Work Text:
TJ’s favorite shifts in the flower shop are the afternoon ones. The owner is usually out and about, which means that he can do whatever he wants when there are no clients in the shop, the golden light of the setting sun enters through the big windows, and the shop smells like jasmine flowers and soil from the newly potted plants.
It’s practically heaven on earth, while the morning shifts are a lot busier, his boss usually makes him run errands and deliver orders, and it also means that he has to deal with Buffy working the same shift.
So there has to be a reason as to why he has changed all his shifts to the morning, right?
-
“TJ, stop looking through the window and help me with this, for God’s sake”
TJ snaps out of his trance and grabs one of the bags full of potting soil that Buffy is carrying with difficulty from the backroom.
“Are you losing strength, Driscoll?” he smirks, leaving the bag on the table and starting to organize the different flowers they have to plant.
Buffys scoffs and doesn’t even try to dignify that question with a response. She starts filling up the pots with potting soil skillfully, not even looking at him.
Buffy and TJ, they have a weird relationship. They had a bad start, Buffy tolerating no bullshit and TJ being a little shit sometimes, but they have managed to make peace and somehow bond over shared interests. They are not the best of friends, and their relationship consists of making fun of each other most of the time, but they make it work.
“You know, it would be nice if you stopped acting like a wife waiting for his husband to return from war and worked sometime”
“I’m not acting like anything” TJ says, not as eloquently as he would have liked. Buffy stops what she was doing to look at him with an eyebrow raised. TJ just rolls his eyes and starts filling flowerpots, a lot less gracefully than Buffy.
“Sure” she says, shrugging. Then, TJ can see a devilish smile appear on her face “That is why you keep looking at the door with longing”
TJ shakes his head, pointedly not looking at Buffy “I don’t know what you are talking about”
“I’m talking about you blushing like a peony every time that guy comes by”
“Oh, blushing like a peony?” TJ says, removing one lily from the flowerpot with a little too much force “Nice choice of words, very fitting”
“You are deflecting” Buffy points at him “And try not to kill the plants, you brute”
TJ huffs. Of course he is deflecting. The last thing he needs is Buffy making fun of him for his obvious crush on the cute boy that comes by some mornings to buy flowers.
He is the reason he has changed all of his shifts, he had to make sure that he had an opportunity to see him again.
Not that it matters. Every time the guy looks at him he leaves TJ like a stuttering, blushing mess, and he doesn’t dare to talk to him more than the necessary in case he makes an idiot of himself.
Don’t judge him, it’s not his fault that the guy is cute, and polite and really well-dressed. He has these really big brown eyes, and a shy smile that could light up a room, and he always wears cardigans and asks him how he is doing before asking for the flowers he wants.
Of course TJ is crushing hard on him. Come on, who wouldn’t?
“You still here, TJ?” Buffy waves a hand in front of his face
“Huh?” TJ lets go of the plant that he has been holding for a while and cleans his hand on his apron.
Buffy looks at him, exasperated, but her face changes suddenly to an expression that TJ is incapable to read.
“You know what?” she says, taking off her apron “I think I’m taking my break now”
“What?” he says, and gesticulates to all the plants and flowers that they still have to plant out “And you are leaving me with all of this?”
Buffy shrugs, a little smile dangling on her lips “You’ll live, Kippen”
And TJ, eyes wide with incredulity, sees her hang her apron, open the door and just leave like that. He can’t believe that she would leave him with all the work to go flirt with the bakery guy. Because that’s where she is going. Buffy knows it, TJ knows it, even Marty, the guy from the bakery, knows it.
He clicks his tongue loudly, thinking about how he will get revenge for this, when the bell over the door rings again. TJ turns around.
It’s the cute boy.
“Hi, good morning” he says, stepping into the shop “How are you?”
In TJ’s defense, he thought Buffy had forgotten something and was the one entering the shop, so he had a pretty snarky remark on the tip of his tongue. He didn’t expect cute boy.
TJ fumbles with the pot he was holding, nearly letting it fall from his hands. Finally, he places it in the table, trying his best to act natural.
“Hi” TJ says, cleaning his hands on his apron nervously. His voice sounds really high-pitched and he cringes internally “How, eh, can I help you?”
