𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐯𝐲. 𝐩𝐚𝐮𝐥 𝐦𝐜𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐲.

vi. building a house for kenneth.

𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐢 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝚍𝚘,

𝐏𝐀𝐔𝐋 𝐃𝐈𝐃𝐍'𝐓 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐇𝐎𝐖   ivy ended up in his house. he supposed that was just the way she was; a charmer, complete with a set of irresistible eyes and genuine, easygoing mannerisms. nevertheless, she was sitting next to him on the carpeted floor of his bedroom, watching his movements with incredible care.

"what?" he asked, taking a piece of wood in his hands. a short day had passed since paul and ivy's metaphorical marriage took place, and they were building kenneth a makeshift house. well, paul was building kenneth a makeshift house.

ivy tilted her head at him, her hair falling loosely into her face. her faint green shirt was tucked into a gray skirt, long legs crossed as her back leaned up against his bed. they both knew she looked good, her eyes darting from the hammer in his hands to his face. "paul, this is important," she whispered.

paul winced and scrunched his face up to show his disapproval. "i hate when you say that -" he started, knowing fully well that her argument for kenneth began with that exact sentence, but she cut him off.

"does george have a girlfriend," ivy blurted, avoiding paul's eyes quite suddenly. it took a moment for her words to register and when they did, he frowned, utterly confused. she crossed her arms and stared at the floor, anything to keep from looking at him.

"uh, no," paul turned back to the wood. he thought he knew the reason why she was asking but it didn't exactly make sense. after coming to liverpool, ivy always seemed more focused on pete and john than george, hence her actions toward each of them at the birthday party and the diner. paul pressed two small boards together and nailed them, noticing ivy's unusual silence. "you've got something on your mind, don't you?" his voice was gentle, lacking the exhausted tone he typically regarded her in. "what's wrong, are you upset?"

ivy picked at her nails- for the past few days, they'd been painted soft pink, contrasting beautifully with the slight tan of her skin. "i.. no, not exactly." she squinted, "can i ask you something, paul? between us?" he nodded, reassuring her that he wouldn't tell. he was growing more and more concerned, seeing ivy act like this was actually startling. "do you think he might go for gwen? maybe?" she went back to staring at her fingernails.

paul gathered the nails he was using and shrugged. "didn't you see them at the party?" he took another piece of wood and set it next to the others, readying his hammer. ivy smirked half-heartedly and paul rolled his eyes, remembering her encounter with pete. "well, they got along nicely. spent nearly the whole night talking, then he walked her home." he paused. "why do you ask? do you think gwen would go for him?"

ivy crawled next to him, glancing at their stack of materials. paul's father let them borrow a hammer and some nails, while john gifted them with wood he stole from his fireplace. ivy brought a few old shirts she'd taken from beth and a box of her mother's sewing supplies. she claimed she only wanted to make a bed for kenneth, but paul feared she would decorate the entire interior of the mini house.

she blew a strand of hair from her face and began threading a needle, "maybe. i'll bet she wants to, but she broke up with someone before we moved here, you know." paul didn't know, but nodded anyway. "i just want her to be happy," ivy elaborated, cutting the white thread from the spool. paul watched as she ripped the sleeves from one of the shirts and worked on pushing the needle through the thin material.

they continued working on the house for kenneth, paul constructing the outside while ivy created the inside. as he suspected, she decorated the interior completely, calling it her masterpiece. the sunlight faded from his window and disappeared, while they passed the time talking about basically everything. paul decided she could be really funny when she was actually making sense.

their talk was interrupted by a consistent tap on the window. ivy stood from the carpet and reached one hand to pull it open, the other delicately holding kenneth. "oh, gwen!" she greeted her sister, "me and paul have nearly finished kenneth's home, want to come in and see it?"

the other girl glared at ivy from her place on the grass, between the mccartney and peterson homes. "no, ivy!" she snapped, staring upward, "mom's been worried sick! quit slumming it and get home, would you?"

paul paled at gwen's tone and kept his head down, pretending not to listen. his eyes met ivy's, however, as she pulled the window shut and turned, grinning brightly. "well, i suppose that's my cue to leave." she laid kenneth in his gorgeously-constructed house and walked slowly over to paul, pressing her hands on top of his shoulders. "promise me you'll take care of our baby while i'm away."

matching her actions, paul settled his gentle hands over her shoulders, mocking her. "i promise to care for this rat until you realize we don't have to treat it like our biological human child," he promised.

"not good enough!" ivy shook her head, claiming she needed to be absolutely certain that kenneth was safe in this house. so she made paul promise nearly a hundred more times, until his promise finally reached her standards.

𝐢𝐬, 𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐲, 𝐛𝐞 𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚜 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮.