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Screwllum had barely lifted his hand to grab the doorknob when Veritas’s front door swung open, revealing the owner of the house. His indigo hair looked a bit unkempt.
“Veri-”
“You are not allowed to look at the backyard until I say so, understand? If you look beforehand, I will refrain from kissing you for the next week.”
“Yes, dear.” Screwllum answered before his processors could fully comprehend what Veritas had asked of him. Veritas’s threat wasn’t an empty one, as Screwllum had learned from experience, and after being away from his fiancée for a month already, he didn’t want to be deprived of even a single kiss from Veritas.
(Screwllum also knew, from experience, that Veritas would never actually deny him a kiss if he truly wanted one. Veritas was many things, but an uncaring lover was not one of them.)
Screwllum’s eyes dimmed slightly in the imitation of a blink as Veritas’s request fully processed. “Question: I’m guessing that I am not allowed to ask why I cannot look in the backyard?”
“Obviously. If things go well though, you shouldn’t have to wait too long.” Veritas stepped to the side and opened the door wider. Screwllum took the invitation and went inside the house. Once the door shut, Screwllum didn’t waste any more time and wrapped his arms around his fiancée. Two muscular arms circled Screwllum’s upper torso as well.
“I missed you,” Screwllum uttered, the code for joy overwhelming his processors.
“I missed you too.” Screwllum could hear the smile in Veritas’s own voice, and he tightened his hug in response. It was good to be home.
It took two weeks, three days, fourteen hours, forty-four minutes, and seventeen seconds for Screwllum to finally learn why Veritas was refusing to let him see the backyard. Two weeks, three days, fourteen hours, forty-four minutes, and seventeen seconds of the curtains to all the windows facing the backyard being shut tight, Veritas not opening the backdoor any more than necessary to slip in and out of the backyard, and Screwllum’s fiancée very purposefully shielding his reading material and phone from Screwllum’s gaze. Screwllum was undoubtedly curious, but he ignored the part of his code urging him to seek out the answers to his questions himself, and waited for Veritas to tell him instead.
The moment finally arrived one morning during breakfast. Veritas was eating a meal of eggs and toast while Screwllum was looking through some notes on his latest research project when Veritas’s phone buzzed three times in quick succession. His fork clattering onto his plate, the doctor grabbed his phone and stared at the screen intently, eyes flicking back and forth.
This had happened a couple of times since Screwllum had returned, but this was the first time his fiancée looked both satisfied and relieved in response to whatever he was seeing on his phone. Shoving the phone in his pocket, Veritas stood up and strode to the back door.
“You can see the backyard now,” Veritas called out. Screwllum was out of his seat and standing next to his fiancée before Veritas completed his sentence. There was a smug smile on Veritas’s face. “Eager, are we?”
“Answer: You have been keeping me in suspense for two weeks, three days, fourteen hours, forty-three minutes, and fifty-eight seconds. I would very much like to know what you have been hiding from me.”
“Well, now you’ll have your answer.” Veritas grabbed the doorknob, but then hesitated. The hesitation wasn’t long, lasting only for a second, but that brief moment caused the code for worry to stream into Screwllum’s processors. Veritas Ratio wasn’t a person who hesitated.
Before Screwllum could voice his concerns, the backdoor was opening and- oh.
Oh.
Screwllum wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t this.
Veritas backyard wasn’t small, but it definitely wasn’t large either, not like the backyard that Screwllum had back at his own mansion. It was a nice size, almost cozy, and was surrounded on three sides by a white, slightly peeling, fence that separated Veritas from his neighbors. The backyard was neat, but mostly empty, save for a worn oak table and chair set in a corner next to the house that Veritas would occasionally sit and grade papers at if the weather was nice enough.
At least, that was how Veritas’s backyard had looked the last time Screwllum had seen it. The backyard he was looking at now looked nothing like the backyard from over a month ago.
The size of the yard was still the same, but nearly everything else about it had changed. The fence had been freshly painted, the matte white paint still having a slight sheen to it when the sun hit it just right. The wooden table had been replaced by a slightly smaller circular one made out of marble, the leg of the table having an intricate, swirling design carved into it. There was not a single code of doubt in Screwllum’s processors that Veritas had made this table himself. Two white wicker chairs with light gray seat cushions sat next to the table. A large, solid oak box now sat in a corner opposite the table and chairs.
These weren’t what caught Screwllum’s eye though. No, that honor belonged to the greenery that now engulfed the backyard.
Dark mulch covered the ground, the only grass left being a small strip right in front of the house where the table, chairs, and box sat, and a short pathway that led to a small circle where one could stand and admire the life now growing in Veritas’s backyard. From that mulch, a multitude of different shrubbery and flowers emerged from the ground, painting the yard with brilliant colors. Screwllum could feel his body heating up slightly at the pace at which his processors were identifying all the plants.
