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The first time Arthur had given him flowers, Verlaine was confused. As well as the second time, and the third time, and the fourth time. Today was the fifth time Arthur is holding onto a bouquet of flowers when he steps inside their home. This time, Verlaine notices, he is holding a bouquet of sunflowers. Roses, daisies, violets, carnations, sunflowers. Verlaine has no care for any of them and he's starting to wonder if he'd given his partner the wrong idea at some point in time. Or perhaps Arthur is like a cat? At least the flowers smell better than a dead rodent would.
Despite his dislike, Verlaine starts filling a vase with water anyway. If Arthur wants to keep flowers in the house, that's fine, Verlaine just wants to know why his partner keeps trying to give them to him.
"Did you come across those on the way home as well?" Verlaine asks as he places the vase on the kitchen counter. That has been Arthur's excuse several times by now. Doesn't he know Verlaine is able to tell when he's lying?
"Do you dislike them?" Arthur is able to tell when Verlaine is lying as well, so he doesn't bother giving an answer. It seems the man had been expecting that anyway. "When we walked by some the other day you had been staring."
"If I stare at a dog does that mean I suddenly wish to adopt one?" If this was the logic they were going by, they would have lots of useless things in the house. "If you just want to get flowers then you can, you don't have to try to find a reason."
Unless..is Arthur trying to hint that he wants Verlaine to get him flowers? Why? He wouldn't even know where to begin with buying flowers. They all had different meanings, didn't they? Even between colours of the same flower the meanings could be different. It's not as if Verlaine doesn't give Arthur gifts, he just sees no point in gifting someone flowers. Or being gifted flowers for that matter. You have maybe a week after picking them before they start to dry out, just to throw them away. Killing random flowers for what.. to have something pretty in your house? He doesn't see the point.
"I'm sure Chuuya would appreciate it if we randomly came home with a dog." Arthur carefully places the sunflowers in the vase, glancing at Verlaine. "Let's not mention that as a possibility. The last thing we need at the moment is a pet."
"We would be fine with a pet." It couldn't be that hard to take care of a dog, could it? Especially after all the things they had done.
"Don't tell me Chuuya has you convinced now.."
"Of course not. As you said, the last thing we need is a pet." He doubts it would be that hard to take care of one, but they still didn't need to have one. "Especially if you're going to continue bringing home random flowers. Aren't they poisonous to dogs?"
Verlaine knows he's heard that at some point, though he can't remember what type of flowers it is exactly that dogs can't eat. Probably most of them, no? Animals die for simple reasons all the time. He wouldn't be surprised if one of them was to simply eat a flower. He's sure Chuuya knows the answer, maybe he can ask whenever the boy gets home. Does he care about the answer enough to know? Not particularly.
"Some of them. Some are poisonous to humans as well." Arthur stares at the vase, or, stares at the flowers more like. "Is it the colour your dislike? I thought yellow might liven up the room a bit. Sometimes it feels too gloomy in here."
So is that the reason he was getting flowers? To liven up the place? Opening a window would be much easier and quicker. Or getting a new painting perhaps. He had seen a rather beautiful one recently, and they had enough room on the wall to put something there. Besides, something like that would last much longer than some flowers. If Arthur wanted to see flowers, they could get a painting of one. That way he could see the flowers, and it wouldn't have to just be tossed away after a week or two. Sometimes it was even less than that, some of the flowers seem to start wilting after only a day or two. Verlaine wasn't sure if that's just how some types of flowers were, or if Arthur was getting scammed. He would think his partner was smart enough to not get scammed for flowers.
"Arthur. I do not care about the flowers, if you want to buy them then go ahead and buy them." There wasn't a need to make excuses for it. "Is there a reason you keep trying to gift them to me? I'm starting to think you're turning into a cat."
"A..cat?" Why was Arthur acting like that was such a random comparison? It was a perfectly valid comparison as to how he had been acting with the flowers. "Cats usually leave dead animals, I do not think bringing you home flowers can be considered an equivalent."
Does Verlaine have to spell it out? Of course it can be considered an equivalent. It was quite similar. "You're killing flowers for no reason other to bring them home to look pretty for about a week. Then they just end up in the trash. It's not much different from a cat killing a rat to bring as a gift, only for the rat to get thrown away. I do admit the flowers smell much better than a dead rat though, so please don't start bringing rats home."
Arthur pauses, as if he had some sort of realization. Verlaine didn't quite understand what there was to realize, since his thought process was quite obvious to him. He knows some of his ideas are smart, but this one, he had thought it was rather obvious.
"Usually when someone gives their partner flowers, it's meant as a gift." Arthur explains. Verlaine wants to point out that cats bringing dead rats are also meant as a gift too, but he lets the man finish. "If you don't like them, that's fine. I just know that a lot of people enjoy receiving flowers, and we've never really done something like that. I thought it would be nice to give you some. That's all. If it helps, I'm not the one killing the flowers? There's a florist that I buy them from on the route home."
So he, what, bought them from the equivalent of a hit man but for plants?
"You can still bring them home if you want, I don't hate them or anything." He just didn't care for them. "I just don't see the point in giving them as a gift. Have you been trying to hint that you want me to buy you flowers? I can do that."
"No, I haven't been trying to hint at something." He seemed slightly miffed, but still had that fond look on his face as he looked at Verlaine. "I just thought it'd be nice to buy you flowers, that's all. I promise there is nothing to read into. Chuuya seems to enjoy having them in the house, so I think I will keep buying them. Just for the house, not as some sort of gift. Alright?"
"I'd much rather have the flowers in here than getting him a dog. So yes, that's perfectly alright."
Small mercies, Verlaine reminded himself. Very small mercies.