"Hey, Alfred! Would you stop fooling about?!" Arthur scolded, a heavy box in his arms. Alfred just laughed, not taking him seriously enough to care about what he said. Instead, he continued to rummage through Arthur's things. "Stop looking through my boxes! I might have personal stuff in there!"
Today was supposed to be a hard day for Arthur. But he didn't have time to feel sad. Not with Alfred being a total nuisance. Today was the day that Arthur moves out of his home. The one that he and Francis had shared for many many years together The one where they had raised Alfred and Matthew. The one where they had laughed, loved, and cried together. And the one where Francis had...Arthur shook his head and stormed over to Alfred. He was SUPPOSED to be helping him pack, but had quickly lost interest and was finding ways to entertain himself. Matthew was there as well, helping out, and was currently in the master bedroom, putting away the pictures. "Alfred would you please just help me out instead of messing around?" Alfred sighed and put everything back before standing up. He placed his hands on his hips and looked around.
"I still can't believe that you're moving from this house. Haven't you lived here for like...ever?" He asked. "So why would you want to move out?" He asked. Arthur sighed.
"It's just..lonely living in such a big house all by myself you know? Ever since you two moved out, it's been terribly lonely, and just a waste of so much space on just one person. I'd rather live in a smaller home." Alfred nodded.
"I get it, dude," Alfred said. "Still...I hate seeing you give up such an important house you know?" As the two of them reminisced, Matthew staggered from the room. He had gathered all of the pictures from the bedrooms, as well as the ones on the walls of the hallway. He nearly dropped the box until Alfred ran up to him and took it from him. "Yo, careful dude." He said quickly. He set the box down and grabbed the tape so that he could close it up. But before he could, he noticed the open flap and pulled it aside to look into the box. "Oh god, I haven't seen these pictures in a while." He chuckled. Matthew sat down to see as well and Arthur didn't complain. Instead, he sat down as well to have a look. Alfred pulled out a photo and laughed a bit. "Remember this?"
In the photo, he and Matthew were sitting at the table, big smiles on their faces as they were presented a cake with a large number four candle on it. Both boys had party hats on their heads and streamers in their hair. Matthew laughed as he pulled out another photo. "Oh look. It's us again!" He said happily. This one was soon after they adopted. Two-year-old Alfred and Matthew were in Francis's arms, Matthew hiding his face away, and Alfred gleefully waving to the camera.
Arthur went through the box and pulled out two framed pictures. Each contained the boys birth certificate. And along with it, a picture of their tiny footprints. So small compared to now. Where had the years gone? The three of them kept looking for a moment. Arthur pulled out a small picture frame and smiled ever so slightly. Both boys craned their necks to see what he had. This was a photo of Arthur and Francis. It was a bit old. Francis sat in a chair, a small smile on his face, as Arthur stood next to him, his hand on Francis's shoulder, smiling just as happily as Francis was. Francis seemed just a bit thin in the photo and Arthur's smile a tiny bit strained, but otherwise, they seemed happy.
"You know.." Alfred began. "We've been with you for so long..and you never really told us about how you met our dad." Arthur placed the picture on his lap and looked up at Alfred. Alfred just shifted, a bit awkwardly. "I mean, I think we asked you a few times but you never wanted to answer. But since you're moving out and all..couldn't you at least tell us now?" He asked. Arthur stared at him for a moment. He glanced at Matthew, who seemed to be just as interested. Arthur sighed and smiled a little sadly.
"Your right Alfred. You do have the right to know. It's been unfair of me to keep it to myself." He gazed off a bit. "The story is a little long, and a little sad, but I still think that it's awfully wonderful." He chuckled. "You know when I first met your father, I never thought I would fall in love with him."
"What was he like?" Matthew asked. "I can't remember very well."
"Well.." Arthur thought. "He was loud." He said as he thought back to the past.
Arthur! Would you just look at this! I can't believe it!
"Arrogant."
"Ah, what would you do without me? Eating all that disgusting trash you call cooking. Here, I'll make you something better."
"He could be completely selfish sometimes.."
I hate being here! The hospital gown is so ugly! And it smells of hand sanitizer. I want to get better, and soon!
"..and yet other times, he was a complete and utter crybaby."
"I'm sorry," Francis said as he turned to look at him, revealing the tears staining his cheeks. "I've been trying to hold it in..but they won't seem to stop.."
"But either way, I still loved him. Despite all of his little...quirks." The boys shared a look. "Oh, but you don't want to hear that right? What you want to hear..is about how we met right?" They quickly nodded. "Of course. Now let me think. It was such a long time ago. He placed his hand on his chin and thought it over. "It was over twenty years ago, wasn't it? I remember now." He let his eyes fall to his lap and smiled just a bit. "I remember. I was just a flower delivery man. It was just a simple part-time job at the time. I would visit houses, funerals, retirement homes, but most of all I visited the hospital." He paused. "And then one day, I visited a certain hospital with a certain bundle of flowers for a certain patient. And that boys is where I met him. That was where I met Francis."