Smiling softly, Arlen took Carson's hand in his and twined their fingers together. He stared down at their hands for a moment in peaceful admiration before speaking again. "You have a weird fixation on axe murderers right now," he observed with a small smirk. "I'm not an axe murderer, I promise."
He sighed, thinking. "I do have faith in you, and us, but I think you're definitely underestimating the weirdness of what my family does. I don't want to scare you off, y'know."
"I'm sorry, it's one of the prompts for work, you know how I get." Carson laughed before focusing back on the topic at hand. "You keep saying I'm underestimating you but you won't tell me what it actually is. So spill it Arlen. Or no cuddles for a week."
"I call bluff, but… okay." Slowly taking out his phone, he began typing in various passwords and identity checks. "I uh. I planned for you to see this in person soon, if not today, but it's probably better to show you what you're getting yourself into first." Once he finally accessed the photo album he scrolled as far back as he could, finding pictures from when he was young. He'd asked for them a few years ago, and his parents had happily sent them to him. Stopping at one particularly cute photo of him and 131-A (given the name Allen), he smiled to himself. He had to be at most five in the picture, and he was holding a messy drawing of Allen proudly to the camera, while said creature sat next to him, somehow looking just as proud.
"Okay. Okay. Okay…" He muttered quietly, hyping himself up for this. With a sharp intake of breath, he turned to show the photo to Carson. "That's Allen, officially known as SCP-131-A. And that's me when I was, like, five. My family houses them. The-the harmless ones, I mean." He looked up at Carson, expecting him to burst into laughter any moment now. He didn't expect his boyfriend to believe him immediately.
Carson stared at the photo for a minute, unblinking and almost unbelieving. When he finally sat back to process what he saw, he dropped his head into his hands. "Why am I less surprised than I should be, this isn't right." He picked his head up to look at Arlen. "Scientists. And alien scientists at that. Why does that make so much sense."
"Well, erm- we're not exactly the scientists, we just keep them safe." He glanced back down at his phone, then up at Carson again. "I mean, we have c-contact with the scientists in case we think one of them are sick or something, but for the most part we just house them." Arlen was surprised that he was reacting so calmly to this- even the fact that Carson believed him was honestly way more than he was expecting. "I-I know this is a lot, so if you need some time alone or anything, just… y'know. Say the word."
"Are you kidding? No no no sunshine, I have so many questions!" A wide smile broke across his face and Carson was near bouncing in his seat. "I don't even know where to start! Do you know how much creative liberty comes with information like that?"
Arlen couldn't help but smile at the scene, laughing. "Alright, alright. Ask away." He set his phone off to the side, directing his attention to his boyfriend. "I might not be able to answer much about the higher-ups, but I can try my best. I filled out the forms and stuff, so you could know everything I know, if you wanted. You're stuck with me now," he joked softly.
He wrapped his boyfriend in a tight hug, trying to calm his overexcited heart as he did. "Believe me Arlen, there's no one else I'd rather be stuck with."
Carson was never one to be that big on physical affection, at least not at first. He was getting better but this was a pretty big jump for him.
"Okay, well, how many did you grow up with? That's a good place to start."
Surprised at the contact but absolutely delighted, he happily hugged Carson back. Arlen's love language was touch, but he understood that some people just weren't as comfortable or ready for it as he was. What he wouldn't give to stay here forever.
"Well, um, a few more were brought to us over the years so probably around… I dunno, 25? I was only around some of them though, the ones with the scarier looks were kept away from me while I grew up- for obvious reasons." He chuckled softly. "There were a few that I barely even processed as being in the same group, like some of them just seemed like people. Because they kinda were, I guess."
"Oh? How so?" Carson was trying to stay calm and rational, biting his tongue as to not suddenly overload his boyfriend with all the questions he wanted to ask.
"I mean, a decent number of them were just as smart as we were. Well- as smart as my parents were, at least. Definitely smarter than I was at the time. And there were a whole bunch that looked like everyday people, just with something… slightly off. Like, for example; nowadays, my parents care for a few that are basically just children. They kinda just adopted them, it's actually really cute." He smiled fondly at the thought. "They got too old for the whole tramping through enclosures and feeding animal-ish ones, so I do that now. They're coming to visit tomorrow though. Kinda in time with, uh, you being brought into the circle."
There was still a lot to tell and show Carson, but Arlen was absolutely thrilled that this was going so well. There was still plenty of time for something to go wrong, but so far so good.
"And you waited until the day before to tell me this?" Carson raised an eyebrow at him. "Arlen, I thought we talked about this habit of yours." He sighed with a shake of his head. "Guess they can't all be winners."
""I, er- well, I mean, not first thing tomorrow, kinda like, um. Late afternoon. And you don't necessarily have to come if you're still processing everything." He fiddled with the fabric of his shirt as he nervously explained himself. "I just. I didn't really know how to tell you. This is kind of a big thing."
