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Carlos doesn’t mean to play favourites, but Jonah is by far his favourite child in their unconventional family of four. Though in Lou II’s defence, he really never stood a chance against the boy. Carlos has tried, over the last couple of years of sharing a home with the pet lizard, to bond with it. The day-to-day responsibilities of Lou’s care falls on TK – feeding, cleaning the tank, and god forbid, throwing out his moulted skin. But there were the occasional times where TK had 24-hour shifts, and it didn’t line up with Lou’s feeding schedule, so he had to step up to feed their lizard son those horrendous live crickets.
It’s not that Carlos is afraid of bugs, or lizards, really. It’s more of a…cleanliness thing. He doesn’t mind crawly things, he’s just not convinced they belong in the home. And although TK denies it, he swears that every time he drops the crickets into Lou’s enclosure, the bearded dragon smirks at him, as if he’s taunting him.
That being said, he loves how much TK loves Lou, and so for that, he can’t complain. Still, he had to set some boundaries with TK, like how they cannot keep his shedded skin in a glass jar “for the memories”, or how they could not, under any circumstances, continue to store Lou’s food in the kitchen. At Owen’s suggestion, he bought a tiny tabletop fridge that Owen himself uses to store his skincare in, and it sits next to Lou’s tank, a safe distance away from their human food.
When they were finally able to bring Jonah home from the boarding school in Switzerland, TK was so excited to have someone else to share his love for Lou with. By everyone’s account, Jonah was as much of an animal lover as his older brother. But, when TK finally took Lou out of his enclosure and let Jonah pet him, something unexpected happened. Lou, in an uncharacteristic act of aggression, opened his mouth, lunged forward, and chomped down on Jonah’s tiny index finger.
What followed was an absolute frenzy of screams and tears, which spooked Lou into jumping out of TK’s hands, and crawling into another hiding spot. Carlos’s initial instinct was to jump up and scream along with Jonah, but something came over him and he sprung to action and scooped up Jonah before jumping up on the sofa where they’d be safe, leaving TK to crawl around on his own to look for Lou II.
From that day onwards, Jonah had decided that Lou was his personal enemy. The little boy was so sweet, kind, and good-natured to everyone and everything but Lou. Every time he made eye contact with Lou, his adorable little face would scrunch up in an attempt at a scowl. And although it made TK a little sad that his two boys couldn’t get along, secretly, it thrilled Carlos to know that he had a mini partner in crime.
“You love this, don’t you?” TK asks one night, when they’re cuddling in bed after a long day.
“Love what?”
“The fact that Jonah hates Lou even more than you do,” TK pouts.
Carlos laughs. “I mean, I’m not mad about it,” he says.
“I can’t believe we only just got Jonah and you two are already ganging up on me.” TK flops onto his back aggressively, and Carlos pulls him back into his arms in an attempt to appease him.
“Babe, you two literally gang up on me every morning,” Carlos points out, but there’s no malice to his tone. He loves that TK uses Jonah as a weapon against him in the mornings to get him out of bed.
“I just feel bad for Lou! He is our first child, you know,” TK says.
“Of course I love Lou,” Carlos starts to say. TK shifts in his arms so that he can look up and give him a skeptical look. “I do!” he insists. “I just don’t like touching him.”
“Or feeding him, or looking at him in the eyes, or–”
Carlos cuts TK off with a kiss, their shared laughter filling the space between them. It’s these moments that Carlos always cherishes the most — ones that would seem so mundane to anyone else, but to him are overflowing with love.
“Babe, can I steal a few of these peppers to give to Lou?”
Carlos turns around from the beef bourguinon that he’s just started simmering to look back at TK, who’s already holding a few sticks of the julienned red peppers that Carlos had cut up for their crudité platter. He hums an approval, already having cut the peppers into the exact size that he knew Lou liked best, slightly smaller than he would’ve typically cut for human consumption.
A few minutes later, he feels a pair of arms snake around his waist in a tight squeeze.
“Hi,” Carlos says, tipping his head back to rest on TK’s shoulder.
“Hey baby,” TK replies, turning his head to plant a kiss on Carlos’s cheek.
“Did Lou like his peppers?”
“He did. He says you cut them to the perfect size.” Carlos smiles at this.
Deciding that the stew was good enough to leave alone without his constant watchful eye, he turns around to put his arms around TK for a proper hug.
“Where’s Jonah?” he asks.
“In his room, napping. He ate too much cake at Denny’s birthday party earlier, and he crashed out,” TK chuckles.
Carlos gives TK a soft kiss, his love for TK, their unconventional family, and the life they share together all wrapped up in one single press of the lips.
