Work Text:
Chuuya had laughed until he cried when Gin had first told him her brother had recently opened a flower shop. Chuuya screwed up his expressive face to look like Ryuunosuke’s grumpy resting expression and growled, “Take your fucking flowers you sappy ass shits,” then dissolved into laughing again.
Gin had initially questioned it too, but Ryuunosuke had always loved flowers and she’d never seen him so happy as when he opened the door for her to see the renovations. The entire building was essentially a giant greenhouse, floor to ceiling windows and a completely open floor plan. Ryuunosuke had put his desk at the very back so anyone who wanted to purchase something had to walk through the entire shop.
While there were some rows of flowers that distinctly went together the arrangement wasn’t very purposeful. The effect was a riot of color and sweet scents and hidden little secrets that could be discovered. The pride of Ryuu’s shop was the pedestal he’d put in the middle of the shop, on it a nearly three-foot ikebana arrangement he had made with Kouyou. They made a new one each month and they were always impressive.
Some of their friends had gently ribbed Ryuu for caring so much about flowers in their youth but Ryuu shut them right up saying that flowers were some of the only things in the world that existed to do pure good, providing for ecosystems, creating fantastic colors, and that Ryuu found that beautiful in a world so often cold, dreary, and evil.
Ryuu had worked hard to pull himself and Gin out of poverty and get himself through two bachelors’ in agricultural sciences and botany. Gin couldn’t be more proud of him.
Ryuu wasn’t much of a people person but he loved flowers and he loved creating the perfect bouquet for a wedding or helping a young guy make sure he gave his girlfriend a flower for love not disgust.
Ryuu’s marketing was nearly nonexistent but he’d become quite popular due to word of mouth. Word of mouth coming mainly from the gregarious silver-haired sweetheart in the next-door tattoo shop.
Gin couldn’t conclusively prove it was him but there was a lot of evidence to support her theory. The tattoo studio was well established in the neighborhood when Ryuu bought the lot next-door. They were a small studio, just a couple of artists, a few secretaries, and some piercers.
Chuuya’s boyfriend Dazai had actually worked there briefly as a piercer and recommended the area to Ryuu as one where lots of families and artistic types lived. Dazai was now a lawyer, a drastic career shift, he loved proving people wrong and making enough money to support Chuuya’s expensive taste in wine and hats that his mechanic’s shop didn’t produce.
The tattoo artists were an eclectic mix. First there was Yosano, a badass leather babe who had two full sleeves and her eye on Kouyou. She was known for producing especially beautiful art, especially when it pertained to anatomical designs, but her bedside manner was atrocious and only those experienced in pain went to her.
Then Ranpo, who looked like a businessman constantly but only wore suits to cover his full body suit. His tats were eclectic and all in black, often mixing minimalistic designs with dramatic quotes from the books his husband Poe wrote.
Then, the subject of Gin’s suspicion, little Atsushi Nakajima. He looked like the last person to go into a career in tattooing, but he was a prodigy artist and had some heavy work himself.
Everyone knew him for the giant tiger-themed backpiece he had. He tended to wear a lot of loose vests with cutouts and some part of the tiger was often visible.
He also had a single snakebite lip piercing. His arms were only half covered and featured only his own work. His specialties were watercolors and emotional pieces. All the tattoo virgins came to him as did those who really wanted something they cared about. He had a reputation for being especially fond of those who came to him after accidents or escaping abuse and wanted something to remind them of their strength or cover up their scars.
Atsushi hadn’t covered his own scars, a series of serious burns on his hip, but instead incorporated them into his giant backpiece so it looked like the tiger’s outstretched claws had created the marks.
His body was a story in and of itself, his first attempts at basic stick and poke tattoos behind his ears or his chest, his professional work on his arms, and his pride on his back.
Atsushi was a direct contrast to Yosano. His bedside manner was fantastic. He seemed to almost regret causing pain to his clients, but he was so dedicated to his art and he knew what it was like to suffer for perfection.
He had come over, along with their manager Kunikida, to deliver some food to Ryuu upon his shop’s opening and purchase some flowers for the vase in their waiting room.
