Chapter Text
Joseph inherited the Starflower Shop from his mother.
...Well, he would have liked to say that it was that simple, but the truth was that he had to earn it. Lisa Lisa had put him on a merciless trial course on how to run the shop, explaining to him every flower’s different magical aspects, their meanings, when to water them, how to water them, and how to use enchanted fertilizer (“holy shit”, as Joseph liked to call it). It was then when he learned that running a flower shop was going to be much more work than he thought it would.
For a while, Joseph worked part-time in the shop to be mentored by Lisa Lisa and her trusted assistant, Suzie. He always favored working with her instead of his mother, since she was more peppy and energetic; but at times, she’d be just as strict. How was he supposed to know that powdered dragon eggshells had different effects from griffon eggshells, anyway? It wasn’t his fault!
Yet somehow, despite all of his transgressions to the gardening community, Joseph had managed to become an impressive enough expert to gain Lisa Lisa’s approval. He made sure that he would never forget the day that she announced to him that he would officially inherit the shop—just the day before, he’d screwed up a customer’s order. It was a little thing, really, since he’d just forgotten to add one glowing gardenia to the woman’s bouquet. She hadn’t noticed this at all, however, and he could have just let her go without any other problems. But the moment Joseph realized his mistake, he went running to apologize with the missing flower in his hand, shielded safely in his opposite palm.
It seemed as though the attention and willingness to fix little details like that were what had gained his mother’s approval. He thought that he’d disappointed her, so the announcement had struck him like lightning straight from an electrician’s tome. Of course, he ended up overjoyed and jumping around with Suzie nonetheless, with the smile on Lisa Lisa’s face subtle but ever noticeable.
His mother and Suzie had left the shop since then in order to open up a branch in a different city. They were plenty successful in their current area, but with the approval of Joseph’s grandmother, they had decided to expand their influence. The conditions were simply that the shops would be owned by family, as the Starflower Shop was Granny Erina and her late husband Jonathan’s pride and joy.
So there Joseph was, running the store all by himself (Well, mostly by himself. He’d hired his best friend Smokey to help him out so he wouldn’t be overwhelmed). It was finally Saturday, and he was determined to end his very first week on a good note. All of his orders had been perfectly made, he’d never lost his temper with a customer that asked too many questions, and no fire-breathing bugs had made it into his shop! That was a big success in his eyes.
Joseph’s last day of the week was looking as bright as ever, especially after he waved goodbye to a few cute girls that he’d made laugh with one of his extremely clever jokes. After that, there was only fifteen minutes left before the clock hit five—closing time was just out of his reach!
“Hey, JoJo!” Smokey exclaimed from the front of the store. “I’m gonna go prepare the flowers out there to be taken inside again, okay?”
“Sure thing!” He replied with a bright grin and a thumbs up, allowing his arms to rest on the counter once his friend went outside. However, his attention turned from the register and back to the front door again once he heard the bell chime, and his eyes found themselves resting on a man.
He was striking, to say the least. He was tall—maybe part elf? He had pure blond hair, green eyes that reminded him of lavish landscapes, and most importantly, an outfit that fit him very nicely. How he was able to make an unbuttoned, baby blue cardigan and a simple pink v-neck shirt compliment his frame that much was going to be a mystery that would haunt Joseph forever. The color of his fitted jeans matched the white feather clips that adorned both sides of his head, and Joseph briefly wondered if they were from an angel—
“I’m disappointed that there’s no cute girls behind this counter. I guess that means you’re the new owner, then?”
Aaaaaaaand fuck this guy.
Whatever Joseph’s expression was before this bastard opened his mouth was completely overridden by a look of disdain. What did he mean he was “disappointed”? Who the hell just waltzes into someone’s store and complains about the lack of cute girls?!
And for his information, Joseph thought that he was plenty cute!
“Sorry about that,” he replied with his biggest, fakest customer service smile. “I’ll just grab one from the back and have her take care of everything for you, sir.”
The stranger rolled his eyes. Joseph gave a scoff, and it was then when he noticed that: one, he was actually taller than this guy, and two, he had these weird, purple marks on his cheeks. Not that it mattered anymore, really. He was an asshole, and more importantly, he was being an asshole in his shop, so that was enough to get points off in his book.
“Very funny. I’m just here to get flowers, like anyone else.”
“That’s fine,” he grinned, holding back a sharp taunt on his tongue. All his training with his mother and Suzie would go to waste if he didn’t control himself, and he still wanted to end the week feeling like he was on a roll. There was no way he was going to let some pompous prettyboy ruin that! “Do you know what you want?”
“Something small, muted and simple,” he said, turning his stare away from Joseph to observe the petals of a sunflower sitting comfortably in its pot. Little patches of light glowed brightly as his fingertips made contact with them, and Joseph swore that he saw wonder spark in his eyes right then and there.
Man, it was too bad this guy had an awful personality. Seriously.
“I’ll see what I can do.”
