How (not) to buy a couch

DAY 19

For the whole weekend, Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji were anxious of how Monday would go. Judging by their previous experience, there was little hope for the second delivery of the couch to go smoothly. Still, they were encouraging each other and hoping for the best. This was after all the last part of their troubles, well, hopefully.

In the morning, Lan Wangji was checking his account in online banking as was his routine now since they were still waiting for the reimbursement of the rest of the money from their cancelled order. His mood became slightly better when he saw that the rest of the money had finally arrived. And he thought that perhaps today would not be such a terrible day after all. He decided to take this as a good sign and immediately went to inform his lover.

Wei Wuxian had been extremely stressed this whole morning but he decided to keep it together to not worry Lan Wangji unnecessarily. He knew that his lover had much to deal with himself without having to sooth him and calm him down. When he heard about the money being reimbursed to them at last, he actually felt better. As Lan Wangji said, he would take this as a good sign that everything would go smoothly today.

***

Lan Wangji had been anxiously checking his phone the whole day. He did not want to miss the call from the movers. He thought back to the first attempt and that was why he was on pins and needles because he expected the call to come any minute and to be told that the previously agreed time of delivery was no longer valid. He and Wei Wuxian had even took half a day of paid vacation as last time.

He was actually surprised when the phone started ringing only at half past four, precisely up to the promised schedule he had not believed would be adhered to. At that moment, he and Wei Wuxian were sitting in the kitchen area because that was the only place they had any chairs except for their respective working spaces.

Lan Wangji quickly picked up and only let his breath out when the movers – judging from the voice it was not the same person as last time calling – confirmed they would arrive in 30 minutes.

Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji were sitting at the table, looking in turn at the phone and between themselves, anxiously waiting for it to ring again. They waited still for something to go wrong and be informed that the delivery was cancelled for the day.

Nothing like that happened though and exactly 30 minutes later, their doorbell rang. They looked at each other and squeezed each other's hand which they had been holding onto this whole time. Then, they hurried to the door, taking their respirators and the apartment keys and walking down the steps to the front door.

There stood two men by a white van; the car was the same as last time but the people were completely different. Lan Wangji was actually surprised to see them wearing their own respirators and smiling at them, as much as he could tell from their eyes. They greeted each other politely. This time around, Lan Wangji had a good feeling about them. Perhaps it would go smoothly after all? He really hoped so.

The movers confirmed the delivery and immediately started unloading the couch. Even with their movements alone, Lan Wangji could tell that they were experienced, in the way the previous pair had not been. The precision with which they handled the heavy pieces of furniture inspired confidence. When the couch was unloaded, the movers actually put both pieces side by side so Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian could see that this time, it was the correct item.

Seeing that now it was the correct couch which was being delivered, Wei Wuxian finally relaxed. The movers also seemed different than the last time and they started removing the legs after only one glance at the front door. They were professionals it seemed. Wei Wuxian had to smile to himself, he was starting to get a good feeling about this.

He relaxed even further when he saw how the movers expertly lifted the first piece of the couch and manoeuvred it so that it went through the door just fine, no hard pushing and squeezing this time, just the right angle and some rotation. It was not completely smooth but it was already a lot better than to see their precious couch being nearly destroyed in unexperienced hands.

The movers encouraged them to go upstairs and open the door for them. They were very polite and Wei Wuxian's heart immediately lightened the rest of the way. Despite himself and his worries what else could go wrong, he started smiling. Lan Wangji took his hand and squeezed it lightly. When they were half the way up the stairs, he pulled him closer to himself, pinning him against the wall and started kissing him, not all that innocently.

Lan Wangji had assumed they had a lot of time to fool around, and he wanted to celebrate the heavy burden being lifted from his shoulders as well so he did not rush. Getting the first piece of furniture up the stairs had taken the previous pair of movers one and a half hour after all. But he should have probably thought twice about this after seeing how expertly these current movers had gotten the couch through the narrow front door.

It did not even take five minutes and the first of the movers appeared on the curve of the staircase, his back was for now facing them. Lan Wangji saw that from the corner of his eye and immediately let Wei Wuxian go. When his lover gave him a betrayed glare, he only signed towards the movers. Wei Wuxian understood the situation and started walking the rest of the way up so they would reach their apartment first and would be able to open the door for the movers. For some reason, it was actually scaring him how smoothly this all was going.

The movers arrived to their doorsteps not even another ten minutes later. As last time, one of them went to first inspect the apartment and the cleared up way to the living room. Wei Wuxian had to smile even wider and more welcomingly when the man asked for permission to enter and had even taken down his shoes so he would not soil the floors.

Once his inspection was finished, he went back to his colleague who had taken off his shoes in the meantime and informed him: "Everything is fine. Just be careful of the rabbit enclosure in the hall. The ceiling is quite low too, but it will be fine, we just cannot tilt the couch too much to the sides. The door is already taken out of the hinges."

Wei Wuxian's eyebrows tightened a bit, remembering how the previous movers left the door out of the hinges and how he and Lan Wangji did not dare to put it back before the second delivery. His expression however cleared soon enough. The movers were now manoeuvring the couch to the living room and getting the packaging off. They then installed it in the corner with the legs in place once again.

They quickly got the second piece of the couch and before Wei Wuxian even had enough time to marvel at how well things were going in comparison with his last experience, everything was done already. His eyes clouded with tears when he saw their couch in the living room, just as he had imagined it, finally.

He turned around when he heard a strange noise behind himself. He saw that one of the movers was getting the door and putting it back to where it belonged. Without even being told to do so.

Lan Wangji went towards the movers before they got out of the door, his wallet in his hand. "Thank you, how much is it for the delivery?" He had not forgotten that they would have to pay the delivery and installation this time.

He was surprised to see both movers shaking their hands, their hands up in a gesture of refusal: "No need. We were informed about your situation. The delivery is free of charge as an apology for all the trouble with the previous delivery."

Wei Wuxian now joined his husband and reached out to shake both movers' hands: "Really, thank you very much! But we cannot not pay for your services. Please, take this as a tip. We are truly grateful to you."

Upon Wei Wuxian's words, Lan Wangji had taken two banknotes from his wallet and gave them to the movers. They accepted with a polite bow.

"The couch needs to sit down for 24 hours, afterwards, it can be used," one of the movers reminded them before walking away.