I watched a marathon of Property Brothers the other day and got inspired to write this. I watch way too many home improvement shows :|

We’re Home

“You’re impossible,” Jessica clucks, tapping her nails against the kitchen table. “We simply cannot afford what you want.”

Tiffany frowns and looks up from her laptop. “It’s out there somewhere,” She insists, “I’ll find it eventually.”

Jessica’s eye twitches. “Eventually needs to happen soon, Tiffany! I’m sick of living here!”

Their 620 square foot rental is becoming way too small. The table they’re sitting at doubles as food prep space, an office area and a dining table, the living room is barely big enough for a decent sofa, the bathroom isn’t big enough to hold both of them at once, and though Jessica loves her girlfriend dearly, they’re constantly in each other’s way. They both have a lot of stuff and it’s becoming an issue of them versus makeup kits, CDs, piles of clothing and stacks upon stacks of shoeboxes—and all of that stuff is slowly winning. Jessica will not be pushed out of her home by her own belongings! The problem is that Tiffany wants a picture perfect home—and she’s not going to get it in their price range.

“Calm down,” Tiffany sniffs, like Jessica’s not ready to throttle her, “Look, here’s a nice one, it’s only $900,000…”

“For God’s sake!” Jessica cries, “We’re not spending that kind of money! What kind of mortgage do you think I want?!”

Tiffany huffs and glares at Jessica. “Well we’re going to live there forever, Jess. I want it to be perfect! We deserve it!”

“We need a fixer,” Jessica says firmly. “Like on Property Brothers.”

“Ugh,” Tiffany groans, pretending to stab herself in the stomach. “I hate renovations.”

“But we can really make it our own that way!” Jessica whines, tugging on Tiffany’s arm. “We can pick out everything! Flooring, paint, furniture, the back splash and granite in the kitchen, the bathtub! What better way to make a home our own?” She snatches the laptop away from Tiffany and types in an address she knows by heart. “Look, this is the interior designer that Kris used. You really liked Kris’ new place, right? Let’s give him a call and see what he says.”

Tiffany bites her lip and Jessica’s heart leaps—she looks like she’s thinking about it!

“Okay,” Tiffany sighs, “But we have to start thinking about what we want now, I want to make sure we have everything in order.”

It’s the day they’re supposed to meet with the designer, and Jessica’s heart is about to flutter out of her chest. They have a must-have list that’s a mile long, and it was an uphill battle getting Tiffany to compromise. She sticks the list in her back pocket so she doesn’t sweat on it and smear the ink. Part of her thinks that this guy is going to take one look at the list and shove them back out the door.

“This is a nice place!” Tiffany gushes as they make their way to the office, “This building is so chic! How old did you say this guy was, and he’s already good enough to have an office in a place like this?”

“He’s a little older than us,” Jessica says, mouth slightly dry. “Now remember, his name is Kim Jaejoong—or Jaejoong Kim, I don’t know if he uses western order.”

“I got it, I got it,” Tiffany says, waving at her, “Look, here we are!”

And she knocks on the office door. It’s opened promptly by a smartly dressed man with nice smile and an even nicer face and damn, if Jessica was straight…

“Tiffany Hwang and Jessica Jung?” He asks.

“Yes!” Tiffany chirps, holding out her hand. “Nice to meet you, Mister Kim!”

“Call me Jaejoong,” He says easily, “Come in, it’s nice to meet you.”

“Don’t be so sure of that,” Jessica blurts, and jerking her head at Tiffany continues, “You haven’t seen her list yet.”

Jaejoong laughs and directs them inside, to a small couch, he sits in a chair across from them. “I love a challenge,” He assures. “So, let’s talk. What would you two like in your dream house?”

“We want to stay at $550,000,” Jessica says quickly, before Tiffany can shoot off. “Preferably a detached house in the suburbs. We haven’t started looking yet, because we want to know if you can help us with the interior first.”

Tiffany snatches the list right out of Jessica’s pocket. “We have a list of what we want, here you go.”

Jessica gulps as Jaejoong silently reads over the list, his face not betraying anything. They want a completely updated kitchen, a family room that blends function and style, they want a master bath no matter what, and they really want two other bathrooms but they’ll settle for one, they want to have tile and hardwood throughout the house because they have two dogs and things get messy fast, central heating and cooling, and they want it to look nice.

