "Fine," he said, but as they kissed he opened his eyes and could see the assembly instructions out of the corner of his eye, and he thought he could just make out the writing that said to place a drop of glue in slots 1-8 before inserting each dowel.