Chapter Text
Marcy busied themselves with an arrangement, carefully plucking errant stems and tidying up the whole thing. They barely heard it when the door bell jingled. Upon one last adjustment they looked up, spotting the stranger who had just walked in.
He was all spikes and dark clothes and ink. He held a sketchbook in his right hand, the front bearing a rather angry looking toad creature. Among the array of pins on his backpack was one that simply stated 'he/him' against a black background. His blonde and pink tipped hair was messily chopped close to the scalp. Marcy only had one thought. He was cute.
"Hello sir! What are you looking for?" Marcy asked, grinning a bright smile and trying not to blush.
"My mentor wants me to practice sketching flowers, for tattoos. Figured I'd find flowers here." He replied, dryly. He held eye contact, an intense stare.
Marcy looked down, fidgeting with a ribbon on the arrangement. "We have a back room, I could bring you an arrangement to sketch."
The stranger nodded. Marcy left the counter and led him to the back room. It was small and cluttered, but there was enough empty space on a table and a chair for the stranger to work.
"Um, what's your name?" Marcy asked, pulling the chair out for him.
"Sasha. Yours?"
"Marcy."
"Nice name." Sasha flopped into the chair, setting his sketchbook on the table.
"I'll go find an arrangement." Marcy said, once again trying not to blush.
Marcy looked through the arrangements lining the counters, and finally settled on one. They brought it back to the back room, and set it down on the table. They looked from it to Sasha. Sasha stared at them for a second, and then levelled his gaze on the flowers.
"They're Gladioli. They represent strength of character. I um... Thought they suited you." Marcy tried not to ramble, picking at their uniform's sleeve.
A small smile tilted the corners of Sasha's mouth up. "Thanks."
Marcy nodded, and a few moments of silence passed before they blurted out, "Are you trans too?"
A pierced eyebrow raised, Sasha replied, "Yep."
"Oh, cool. Um... Fun fact, flowers are kinda intersex, they've got both parts... Oh god why am I talking about parts?" Marcy rambled, a growing blush tinted their cheeks.
Sasha laughed, and then one shot Marcy with two words. "You're cute."
Marcy spluttered, and knew their face was probably changing colors. They turned towards the door, and mumbled "I should go make sure no one needs help."
Marcy walked as gracefully as they could to the front of the store. Nobody was there, but they couldn't go back in that room before the blush faded. They tidied up various arrangements until their watch trilled out an alarm for their lunch break. They figured they were calm enough to return to the back room.
"It's my lunch break, do you mind if I eat in here with you?" They asked.
"No prob." Sasha muttered, focused intently on his drawing. He had an earbud in, presumably listening to music.
Marcy pulled their sandwich from the nearby mini fridge and sat down across from Sasha. They took a bite, chewing quickly. They glanced around, starting to feel antsy. They didn't like the silence.
"What are you listening to?" They asked.
"Girl in red." Sasha replied.
"Oh... Oh!" Marcy blushed, the realization hitting them. They hesitated before saying, "could I uh, listen too?" They fidgeted with the mini d20 hanging from their earring.
Sasha smirked slightly. He unplugged his headphones, and the music started to play out loud. He shoved his headphones in his pocket and refocused on the drawing.
A few minutes passed before Marcy spoke up again. "So what made you want to become a tattoo artist, if you don't mind me asking?"
"I guess I wanted to do something permanent, that lasted. I want to leave a mark." Sasha mumbled.
"Oh. That's nice."
"Why'd you want to be a florist?"
"My friend didn't want to leave her parents all alone to run the shop when she went off for college and I just happened to need a job. I didn't think I'd like it as much as I do. Now I think I might want to open my own shop someday."
"I think you'd do great."
Marcy smiled, feeling something warm grow in their gut. "Thank you. I think you'll be a great tattoo artist."
Marcy swore they could see a slight tinge of pink on Sasha's cheeks for a second. He seemed to scramble to change the subject. "Do you have any tattoos?"
"Yeah." Marcy pulled up her pant leg to reveal a green newt-like creature with a fur cloak and a crossbow. "She was my first C&C character. Her name's Wit."
"Nice. My first was a barbarian named Grime. He's on the sketchbook." Sasha replied, showing the front of the sketchbook for a moment.
The two of them talked about C&C and various things for a while until Sasha finished the drawing. He closed his sketchbook, and stood up.
"I guess this is goodbye." Marcy said, trying not to sound as sad as they felt.
"I guess." Sasha said, almost sounding sad as well. He stood there awkwardly for a few moments, before turning to leave.
Marcy watched him walk all the way to the front door before shouting, "Wait!"
They couldn't miss this chance. They scrambled to grab a sharpie and some ribbon and scrawled their number down, and then tied it to a spare gladiolus flower. They walked out to the front, where Sasha stood waiting right outside the door. They handed the flower to him. As he glanced down to read the writing, Marcy panicked.
"Bye!" They yelled, slamming the door and turning. They sunk to the floor, mumbling, "oh god oh god what did I just do-"
Their rambling was interrupted by a shout from the other side of the door. "I'll call you!"
Marcy blushed madly, and turned to look up through the glass door. Sasha looked down and met their eyes and winked. It took everything Marcy had not to squeak out loud.
Sasha did call.