Irhaboggle Pride (2020) Quarantine Edition

Home Improvement

"Is any of this really necessary?" Storm asked as she watched Iris dart around the house like a hyperactive hummingbird.

"No, but it gives me something to do!" the tiny brunette said as she continued to set up painting supplies.

"The living room looks fine the way it is, though!" Storm knew her protests weren't going to get her anywhere, but protest she did.

"I know, but in the same way that there's no point in changing it, there's no point in not changing it, you know?" asked Iris.

"No. Not at all," Storm deadpanned.

"It's just a little home improvement!" Iris continued. "What's the harm in it?"

"What's the point in it?" Storm countered.

"What's the point in not doing it?" Iris replied.

"Ugh, you can't just keep answering my questions with more questions!" Storm frowned.

"Can't I?" Iris asked back, turning to give Storm a cheeky smirk.

"Real mature," Storm deadpanned again. Iris only laughed a little before continuing to go about her business.

For a few minutes more, Storm watched her in silence, but once she had most of her supplies set up, she finally asked Iris again.

"What's with the home improvement?" she asked. "And please be serious this time!" she added quickly.

"Well, to be honest, I'm just bored," said Iris. "I still love getting to do nothing all day, but I've grown antsy in the past couple of months."

"Bored enough for unnecessary home improvement?"

"Well, this might be the only time we ever get to work on our house without also worrying about a million other things!"

"True," Storm acknowledged. "I just can't believe you got sucked into the home improvement craze!"

Iris was far from the only one to spend quarantine cleaning up, and fixing up, her house. Some of their other friends were fixing roofs, cleaning attics, replacing carpet, repainting walls, repairing pipes, rewiring electricity, sanitizing bathrooms, redoing kitchens, buying new furniture, fixing or replacing old utilities and electronics, growing gardens, and just refurbishing and remodeling everything!

Everyone they knew was doing something to spruce up and freshen up, and it was all for the same two reasons Iris had listed: boredom and opportunity. When there was nothing else to do, chores finally got done. And even if quarantine was a chance to be lazy with no consequences, it was also a chance to be productive with no consequences (in that people could start big projects without the rest of life interrupting). In fact, Iris' own parents were busy fixing up their home, and that was what had inspired Iris to do the same with her and Storm's.

But Storm, ever the practical one, saw no purpose in this endeavor, because their house was already fine! Usually Storm was the hard worker while Iris was the lazy bum, but now roles were reversed. While Iris was getting ready to repaint the living room, Storm could only shake her head. To her, unless the work was necessary, it was just wasted time. The living room didn't need new paint, therefore the work Iris was doing was meaningless. But Iris would not be deterred.

"I'm not asking you to help, it's ok if you think what I'm doing is silly," she said as she grabbed a paint can. "I'm just doing this for me."

"But now I'm going to feel bad watching you do all the work!" Storm sighed ruefully, and that was the truth. She was already feeling bad...

"No, Storm, I told you it's ok!" Iris reassured. "Besides, see this as my payback for the day you cleaned up our junk room!" she laughed.

"But you did help eventually," Storm said.

"Only after you woke me up by threatening to douse me in water!" Iris teased. "I'm still mad about that, by the way."

"Pfft! Cry me an ocean!" Storm rolled her eyes, but she was teasing, too.

"But anyway, like I said, I don't mind doing this alone," Iris repeated as she knelt down and dipped a brush into her paint.

For the next 15 minutes, Storm simply watched Iris work. Both of them were silent, lost in their own little worlds. But after a moment, Storm finally decided to act. Even though she still didn't have much of a drive to help Iris repaint stuff, she still wasn't going to remain idle if Iris was at work. Instead, she helped clean stuff up and move it out of the way so that Iris could continue her work unimpeded.

"Thanks," Iris smiled up at Storm as Storm offered to get her a new paint tray. She'd sloshed a bit of paint over the side of the other one, so Storm wanted to clean it now before the paint dried and hardened.

"Had to help somehow," Storm smiled gently, before taking the paint try from Iris and going to fetch another.

Once she returned, she sat down beside Iris.

"Oh, were you going to help?" Iris blinked in surprise.

"Well, I was actually just going to keep you company, if that's ok?" Storm asked. In a very rare moment of sheepishness, she gave Iris an awkward and hopeful smile that was just as cute as it was "out of character". She was really hoping Iris wouldn't ask her to help paint...

"Ohhhh, so you mean you're gonna sit around on your butt all day and watch me do all the work?" Iris demanded, but the smile on her face gave away the fact that she was only kidding. And before Storm could even answer, Iris continued to speak. "Because that sounds good to me! Your company is the best work you can provide! I got the painting, you got the talking!" And Storm was more than happy to oblige.

So for the rest of that day, while Iris painted the walls, Storm watched her work and kept her entertained with idle chatter about everything and nothing. It was actually very relaxing, and even though Storm was still a bit disdainful of the whole "home improvement" craze, she could at least see the bonding value in it. Sitting around and watching Iris paint had not been on her itinerary before, but by the end of that day, she found herself feeling quite happy, and it was a sentiment Iris shared 100%!

"So... I was thinking about retiling the bathroom floor tomorrow..."

"Absolutely not."

"Ha, ha, yeah, just kidding! ... Maybe..."

AN: This was inspired off how many of my friends are currently picking up household improvement projects, including my parents! (Who are painting the bathroom as I write this).

And (possibly not) funny story, I actually spilled half a can of paint just last night when I tripped over it. That was 2.5 hours of carpet cleaning I'll never get back. But it certainly helped inspire this fic! So I guess that's one good thing to come out of that mess, LOL!