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Timmy was super excited, he’s never actually owned a house before, he’s never even owned an apartment before. New York was expensive enough to rent, there was no way in hell he was going to afford buying.
Plus, he’d hardly ever been home for a good couple of years there, so it just hadn’t been worth the price.
Now though, he’s a married man, and he’s found the perfect house to raise his family in. All that’s left is decorating it.
Which turns out to be a lot easier said than done.
While he had been in several of the houses Armie had owned before, he’d always kind of assumed that the interior decorating was Elizabeth’s influence, or even a hired stylist that just told them what was trendy and Armie just nodded and signed the checks.
But apparently not. Apparently he’s actually into the whole minimalistic, completely white and sterile look.
That…
Might prove to be a problem.
Timmy’s taste in home decor is anything but minimalistic. He loves color, and finding things secondhand, that might not look the best, but every time you look at it you can almost feel it telling you a story, as if it has a soul.
Armie’s minimalistic white furniture definitely doesn’t say much at all. Other than ‘you better have the dry cleaner on speed dial.’
He loves the guy, but he’s not about to decorate their home as if they’re not actually gonna live there.
“What’s wrong with white?” Armie looks completely baffled, and it just makes Timmy sigh and shake his head. “Timmy, white goes with everything!”
“But it has no soul, Armie. It’s gonna completely drain the life out of us if we decorate like that.” He doesn’t whine, but it’s definitely a close call.
Timmy can already imagine what living in a house that looks like it came straight out of the mind of a Kardashian would do to his soul, and it’s nothing good.
He can’t think of anything more boring, or cold, and not to mention completely lifeless, than an all white interior. There was just no way, no way, he was going to agree to that.
“What do you mean, no soul?” Armie frowns, looking down at the virtual mock-up he’d had done of their living room. “There will be plants, and art. That has soul.”
“Armiiiiieeeee, no. That’s… Babe, that doesn’t change the fact that an all white interior would make me miserable.”
Because that’s the thing with interior design, isn’t it? You don’t always have a clear image of what you want your house to look like, but when it’s wrong, you can feel it.
It’s like your entire body tenses up, and you’re not able to relax at all, you’d have this constant feeling of just, wrongness, in your gut.
Timmy can’t have that in the one place he’s supposed to feel at home. No matter how comfortable, and loved, Armie makes him feel, if the house is wrong…
Just, no, he can’t do that.
“But…” Armie looks more than a little confused, as if he’s never had anyone tell him that that particular style of decorating is not where it’s at. “It’s tasteful.”
Armie doesn’t sound like he fully believes what he’s saying, and Timmy is getting a sneaking suspicion that maybe he’d been right the first time.
Maybe this is nothing but a remnant of Elizabeth’s gaslighting shining through, and Armie just never actually had a chance to develop his own style.
“No, it’s tasteless .” Timmy takes Armie’s hand in his, giving it a light squeeze. “There’s no personality in any of that, and no, the plants don’t count.”
Armie looks back down at his ipad, and the mock-up his interior designer had sent through, blinking furiously as his eyebrows drew together.
A classic sign of confusion.
“But, practically everyone decorates like this?”
“Exactly!” Timmy practically shouts, startling Armie so badly the ipad drops to the floor. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you, I’m just… This is getting me more fired up than I thought.”
Timmy chuckles awkwardly, before leaning in to press a quick kiss to Armie’s cheek.
“The thing with this kind of design, Armie, is that it is completely tasteless. It’s tasteless because it’s nothing but herd behavior.” Armie doesn’t look like he’s any closer to understanding what Timmy means, so he just shrugs and continues explaining.
“It’s like, you know, innate human behavior. No one wants to stand out, or to be the one that’s different. Everyone just wants to be part of the herd, to fit in, and do what everyone else does.”
A flicker of understanding lights up behind Armie’s eyes, and Timmy smiles softly. “Yeah, that’s not me. That’s not us.”
“No, I suppose not.” Armie snorts, “But, I’m not sure I’m all that comfortable with too much color either.”
“That’s alright.” Timmy smiles widely, he’s all for compromising.
And truly, as long as their house doesn’t end up looking like a snowstorm had thrown up all over it, he’ll be happy.