"No no, of course I want to come. I'd love to meet your parents and their home for peculiar children." He grabbed Arlen's hand, stroking the back of it with his thumb. "I just wish you'd told me sooner so I could be a bit more prepared for it."
In the five years since Arlen's parents had switched to their more lowkey parental role, he'd never thought about calling it their home for peculiar children. Ooh, that would make for a fun movie night… Whatever. Back on topic.
He sighed in contentment, leaning his forehead on Carson's shoulder. "You're amazing. You know that, right?"
"My dear, I'm simply being me. Nothing spectacular about that." Carson laughed, giving his hand a gentle squeeze and pressing a kiss to the top of his head.
He hummed softly. "Well. You being you is amazing, and I hope you know that." They'd have to get up soon. When they were ready to begin the drive, Arlen's house was at least an hour away- not to mention that Carson likely had his own things to do. Chores and work and such.
"I do my best, sunshine. Now we have things to do before we go, don't we? Just because we're leaving doesn't mean I'm letting you get out of doing the laundry." Carson raised an eyebrow at his boyfriend with a slightly smug grin.
Arlen groaned. He knew he'd end up doing the laundry anyway, but it wouldn't hurt to try and get out of it. "Even for…" He shrugged in pretend thought, looking around the room. "…A kiss?" He raised an eyebrow at Carson in mock suggestivity.
"Hmm, well maybe then I'd consider it." Carson shrugged, returning the same suggestivity back at his boyfriend. Arlen really was too cute when he was trying to get out of his chores.
With a wink and a chuckle, he gently gripped Carson's shirt and leaned forward, softly connecting their lips. He let his eyes flutter shut, making a mental note to be careful. It was unfairly easy to get distracted by the blond sat in front of him, and as much as Arlen would love to sit here all day and kiss every freckle on his boyfriend's body, they did unfortunately have things to do.
Carson allowed himself to melt into his boyfriend's lips, a wave of near relief washing over him as his eyes shut. No matter how many kisses Arlen loved to give, Carson had learned to never take a single one for granted. Arlen was one of the only things able to break him from his routine and just feel something. And that was dangerous. But even though he would give nearly anything to stay just as they were for the rest of the day, there were things to do.
Carson slowly pulled back from him, not really wanting to. "You make a good argument, but you're still doing the laundry." He chuckled, standing from his place on the couch and starting for the kitchen to start on the dishes.
Arlen sighed heavily when his boyfriend left the couch, but reluctantly followed. "Fine, fine." He trudged towards the hallway, blowing a kiss at Carson before disappearing around the corner. "You owe me!" he called, turning into the laundry room. He dragged an empty laundry basket towards the dryer, smiling to himself. As much as he might pretend to hate doing chores, truthfully, he didn't really mind- especially if he was doing it for Carson. It felt domestic.
"Whatever you say sunshine!" Carson called back down the hall with a chuckle, starting on the dishes with a hum.
Carson had never minded doing chores, even as a kid. But doing them with Arlen felt…different. It felt good, like he actually had a purpose rather than just doing them because they needed to be done.
Sunshine. Carson called him that all the time, but it still replayed in his mind like a song on repeat every time it was quiet. Sunshine. He was sure that his face was slightly flushed just thinking about the pet name, and he grinned. He was so stupidly into this man that it wasn't even funny.
He dumped the dirty laundry into the washer and started the first cycle before taking the newly clean clothes to the bedroom. Hanging them up in the closet was quicker than folding them, so he hurriedly disposed the clothes onto hangers before making his way to the kitchen. "Done!" He called in a sing-song voice, taking a seat on the counter.
Carson was working his way through the dishes, about 3/4 of the way through when Arlen came into the room. "Perfect timing, can help with drying and putting these away? Switching between them all is really slowing me down and I want to be done with this already."
(Stalking)
"Sure." Arlen opened a drawer nearby and pulled out a washcloth, scooting closer to the sink and beginning to dry the dishes. As much as he normally disliked chores, this was oddly peaceful. He didn't mind it, really.
It didn't take long to dry them all, and then Arlen (somewhat awkwardly) hopped off the counter and delivered all the dishes to their correct cabinets before returning to his seat on the counter.
Carson dried his hands when he finished, leaning back against the counter and tilting his head back to look at Arlen. "Hey cutie, come here often?" He chuckled, pushing some stray hairs that had fallen out of his bun out of his face.
Arlen snorted in amusement, leaning his chin on the palm of his hand and smirking down at his boyfriend. "Unfortunately, ever since you coerced me into doing your housework for you." He'd truly never understand how Carson worked cute nicknames into everyday conversation so naturally. Most of the time when he tried to do it, it sounded somewhat forced.