“Hm, I’m not sure. I don’t even know if I want a bouquet or a potted flower, to be honest” Cute guy says, smiling warmly at him “Any recommendation?”
“Well, I could fix you a bouquet with the camellias we’ve received this morning” TJ says, and gestures to at all the potted plants they have currently on the shop “And we have all of these and also primroses on the back”
“I can’t live without you”
His voice is barely a whisper, but TJ turns around at the speed of light. Did he just say what he has heard? He feels his face warm up, and he is sure that he looks as red as the roses they have outside the shop.
“The meaning” Cute guy says, eyes widening. His face has started to redden too and he is avoiding his eyes. “The meaning of primroses is `I can’t live without you´. You know, the language of flowers and, well- eh, yeah”
TJ heart rate starts slowing down again “Oh, yes, of course”
God, he is so stupid. He seriously needs to stop acting like a middle-schooler with a crush. He is supposed to be an adult.
“I’ll take one of the primroses” Cute guy says quickly, still avoiding looking at him.
TJ just nods, heading to the backroom where they have all the primroses potted to look for one to give to Cute guy. He really needs to stop calling him Cute guy, but it’s not like he knows his name. He could ask, sure, but TJ doesn’t trust himself enough for that, he would mess it up somehow.
“Do you like this one?” TJ shows him one of the flowers they have in the back. They are actually quite beautiful and well maintained, Buffy has done a good job with them.
Cute guy nods, and the next transactions are all done in silence. While he pays, TJ is trying his best to come up with something to say, something that won’t sound awkward, but his brain is not collaborating.
When TJ gives him his change, their hands brush and TJ could swear that cute guy blushed a little bit, but he is quick to grab his plant and head to the door.
“Thank you” Cute guy says, while opening the door “Have a nice day”
“You too” it’s the only thing that TJ manages to say before the door closes.
He throws himself on the chair behind the cash register and hides his face on his hands. God, why is he incapable to have a normal conversation with a cute guy. He could have asked his name, he could have flirted a little, but no, the only thing he did was blush like a kid with a crush.
The bell over the door chimes again, and TJ looks in between his fingers. Buffy stands in front of him, at the other side of the cash register.
“I guess it didn’t go well?”
TJ just groans, letting his head fall on the counter with a loud thud.
-
TJ is regretting a lot changing all of his shifts to the morning. First of all, because he blowed any chance he had with Cute guy, and second of all, because he has been running errands and delivering orders to the customers all morning and he is exhausted.
His feet are aching and he can barely see where he is going because he is carrying a giant flowerpot full of yellow tulips.
He stops in front of a tattoo parlor, thankfully not far from the flower shop, and sets the pot down on the sidewalk. The windows of the place are tinted, making it hard for him to see inside, and there is a big neon sign above the door that reads “GHC”, whatever that means. According to google maps here is where he is supposed to deliver the flowers.
He checks google again, confused. It doesn’t look like the typical place where they usually deliver flowers, so he is starting to suspect that he might have the wrong address, but there is only one way to know.
He picks up the giant flowerpot again and rings the doorbell with his elbow. When the door opens he basically stumbles inside the tattoo parlor.
“Hi” A confused voice says, and in between the tulips TJ can see a girl with short hair looking at him “Can I help you?”
“I think I’m in the wrong place” TJ tries his best to hold the flowerpot with only one hand to be able to see the girl he is talking to but fails miserably “There’s a Cyrus Goodman here?”
“Yes, he works here” She says, stepping forward. The girl takes the flowerpot from his hands and sets it down on the front counter.
“He asked for the flowers to be delivered here” TJ runs a hand through his hair, trying to make it look at least decent. He pulls the pad of papers from his back pocket and leafs through it trying to find the correct one.
Then, a guy comes out from one of the rooms in the back where TJ supposes they tattoo people. He doesn’t seem to have any tattoo, at least that TJ can see, but he is wearing a lot of piercings all around his face.