Kunikida was manager of the shop and also a night schoolteacher. He was serious and organized and despite being the manager of a profitable tattoo shop had absolutely no ink himself. The artists were constantly badgering him about letting them do some work on him, but he flat out refused, claiming it was for the sake of his boyfriend Katai. In reality he was simply afraid of needles.
He was quick to offer Ryuu serious business advice, lecturing on and on while Ryuu zoned out and nodded every couple of seconds. Gin, behind him that day, had her eyes focused on Atsushi and his eyes were glued to her brother. There was a little flush on his cheeks, and he was unconsciously mirroring her brother’s posture.
Gin was a physical therapist, she knew how to read body language, and was excellent at discerning crushes. She’d called out her now wife Higuchi the first time they met, the injured athlete spending more time asking Gin to demonstrate the exercises than doing them.
The first time she’d said nothing and waited for Atsushi to make a move. But it seemed like the shy, kind boy was a bit oblivious and reserved. He didn’t notice Ryuu’s growing affection for him with each visit and would only stare at Ryuu when his back was turned. He’d been purchasing flowers regularly now, claiming he was starting an art project and with spring rolling around all the young girls wanted little flowers. Gin wasn’t quite sure to the accuracy of this but any excuse that got Atsushi in the shop.
There was quite a betting pool at this point, people from both friend groups betting large sums of money or favors to see when Ryuu and Atsushi would get together.
The tattoo shop’s owners, a dueling pair of middle-aged men named Mori and Fukuzawa respectively, had each bet each other a single tattoo, placement, size, and design to be entirely up to the winner.
Fukuzawa had growled that he’d give Mori a tramp stamp and Mori retorted he already had one which made the argument stutter on when it was clear Fukuzawa had no other ideas. Mori said he’d tattoo “Mori Ougai is a better artist than me,” on Fukuzawa’s ass.
Gin thought they were both idiots who continued to needle each other for the fun of it and declared that they had absolutely no familiar relationship despite the many rumors that they had in fact been married for twenty years.
It had been two months since Atsushi and Ryuu met and Gin was hopeful that she was finally seeing some progress. On Atsushi’s last visit Ryuu hadn’t waited for him to make a bouquet but had one prepared for him already that he pushed aggressively onto Atsushi for free, hiding the lower half of his face with his hand.
Gin took a picture and found the bouquet was made of Gardenias, Crocuses, and little sprigs of Queen Anne’s Lace. She sighed. Her brother was hopeless. Maybe she’d have to speak to him about Atsushi directly.
But as it turned out, Atsushi beat her to all of it. He came in several days later with a fresh bandage around his wrist. He undid it when he arrived and shyly held it out to show Ryuu that he’d gotten the sprig of Lily of the Valley that Ryuu had on his shop’s sign inked into his skin. He was flushed and stuttering about how this was such a bad idea and he was being way too intense when Ryuu simply took his hand and lifted the wrist to his lips like an old-fashioned gentleman.
Atsushi had turned bright red and looked ready to bolt. Ryuu was too smart for that. He used his grip to reel Atsushi in and without a hint of hesitation planted a kiss on his lips. He obviously meant for it to be a soft, quick kiss, but Atsushi flung his arms around Ryuu’s neck and nearly hung off him as they kissed and kissed and kissed.
They had a party that very night to celebrate and Gin won a large sum of money that she and Ranpo had to split due to their identical guesses.
Dazai had to do Chuuya a single big favor without complaining.
And Fukuzawa won his side of the bet. Mori groaned and mumbled about having something stupid permanently on his body but when Gin saw them a few days later they had gotten a few lines from their wedding vows on their forearms.
As for Atsushi and Ryuu, they stumbled and blushed and sneezed their way through their relationship; finding out Atsushi was allergic to dandelions had been a fun experience. Gin was not in the least surprised to see Ryuu come to work six months into their relationship humming, and a shiny silver promise ring on his finger.
For reference:
Gardenias – secret love
Crocuses – Cheerfulness and also literally the color of Atsushi’s eyes how perfect
Queen Anne’s Lace – sanctuary
Lily of the Valley – sweetness, return to happiness, you’ve made my life complete