“I don’t care if the finishes are brand name,” Tiffany adds as Jaejoong’s eyes near the end of the list, “I just want it to look pretty, it can be second hand as long as it looks nice.”

Jaejoong gives them a smile. “Well, I think 550 grand is a good price point, and as long as you leave me at least 75 for renovations, I can give you what you’re looking for.”

Jessica lets out a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. “Really?” She asks.

Jaejoong grins. “Really. Now, go out there and look for your dream house!”

Easier said than done, when one looks with Tiffany. She’s not picky with houses now—now she loves everything!

“Look at all the space!” She gushes, twirling in a circle in the kitchen, her arms outstretched. “Oh wow, I could turn a cartwheel in here!”

“Please don’t,” Jessica begs, hugging her arms to herself. “You might knock down a wall and unleash the termites.” This is the fifth house they’ve seen and it’s easily the dirtiest. She thinks the pile of old clothing in the corner just moved.

Tiffany turns to Jessica with her hands on her hips. “Wimp!” She accuses. “You’re the one who wanted a fixer!”

Not one this filthy, Jessica thinks to herself. She wonders if she can get lockjaw by simply inhaling the scent of rust for too long.

Their realtor gestures for them to follow her. “There’s a bathroom and an office in the back, and upstairs there’s four bedrooms and two more bathrooms.”

“A master bath?” Tiffany asks, already hurrying after. Jessica takes her time on the stairs, wondering why, oh why did she wear her heels? Upstairs, Tiffany squeals.

“Wait ‘til you see this room, Jessica!”

When Jessica finally picks her way to the master bedroom, her jaw drops. “Oh,” she breathes. The view is amazing—they can see the city skyline stretching out miles away, rising from the greenery of the neighborhood.

“And the bathroom is gorgeous, too! It’s huge!” Tiffany cries, “I sent pictures to Jaejoong, but I know he’ll tell us to buy, oh Jessica can’t you see it?”

Jessica can, actually. She can see herself going to sleep in this room, pulling Tiffany down next to her and kissing up her neck as they wish each other sweet dreams. She can see them waking up together, getting dressed, and the longer she looks around the room, dilapidated as it is, she can see where they’ll put a bed and dresser, where Tiffany’s shoes will inevitably wind up, where the dog beds will go. And as she looks back to the door, she can see where a little girl will come bounding into the room yelling for her mommies to wake up.

She turns back to Tiffany, tears in her eyes, and nods. “I see it,” she chokes, and Tiffany runs over to hug her, crying as well. Tiffany’s phone rings with a text from Jaejoong, telling them that they’ll be crazy not to put in an offer on the house right away.

The house is listed for $450,000. Really, Jessica does not want to pay that much. The only reason she and Tiffany can afford the renovations are because both their parents have given them money to use for just this kind of situation. Jessica just got a promotion at work, and Tiffany’s got a good cupcake business going, but Tiffany wants to actually set up a shop and that’s going to cost a lot of money. She wants to keep the house and the renovation as close to $500,000 as she can. The house has been up for sale for three months (it really is a dump), so Jessica says firmly that they’re going to offer 420 grand and not a dollar over. Tiffany nearly strangles her, saying that she may have to compromise, but Jessica stands her ground. They needn’t have worried anyway, the offer is accepted.

“We’re home owners,” Jessica gasps. “We have our own house!”

“Now all we have to do is fix it up!” Tiffany says cheerfully.

Of course, that does not go well.

“The electrical is good for the most part,” Jaejoong informs them. “In fact it looks pretty recent, we’ll just need to tweak a few things. Heating and cooling will be another issue, and then we’ll actually need to fix the plumbing in the master bathroom because it’s so old, it’s ready to fall apart.”

“We want defined spaces,” Jessica reminds him, “We’re not fans of open concept—is that going to be a help?”

“It will be,” Jaejoong assures, “And another thing that may help is using laminate instead of real hardwood.”

“That will be fine,” Jessica assures, and when Tiffany pouts Jessica shoots her a glare. “Do you know what a pain it is to clean dog puke up off hardwood? Not to mention all the scratches we’ll invite!”

Tiffany rolls her eyes, but backs off. “You’re right, of course.”

But she keeps shooting down Tiffany’s ideas, so when it comes time to pick things like paint and furnishing, she lets Tiffany make most of the decisions.

