Chapter Text
“I don't understand why you won't just give him a chance! Cyrus, you haven’t been on a date in months!” Andi exclaimed following Cyrus around the small shop as he made sure there was enough water in all the pots.
“Andi, it's been two weeks, and I'm fine being single. I'm happy, there's no one to weigh me down.” He placed the watering can on the counter with a clunk and turned to face Andi, putting his hands on her shoulders,
“I am fine being single,” he said shaking her after every word for emphasis.
“But he's really nice I promise you'll like him!” Cyrus groaned and grabbed the watering can, “Pleaseeee” Andi begged.
“Go arrange the hydrangeas, you have a job to do.” Cyrus dodged her pleading.
“What's Bowie going to do? Fire me?” right on cue, Bowie exits the back office and slings an arm around Andi's shoulders.
“Who am I firing?” he raised an eyebrow.
“No-one.”
“Andi,” Cyrus says at the same time.
Bowie eyed them both skeptically before speaking, “I'm going out to lunch with your mom, so I'll be gone for a few hours.” he made his way towards the door but turned back before opening it. “Oh, and Andi there's a stack of paperwork waiting for you out the back.” he said quickly before all but running out the door.
“Goddammit. This job will be the death of me.” Andi huffed making her way to the back room.
Cyrus grabbed a broom and began sweeping the floor of the tiny store. Maybe he should take Andi up on her blind date offer, I mean he trusts Andi… kind of. It's been months since he's actually been on a date. The last few he went on felt like he was scraping the bottom if the barrel. One of them was a magician for god's sake and not a very good one at that. Surely going on one more date won't kill him, nothing could be worse than the magician. Nothing. Cyrus was too wrapped up in his own thoughts to realize that he'd knocked over a bag of soil
“Shit.” he mumbled crouching down to push all the soil back into the bag.
The bell above the door chimed and Cyrus sprung up from where he was crouched behind the counter, fully prepared to plaster on his customer service smile. But he didn't expect to see the gorgeous guy in front of him.
He faltered for a moment, then smiled “Hi, welcome to Judy's Blooms. How can I help you?”
The guy walked over to the counter and slapped down a hundred dollar bill.
“Hi, how can I say fuck you and everything that you stand for in flowers.” The guy said with a straight face. Cyrus blinked a few times, he paused for a moment before walking over to a display.
“Well, in the center you’ll want Wild Tansy meaning I declare war against you,” he pulled a few bunches from the display. “and for all you stand for, you’ll want to surround the Tansy with Dodder, a parasitic plant which represents meanness.” he placed the tansy and dodder on the wrapping table then continued,
“St John’s Wort meaning animosity, mixed Pumpkin Flower meaning crudeness. Basil meaning hatred, Fragrant Coltsfoot which in this context means you’ll get what you deserve. The whole thing should be wrapped in Privet, which means prohibition - in other words, stay away.” Cyrus placed the bunch of flowers on the wrapping table with the tansy. The guy's head turned to the side like a confused puppy, his mouth agape.
“How do you know all that? Are you some kind of flower wizard? wait that's a stupid thing to say you work in a flower shop, of course, you know what things mean. It would be pretty hard if you didn't. Especially when people like me come in and ask for weird things, and I'm going to stop talking now.” the guy babbled rubbing the nape of his neck. Cyrus’ cheeks flushed.
“I…uh, yeah I've gotta have something there to fill the empty space.” he smiled. The cute guy chuckled, letting his hand fall from behind in head.
Cute guy paused for a moment before speaking “Do you do delivery?” he asked hopefully.
“Yeah, we do,” Cyrus ducked down and grabbed a note card,
“Who do I address it to? and do you want to add a message?” Cyrus asked looking up into cute guys gorgeous green eyes.
“Kira Davis and the message should say ‘Kira, I hope you choke - TJ.”
Cyrus let out a loud laugh before covering his mouth “I'm sorry, I can't help myself.” TJ smiled,
“It's fine, I would've laughed too.” Cyrus wrote out the message in neat cursive writing. “So, what did Kira do to deserve such a…," he paused for a moment trying to find the right word, "friendly bouquet? If you don't mind me asking. And would you like them in a box or a vase.” Cyrus questioned.
“A box, please.” Cyrus began arranging the flowers.
“I don't mind, she's my ex-girlfriend. She dumped me and kicked me out of her apartment when I told her that I was gay. She outed me to our coworkers, many of which are homophobic like her. I'm lucky I was planning on transferring to a different branch anyway.” TJ explained as he watched Cyrus tie a bow around the little blue box.
