Work Text:
Despite the fact they covered his arms and had a few others scattered about his body, despite the fact he admired their delicate beauty, though he could never keep one alive for longer than a few days, and despite the fact he had a phone and a laptop at his disposal to search for pictures, Bilbo couldn’t seem to get this damned flower right at all. With a frustrated growl, he scrunched up the piece of paper he was sketching on and tossed it over his shoulder. Again, he took up his pencil and set it to the fresh sheet that lay underneath the previous one, the blankness of the paper glared at him, almost an accusation of his utter incompetence.
Maybe it was nerves, or because the lighting was different, or the desk he worked at wasn’t the one he had grown accustomed to. Perhaps it was stress he had buried away in order to get through the past week coming back to haunt him. The anger Bilbo felt came out in his new drawing, harsh and heavy lines fell on the paper, and the result was a stylized rose. It looked nice, it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t what she wanted. His customer wanted real. She wanted soft lines and gentle curves, not… this.
Bilbo groaned and buried his face in his hands. Maybe he had moved too soon. He was perfectly happy where he worked before, it was a good shop and he made a decent enough wage, but he had always liked the idea of working for himself, taking on what he wanted instead of working on commission. Ori had felt the same. So here they were, they bought an old shop that had been empty for far too long, according to the owner, and so they got it at a decent price.
It hadn’t taken long to get it up and running, a fresh coat of paint and a few pieces of second hand furniture later, Ori and Bilbo stood in their own space. It wasn’t huge, but there was room enough for their workstations and that was fine. They already had a small number of clients from the previous shop, their loyalty was something to be admired, but since Bilbo set up an Instagram account to post their work on, people had travelled from all over the country to get work done by him.
That had taken him by surprise. Of course, it had taken a while for the follower count to creep up initially, but one day he woke up and found that it had exploded. Thousands of people now subscribed to his account with no explanation whatsoever. Bilbo later found out that someone had put some of his pictures on one social media website or another and they had gone viral. That was when Bilbo decided to open his own shop.
Ten days later, he sat pushing the heels of his hands against his closed eyes trying to focus on getting this one thing right. After a couple more failed attempts, Bilbo gave up. He pushed everything in front of him on the desk away and stood up. Maybe some fresh air would help, a brisk walk always helped to clear his head, so he picked up his jacket, slung it over his shoulders and, after a quick yell to Ori, he headed out.
With no specific goal in mind, Bilbo soon found himself wandering rather aimlessly down the street. After a few minutes he stopped in front of a small coffee shop, caffeine was probably the last thing he needed, but Bilbo went in and bought himself a flat white anyway. Coffee in one hand, danish in the other and feeling much better in general, he took his time to meander around the block, eat his pastry and breathe in the fresh air before heading back to the tattoo parlour. Somehow he had ended up on the wrong side of the road, as he waited to safely cross the street Bilbo became very aware of a mixture of light, floral scents invading his nose.
Bilbo glanced over his shoulder at the flower display that was assaulting his senses and his eyes widened. If working from pictures or memory wasn’t working, maybe having the real thing in front of him might! He quickly inspected the small number of flowers outside and found none to his liking before making his way inside. The shop was full of flowers, a few ready made bouquets but no people, he could hear someone moving around somewhere and despite the little bell that tinkled when he pushed the door open, the owner had yet to make an appearance.
Rather than wait, Bilbo took it upon himself to look through the large wall mounted display that showed off the variety of flowers on offer. There were several containers of roses near the middle, he was just about to reach up and pluck one out of the bucket when someone cleared their throat, breaking the silence that had previously permeated the room.
“Can I help you?” A low, almost growling voice asked him.
Bilbo realised how ridiculous he must have looked when he tried to around, for some reason he felt as if he had been caught stealing something rather than trying to take a closer look at a flower. He jerked around, eye wide and his flailing hand caught the rim of the bucket. That would have been fine, he could have laughed that off and simply request that the owner help him. Instead, Bilbo’s hand had collided with the container in such a way that it unbalanced and fell off the shelf, if that wasn’t enough, it caused several other containers on the shelves below to follow it to the floor.
It happened in slow motion for Bilbo, he should have been fast enough to turn and catch it. Or something. Anything at all. But in his haste to try and prevent further disaster, he simply made it worse. His cup fell out of his hand, the lid flew off and sent warm coffee spraying in every direction. Any contented feelings Bilbo might have had dissipated as he stared at the sad looking, coffee covered carnations scattered on the floor.