Joseph stepped out from behind the register, making sure his apron was still tight around his waist before he began picking out flowers to suit his customer’s request. Even if he was doing so begrudgingly, he was going to do his damndest! After all, this guy was probably expecting him to do a mediocre job, so he was going to shove it in his face that he was just as good—no, better than any other florist in the country. That would show him!
Just a few silent minutes passed when Joseph was finished with his small, muted and simple bundle of flowers. He knew just what to put together, never second-guessing himself for a moment.
“Here we are!” He announced rather proudly, holding the little bare bouquet in front of him with a grin. His newest creation showcased three white peonies whose petals would occasionally move with the sway of ocean waves; jingling lavenders hugged the peonies like a throne, where the pale-green stems from the snow-in-summers allowed the bouquet to exude a soothing aura all around. (Literally. Some magical flowers actually had the ability to change the atmosphere in the room, after all.)
His customer eyed the flowers as though he was trying to see if they were up to his standards, which Joseph knew were undoubtedly high. Once he was done scrutinizing, the blond man gave a nod of approval and pulled out his wallet from his back pocket.
“Alright,” he said with a complacent tone. “That will have to do. I’ll pay for it now.”
What? That will have to do? Gods and goddesses above, how much of a hardass could this guy be? He probably just didn’t want to admit how impressed he was, is all.
“Great! I’ll ring you up at the register here.”
Then I can finally get rid of you, Joseph thought to himself, trying to keep at least a portion of his customer service smile plastered on his face. He wondered if there was some sort of spell for those kinds of smiles, just so that he didn’t have to work as hard to keep them up when assholes like blondie over here came to rain on his parade.
Once the transaction was made, Joseph happily handed over the the finished bouquet. He had used a white ribbon to hold the wrapping of dusty-pink paper and flowers together, more than satisfied with his color choice and even more satisfied that this guy was going to leave his shop.
“Hope you enjoy the flowers for whatever occasion you need ‘em for!”
“I guess I will,” the man responded plainly, putting his wallet back into his pocket so he could hold the bundle of flowers with both of his hands. “Hopefully you’ll have a cuter person behind the counter the next time I come back.”
“Uh-huh, we’ll try our best to…”
Wait. Wait wait wait. What? What did he mean “the next time I come back”?! This guy was going to come back to his goddamn shop?!
“There’s no need for that kind of face,” the customer stated, sounding way too smug for Joseph’s liking. And that grin, that stupid, cocky, kind-of-sexy-but-in-the-annoying-kind-of-way grin that he had on his face was making the situation worse! “You want business, right? You should be happy to hear I’ll be dropping by again.”
“Yeah, uh… Of. Course.”
(He was not happy.)
“You know, I was actually a regular here a month ago, before I went on vacation.” He ran a hand through tufts of his soft hair as he spoke, and Joseph momentarily noticed a band with orange and purple triangles inked around his wrist. “I knew the former owner quite well, and I never thought she’d actually hand the business over to someone else.”
Huh. A regular from a month before? Then it was no wonder why Joseph had never seen him drop by. He began his training around a month ago, after all.
“Yeah, well, that ‘someone else’ is her son who rightfully earned this place,” Joseph said with confidence, pointing his thumb towards himself in a firm gesture.
“Is that so?”
“That’s so!”
“Well then…” The blond leaned forward, staring down at the name written on his apron. “Joseph. You’ll have to prove to me that you’re just as good as Miss Lisa Lisa and Suzie.”
“Honestly, I don’t have to prove anything to you,” Joseph retorted, leaning forward on the counter with his elbow pressed down against it to establish that he wasn’t going to back down, no matter how gorgeous his eyes were. “But since I like proving arrogant types like you dead wrong, I’ll bite, blondie.”
“Caesar,” the man corrected, turning around to exit out of the flower shop. “Caesar Zeppeli. Nothing else.”
“Whatever you say, Caesarino.”
The last thing he heard from the guy was a scoff, followed by the sound of bells signaling the front door opening and closing. Finally. Finally, that asshole was out of his store. Joseph let out a groan of relief, running his hand down his face and holding in a scream that he wanted to let out very, very badly.
Smokey came in just a few minutes after Caesar left, immediately noticing the exhausted and irritated expression that Joseph had on his face.
“Uh-oh,” he sing-songed with a knowing smile. “I know that look. That last customer was a bad one, huh?”
“Saying he was a ‘bad one’ would be seriously sugarcoating it,” he pouted, sitting down on a stool behind the counter and putting his hands behind his head to stare up at the ceiling.
“Guess you’ll be twice as happy to know that it’s closing time then.” Smokey came over to pat his shoulder before he went to the back of the store, leaving Joseph with only his thoughts and the register.
While he was alone, Caesar’s name repeated itself in Joseph’s thoughts once or twice, and it was then when he realized that his favorite parts about meeting him were in the beginning and in the end. He enjoyed his presence before he opened his mouth, sure. And he also enjoyed the relief that washed over him from watching him leave the store… But that was just the thing.
Joseph really, really enjoyed watching Caesar leave.
And he put the blame on those stupid, tight jeans of his.