He looked up at TJ, “I'm so sorry, no one should have to go through being outed.” Cyrus hesitated for a moment before walking over to a display of flowers, he gently pulled one out and walks back over to TJ handing him the flower.
“This is a Carnation. Red carnations represent admiration and pride.” and love, but TJ didn't need to know that. TJ smiled softly down at the flower before carefully tucking it behind his ear. “Thank you,” he paused to look at Cyrus’ name tag “Cyrus. I love it.” They stared at each other for a moment before TJ snapped out of it.
“I should… I should get going.” he said gesturing towards the door with his thumb. He took a few steps backwards before bumping into a display. He smiled at Cyrus sheepishly before turning around, and successfully getting to the door without knocking over any displays. He turned to look at Cyrus one last time before walking out of the store. Cyrus smiled softly to himself, and picked up TJ's delivery to place on the table with the others.
Andi popped out from nowhere squealing excitedly. Cyrus screamed, barely keeping his grip on the box
“I could've dropped my delivery!” he reprimanded. Andi jumped up onto the counter, swinging her legs.
“Who cares about that, did you see how cute he was! and he's gay! and he was totally into you.” She squealed again.
Cyrus turned to her, “I will actually walk out of this store.” Andi gasped “You like him, don't you! My little teenage Cyrus who used have a crush on any cute guy who breathed in his direction is back!” She exclaimed pulling him forward and hugging him into her chest.
“Can't. Breathe. Airways. Closing.” Cyrus breathed out, his voice strangled. Andi giggled releasing him from her grasp.
“Hey, being dramatic is my thing.” she shoved Cyrus gently, “So… did you get cute guys number? Are you getting married? You should wear a purple tie, it makes your eyes pop. Oooohh Bowie and I can do the floral arrangements! and Jonah can sing for your first dance! And Buffy can teach you to actually dance because let's face it you're not gre-” Andi rambled off before being cut off by Cyrus.
“Andi, we just met. I'll probably never seen him again.” Cyrus rolled his eyes and started on the bouquets for the wedding order they had that afternoon. “And if i was going to wear any colour tie to make my eyes pop it would be blue.” he said, turning around dramatically and striking a pose.
TJ walked up the stairs to his apartment, the cute florist boy still on his mind. He wondered if he'd ever see him again or if it was a once in a lifetime opportunity and he missed his shot to ask out a cute guy. Maybe he'd have to visit Amber or his Mom for an excuse to go buy flowers. When he reached the door to his apartment, he could hear his roommates yelling from inside. He unlocked the door and kicked off his shoes.
“Yooooo.” Marty called from where he was sitting the couch playing smash bros with Walker.
“Hey, man.” TJ said dropping onto the armchair with a thump, swinging his legs over the side. “You'll never guess what happened today.”
“What?” Walker asked halfheartedly, his eyes glued to the tv.
“You know how I was going to get Kira a cake that said ‘I hope you choke’? Well, on my way there I saw this really pretty flower shop, and I remembered how i saw a Buzzfeed article a while ago that mentioned something about flowers having meanings. So I thought hey, maybe i could send her some mean flowers too. I went inside and oh my god there was the most beautiful florist I'd ever seen. It was like an actual angel was working there,
“Anyway, I asked him if I could say fuck you and everything that you stand for in flowers, you know, as you do. So, he went around to all these flowers explaining all their meanings. He was so passionate about it like it was his entire world. We talked a little and I ended up telling him about Kira. Then he went and got me this flower and told me that it was a red carnation and it symbolizes admiration and pride. Then I stared at him for a little while, I think we had a moment but if I'm honest I might've blacked out.” TJ paused for a moment.
“After that I left, I should've asked him out, or asked for his-”
“Are you fucking kidding me walker! If you spin attack me one more time I will eat your hands.” Marty yelled and kicked Walker, his eyes still on the tv. TJ sighed, and stood up.
“Great conversation guys, you're both amazing listeners.” He walked out of the lounge area. “And because of this wonderful interaction, I'm going to steal sour patch kids from both of your so called secret stashes.” he exclaimed loudly making his way down the hallway.
“Don't you fucking dare Kippen!” he heard Walker yell along with the sound of him and Marty scrambling off the couch. TJ laughed quietly to himself before having the air knocked out of him from the impact of Walker and Marty tackling him to the ground.