“You think he’ll be up for some dinner soon?” he asks.
TK nods. “By the time that stew is done, I think he’ll be ready to wake up without being too grumpy.” They discovered pretty soon after Jonah came home that that was one of the traits he shared in common with Carlos.
“Help me with plating the veggies?” Carlos asks.
“Only if I get another kiss,” TK replies, a glint in his eyes and a playful smile on his face. Even after all their years of being together, and becoming guardians to a toddler, they still flirted with each other as if they were still in their honeymoon phase. It was like second nature to them.
Carlos complies to the request without having to be asked twice, and gives TK’s ass a firm squeeze and a playful slap.
“Hop to it, husband,” he chirps.
TK pouts a little at the loss of Carlos’s lips against his, but salutes cheekily. “Yes, sir!”
“Babe! Baby, come here!” TK hisses from across the loft, waving his arms excitedly, beckoning Carlos over.
Carlos puts down the plates he’s holding, and quickly patters over to the edge of the bookshelf partition of Jonah’s room where TK is standing.
“What’s going on?” Carlos whispers.
TK doesn’t say anything, only turns his head towards where Jonah is lying down in his bed. Carlos follows his gaze, and is surprised to find Jonah not asleep, like he’d expected, but instead, laying there quietly with his eyes open. He doesn’t think he’s ever seen the boy this still. Perched on his chest, like a king on his throne, is Lou II.
Jonah is murmuring soft babbles to the bearded dragon, and gently petting his head. Carlos looks over at TK, who has hearts beaming out of his eyes.
“Aren’t they just adorable?” he coos.
Carlos chuckles. As much as he hates to admit it, and as much as he can’t relate to wanting the lizard resting on him, or anywhere near him, it is pretty adorable.
“Hey buddy, it’s time for dinner,” TK says softly, interrupting Jonah and Lou’s bonding time.
“Can Lou join us?” Jonah whispers, not wanting to spook Lou. They may be bonding, but Jonah is a smart kid, and he definitely doesn’t want a repeat of their first meeting.
“No, buddy, he’s already eaten,” TK replies. Jonah immediately frowns, his eyes glistening in a plea. Carlos thinks, not for the first time, that he finally knows that TK meant by the “Carlos cow-eyes”, because these are very much the “Jonah cow-eyes”.
“Please?” Jonah asks politely.
“No, but you can have some time with Lou after dinner, okay?” TK reasons with him. Carlos doesn’t know how he resisted the all-powerful Jonah cow-eyes, because even he was considering allowing Lou at the table just so he didn’t have to say no to that adorable little face.
Jonah nods reluctantly, and TK moves slowly to pick Lou up off of Jonah’s chest and place him back in his tank. Carlos bends down to pick up Jonah, who is all too happy to be lifted up into his Carlos’s arms.
“You wanna help set the table, buddy?” Carlos knows the answer before Jonah even has a chance to answer — the kid loves setting the table, and Carlos isn’t really sure why, but he thinks it’s cute.
Having Jonah around has opened him up and given him the opportunity to see things from a different perspective. Carlos didn’t always think that he deserved this life, and even when he was brave enough to admit it was the life he wanted, he wasn’t sure if it was ever going to happen for him. So it’s little moments like these — the everyday moments that he gets to spend with his family — that make him truly appreciate everything that they do have, despite all the losses they’ve endured.
As Jonah gleefully runs around the dining table, clumsily reaching up to place all the utensils in the right order, Carlos feels his heart warm up at the sight. Behind him, TK is settling Lou back in his glass tank, giving him a few strokes on the head before placing the lid back on securely.
Little traitor, Carlos thinks to himself fondly. He can’t believe his partner in crime has left him to be, once again, the sole human in this household who is not totally enamoured with Lou II. Still, he wouldn't have it any other way — seeing the joy on TK’s face when he saw his two boys getting along was worth every jump scare Lou has ever given Carlos, or will in the future. He briefly considers the possibility that Jonah might invite Lou to join him on his morning missions to wake Carlos up, and shudders at the thought. He’ll have to remember to talk to TK about setting another hard boundary there.
“Caaaaaarlos, I finished!” Jonah shouts from the dining room.
Carlos puts the finishing touches on the steaming pot of tender, flavourful beef, and quickly moves to the dining room to join TK and Jonah. As they take their seats around the table — Carlos at the head of the table, TK to his left so that they can hold hands under the table, and Jonah to his right in plastic booster seat that is the antithesis of their usual aesthetic — ready to dig into yet another weeknight dinner, Carlos knows with the utmost certainty that this is the life he was always meant to have.