“Quartz or the counter tops, in the kitchen and bathrooms,” She informs Jaejoong when they go to look at furnishings. “And I have this beautiful chandelier from my grandmother that we can repurpose…oh! You know what I want in the master bathroom? A soaker tub and vessel sinks—two of them!”

Jessica’s eye twitches, but she bites her tongue. What do they need a huge bathtub for? And they’ve been brushing their teeth side by side for years, why does Tiffany want two sinks? Noticing her bad mood, Tiffany skips over to Jessica and kisses her cheek.

“Trust me,” she begs. “I promise it’ll look great, and I won’t make everything violently pink, I promise!”

“You’re promising a lot,” Jessica sighs, but she smiles. “I’ll trust you.”

It’s worth it in the end. As Tiffany promised, she and Jaejoong made the house look amazing, and with everything included they spent a grand total of $502,126—not bad considering the house had a moldy pile of clothes in almost every corner when they bought it.

Jessica had been forbidden from entering the house on the final few days of renovation—mostly because she had a project to finish at work, but partly because Tiffany wanted to surprise her, and she has, in a massive way. The living room, dining room, kitchen, everything is perfect, and they’ve only seen the first floor, but Jessica especially can’t get over the kitchen.

“How’d you find a back splash with pink in it?” Jessica finds herself asking, genuinely stunned—in a good way. “It looks amazing!”

“It was hard to find,” Tiffany admits, “But we didn’t pay too much for it.”

Jessica doesn’t even care about price anymore—she doesn’t know where to look first! “It’s beautiful,” she croaks, tears welling up in her eyes. She turns to Jaejoong, lurking in the doorway with a smile on his face. “This is amazing!” She cries, “Really, thank you so much!”

Jaejoong hugs her tightly and Jessica forces herself not to cry on his shoulder. “I’ll let you two continue the tour of your new house in peace,” he says, “I just wanted to see your reaction to the kitchen, but Tiffany has some stuff she wants you to see upstairs.”

They say goodbye to him in tears (Jessica’s very overwhelmed and Tiffany cries when Jessica cries), and then they take a few moments to just stand in their new living room and compose themselves.

“Okay,” Tiffany says after a moment, “Let’s go upstairs.”

Jessica lets Tiffany lead her—the stairs are solid, and she’s not afraid that she’s going to fall through them.

“We’ll see the master bedroom first,” Tiffany tells her, “But keep in mind, that’s not my big surprise.”

Which is hard to believe, considering how amazing the room looks. It’s not pink—shockingly—but rather a pale, pale blue with white trim. They have a real bed, and a table for makeup, and a big closet where all their clothing is neatly arranged (for now). And the bathroom looks even better.

“Okay,” Jessica laughs, “The tub was worth it, I admit it.”

Tiffany positively beams at her. “Really? Oh, I’m so glad you like it! Okay, now it’s time for the surprise!” And she slaps her hands over Jessica’s eyes and leads her along.

“Where are we going?” Jessica asks, “You better not be taking me downstairs.”

“I’m not,” Tiffany promises—it seems like she’s leading her out of the bedroom. “Just stand right here—okay, open your eyes and then open the door.”

Jessica opens her eyes and finds herself in front of one of the other bedrooms. Not sure of what to expect, she opens the door.

“Oh,” she gasps. “Oh! Oh my god…”

It’s a nursery. The walls are painted a soft honey color with a printed band of baby animals wrapped around the room, along the floor line. There’s a soft throw rug in the shape of a panda, a beautiful crib, a lamp in the shape of a sailboat. Tiffany has put together the perfect room for a baby.

“We haven’t talked about it seriously,” Tiffany is babbling, “But I know we said we wanted kids, and it doesn’t have to be right now but when we’re ready, the room is here!”

Jessica turns to face her slowly, one hand pressed to to help hold back sobs. Tiffany looks so nervous.

“Jess?”

Jessica nods, finally pulling her hand away. “It’s perfect,” she assures, her voice breaking. “It’s so perfect.”

Tiffany smiles, tears in her eyes, and holds out her arms. Jessica hugs her tightly, crying on her shoulder.

“Welcome home,” Tiffany laughs.

Happy holidays!

Please comment ;~~~~~; It'll be my Christmas present!