“Hey, are these Cyrus’ flowers?” he asks, and the girl nods in his direction. The guy with the piercings turns around and knocks the door of one of the rooms “Cy, your flowers are here”
TJ rips the correct piece of paper and gives it to the girl “If you could sign here, please”
“Yes, of course” The girl takes the paper and slips behind the front counter, scribbling her name down before passing it back to him.
TJ is ready to go when another guy coming out from one of the rooms in the back grabs his attention. TJ’s heart skips a beat.
It’s the cute guy from the shop. He is there, with his shy smile and his doe eyes, and only wearing a t-shirt instead of his usual cardigans. Which is a surprise, because it means TJ can see both his arms are full of tattoos.
TJ is pretty sure he looks like an idiot, standing there without saying anything, but his brain is short-circuiting and he can’t stop looking at him, trying to reconcile the image he had of Cute-guy from the image of Also-cute-but-heavily-tattooed guy he has in front of him.
“Oh” Cute guy says, stopping dead on his tracks. He looks at TJ, and a little smile grows on his lips “Hi”
The piercing guy looks at both of them “You know each other?”
“He works on the flower shop” Cute guy says. TJ should stop calling him cute guy in his mind, apparently he is called Cyrus.
“Oh, he works in the flower shop?” The girl says, with a particular inflection on her voice, like she is trying to imply something that TJ doesn’t catch. Cyrus looks at her and they seem to maintain a silent conversation just with their eyes.
“You really go a lot to that flower shop” The guy with the piercings says distractedly while looking through some papers.
“They have nice flowers, Jonah” Cyrus says quickly, gesticulating with his gloved hands. Then he looks at TJ, apologetically “I keep telling them, just because it’s a tattoo parlor it doesn’t need to be all black and gloomy, we are not goths, you know?”
TJ nods, still completely speechless.
“So that’s why I keep buying flowers and yours are really good and-” Cyrus continues, and TJ is not sure if he is talking to him or that Jonah guy “Sorry, I’m rambling”
“No, no. It’s okay” TJ says. He points lightly at the flowerpot in the front counter “So, are these the tulips you ordered?”
TJ feels a little bit awkward standing there, with his jeans and his hoodie that look too plain in comparison to their clothes and with dirt under his nails that look totally out of place in the extremely clean parlor.
“Yes, yellow tulips” Cyrus removes his gloves and steps towards the front counter to examine the flowers “Thank you so much for bringing this here”
TJ can’t take his eyes out of Cyrus’ arms. His tattoos are beautiful. It’s an intricate design of a flowers stretching across his arms, bursting with color. They are so detailed that he is sure that he could spend hours looking at them,
No wonder he knows about the language of flowers.
“What do they mean?” He finds himself asking, without really thinking “The yellow tulips”
Cyrus looks back at him and smiles, warm and wide, making TJ’s mouth go dry and the butterflies in his stomach start fluttering again.
“Shouldn’t he know? He is the florist” Jonah whispers, but the girl shushes him quickly.
“There is sunshine in your smile” Cyrus says simply, ignoring his coworkers, and TJ can feel his heart go wild on his chest.
“They suit you, then” he says, and there is a second when the world stops, and TJ wants to take back his words but he can’t. Then, Cyrus smiles, and TJ lets go the breath he didn’t notice he was holding and the Earth starts spinning again.
“Oh” Cyrus blushes profusely but holds his gaze, eyes sparkling with something TJ can’t describe. Recognition, maybe; something more, he hopes. TJ could get lost in his eyes.
“Ok, I have a question” The girl says, snapping TJ out of his trance. “How would you say in the language of flowers `Please, ask each other on a date so we don’t have to watch you flirt with each other anymore´?”
“Andi!” Cyrus exclaims, his cheeks blushing even redder. He hides his face in his hands, and TJ can’t help but laugh, a warm feeling deep in his stomach.
Cyrus looks at him in between his fingers, cheeks still red. TJ doesn’t know what to say, so he just smiles at him, sure that he is also blushing but not caring at all. Cyrus smiles back at him.
And TJ can only think about how true it is that he has sunshine on his smile.
(On their first date, Cyrus brings him daffodils. New beginnings, he tells him. TJ gives him thornless roses, but doesn’t dare tell him the meaning. He is pretty sure Cyrus knows either way)