“I am so, so sorry.” He whispered, not daring to turn and face the owner of the shop. Of course he would have to, but just for a second Bilbo tried with all his might to vanish on the spot. When that didn’t work, he went to kneel down and attempt to clean up the mess he had made.
Bilbo heard the sigh and the heavy footsteps, the slight creaking of the floorboards as they shifted under the changing weight, all deafeningly loud to his ears. “Just… leave it.” The owner told him when he stopped just behind Bilbo. “What can I help you with?” He asked again.
Reluctantly, Bilbo placed the flowers grasped in his hand back on the floor and stood up. He wiped his damp hands on his trousers as he turned around, he had to gasp when he look up at the person that filled his vision. He was not what Bilbo expected at all. The man was tall, dressed in a dark blue shirt paired with light grey trousers, all covered by a dark green apron loosely tied about his waist. He was devastatingly handsome, though the amount of irritation he clearly felt was evident in the glaring blue eyes hidden behind the glasses that perched upon his strong nose and the set of his bearded jaw.
He was a near perfect personification of a thundercloud, if it wasn’t for the likely forgotten tulip tucked behind the man’s ear, the bright yellow a startling contrast against his dark hair, Bilbo would have dismissed the idea of accepting his help and run out of the shop there and then. “Um.” Bilbo said, fully intending to continue with a coherent request for a rose, but the owner crossed his arms over his chest, the movement distracted Bilbo from what he wanted to say and his mouth snapped shut.
“Sir?” The owner prompted him.
“Oh!” Bilbo dragged his gaze away from the man’s bare forearms to look at his face again, his eyes darted to the tulip and back, try as he might, Bilbo couldn’t keep the smile away. “A rose, please.”
“A rose?” The man asked, his eyebrows slid up his forehead when Bilbo nodded. “A single rose?” And when Bilbo let out a small ‘yes’ his nostrils flared as he sighed yet again. “Of course, sir.” With that, he stepped around Bilbo, over the puddle of water and coffee to pluck a stem effortlessly out of one of the remaining containers. He held the flower toward Bilbo and asked: “Is this one to your liking?”
“Um, I was actually hoping for one that was a bit more open…” Bilbo’s voice trailed off as he watched the man put that rose back in the bucket before selecting another, again, he held the flower out for Bilbo to inspect. “Perfect, thank you.”
“Great, I’ll go wrap it for you.” He said and made to walk over to the counter.
“Oh, no!” Bilbo almost walked into the back of him when he stopped. “I’m only taking it across the street, so you don’t have t- I just don’t want to be any more trouble.” He silently applauded his distinct lack of eloquence in that moment.
“More trouble.” The man echoed and let out a barely perceptible huff of laughter. “Very well.” And he handed the rose to Bilbo.
“What the hell happened here?” A loud voice exclaimed from the doorway. Bilbo whipped around, careful to keep his arms close to his body to avoid any more mishaps, another overly tall man stood just inside the door. While this new person didn’t have a hair on top of his head, as was the case for a lot of people in the town, he had a neatly kept beard and moustache. He also had muscles, big ones. All in all, it was a very intimidating figure that moved further into the shop.
“Ah, Dwalin.” The florist greeted the newcomer as he continued on to the counter. “Come in.”
“What’s all this?” Dwalin asked with a laugh as he closed the door behind him. “I didn’t know the boys were here.”
“They aren’t.” The owner tapped a few buttons on the till. “I’ll sort that out and then I’m ready to go.”
“Ah, don’t worry, Thorin.” Dwalin was already on his way to what Bilbo could only assume was a store room, he emerged seconds later with a dustpan and brush and a wad of paper towels. “I’ll sort it, you see to your customer.”
Thorin. If Bilbo didn’t feel as though he was on very thin ice already, he might have suggested a name badge, but he held his tongue and silently passed over the money he owed for the rose. When Thorin tried to hand him the change Bilbo just shook his head. “No, don’t worry about it.” He looked over his shoulder at the bald man on his knees mopping up the mess. “For your trouble.”
Bilbo got out of there as soon as he could, he paid little to no attention to any vehicles that may have been on the road as he crossed the street. He yanked the door of the tattoo parlour open and leaned against it once it was closed. Ori looked up from his spot on the sofa and tilted his head in silent question.
“Don’t ever let me go outside again.” Bilbo said, with no further explanation he sat down at the desk, set his rose upon the table and started to sketch out his design.