Milkweed, lavender, phlox, salvia, coreopsis, aster, coneflower, echinacea, glossy abelia, monarda-
Screwllum’s processors picked up a pattern. He turned to look back at Veritas. His fiancée had his arms crossed, and was gripping his elbows tightly. The doctor was staring at Screwllum, his gaze intense.
“Observation: These are all plants that are known to attract butterflies.”
Veritas nodded. “Yes. That was my intention.” He reached forward and grabbed Screwllum’s hand, gently pulling him to the center of the garden (because that’s what it was now. A garden). Screwllum noted that Veritas was deliberately making his steps quieter, so the aristocrat followed suit.
Once they were both standing in the center, Veritas gestured towards a group of milkweeds. “I’ve had the area set up for weeks now,” he whispered, “but I wanted to make sure the plants would actually work. I have seen theses butterflies around for the past few days, so I took it to meant I succeeded in my task.”
Screwllum stared at the four monarch butterflies perched on the flowers. Their orange and black wings shone in the early morning sun, lazily flapping back and forth. Letting go of Veritas’s hand, Screwllum took a small step forward. One butterfly seemed to move a bit in response, but it quickly settled back down.
It felt as though every wire in Screwllum’s body was thrumming with energy.
He must have been silent for a little too long because Veritas Ratio started rambling.
“I was hoping for there to be a larger variety of butterflies, and more butterflies in general. I have seen a few other species in the garden, but monarchs are the only ones who seem to consistently be around. I don’t know if that’s because of the area in which I live, or if it’s because of the combination of plants I used. This planet has abysmally little research on butterflies, so I had to use information from other planets with a similar ecosystem, which may have massively erred the data I compiled.” Veritas paused only long enough to take a breath. He continued speaking before Screwllum could get a word in. “If you don’t like the plants, you can put in new ones. The gardening equipment is over there,” he gestured to the oak box, “and I can also get anything else you may need. I left some space open for any plants that you might want to add,” there was indeed an area in the garden where mulch sat waiting to be used, “but you can also take everything out and put in other plants if you would like. I could also do it for you.” A breath. “I will admit that most of these plants were pre-grown. I tried to grow them from scratch, but there were some…complications. Gardening is not my field of expertise. I learned all I could from various papers and articles,” so that’s what Veritas had been reading, “however, I learned that experience provides the best results in this case. I also wanted to surprise you with this by the time you got back from your research trip, so I didn’t have time to perfect my technique. I honestly don’t know how good this is in terms of gardening standards. I know this doesn’t even come close to your own garden back on Planet Screwllum, and I know that these may not be the plants that you particularly like, but I didn’t want to ask for your input or opinions and ruin the surprise. We both know that you could have easily guessed my intentions if I started asking questions like that.” Yet another brief pause. “If you don’t like it-”
Screwllum lunged himself at Veritas and held his fiancée in a tight embrace. On instinct, Veritas’s arms encircled Screwllum as well. In this moment, the only code that could be found in Screwllum’s processors was the one for joy.
“It’s perfect,” Screwllum said, burying his face in the crook of Veritas’s neck.
“Now I know that’s not true. Some of the flowers are already starting to wilt-”
“It’s perfect,” Screwllum repeated, trying his best to press Veritas even closer to him. “You’re perfect.”
Screwllum felt Veritas’s body sag slightly, and a shaky breath left his lips. “You and I are both well aware that perfection doesn’t exist.”
“Disagree: You exist; ergo, perfection exists as well.”
Screwllum could hear the eye roll in his fiancée’s voice. “I can’t tell if you’re being sappy, or stubborn.”
“Both, but I don’t lie Veritas.”
“Yes, you do.”
“Not when it comes to my love for you. To me, your imperfections are perfect.”
Veritas sighed. Shifting slightly in Screwllum’s hold, Veritas turned his head and gave Screwllum a soft kiss on the cheek. “I love you too.”
Screwllum’s eyes grew brighter. He would have been beaming if he had a mouth. “May I have a tour of the garden? I would love to hear your thought process behind the decisions you made for the design and plant selections.”
Veritas pulled back, and Screwllum saw interest sparking in his fiancée’s eyes. “If you agree to give me some pointers and suggestions, I would be more than happy to acquiesce to your request. I would like to better understand gardening and the area of study that comes with it.”
Screwllum held Veritas’s hand in his own. “I can think of no other way that I would rather spend my morning.”
And as the sun inched its way across the sky, Screwllum’s hand never leaving Veritas’s, Screwllum couldn’t help but agree with his earlier thoughts. Yes, it is truly good to be home.