Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Google Maps knew some of the most niche places, really. Oh, you need a very specific kind of food? Here’s a location five minutes from you! You’re looking for a pot of a particular kind of flower and have never explored the area around your apartment complex outside of work? Great! There’s a flower shop two blocks down! Of course, that exact question is what led you to the looming brick shop in front of you. It was a rather quaint place, sure, but it was on one of the busiest streets in town, meaning you only received stares for standing in front of the flower shop and getting in the way. According to your phone, the place was called Daylight-Goodnight Blooms . You figured it was called that because of its night time delivery service, which apparently isn’t a common thing for stores, especially flower shops.

Tucking your phone into your pants pocket, you glanced at the sign on the front of the store before pushing open the glass door.

A bell attached to the front door chimed, letting everyone in the store know of your presence. You tried and failed not to jump at the sudden noise, despite already knowing that it was coming. The place was much more decorated on the inside than it appeared from outside, with pots of flowers lining the walls, and hanging by the windows, all of which practically glowed as it was bathed with sunlight from the shop’s large windows. You weren’t exactly well versed when it came to flowers, but the color coded flowers lining the shelf to your right caught your eye, their bright purples and blues appealing to your tastes. There was a fairly soft looking green rug that covered a majority of the center floor, though you couldn’t be sure if the hardwood floor would’ve looked better with or without it. 

Realizing you had just been standing in front of the door this whole time staring like you were about to rob the place, you quickly looked up towards the counter. There was only one person in the store with you. If you could call the… entity staring at you from the counter a person. Nothing could have prepared you for the sheer irony of a giant, yellow flower running a flower shop. Could you still even call it a flower? It looked like it had big, golden petals on its head, but flowers couldn’t walk, and they certainly didn’t have hands like the fellow in front of you. It was clearly waiting for you to make the first move, playing with what you assumed to be a handful of red and pink flowers. You took a deep breath through your nose, quietly questioning your sanity as you stepped forward.

Grabbing your wallet out of your jacket pocket, you fumbled it as you walked up to the glass case in front of the counter. You just barely managed to get your cash out without dropping the whole thing.

“Hey there! Were you looking to order something? Or are you here for pick up?” The giant flower in front of you had set down what it was messing with, giving you its full attention. 

You could get a closer look at the thing now, and everything about it was… warm. Of course it was warm in a friendly way, but every color that painted the thing was a warm or vibrant mix of yellow and orange. Its eyes were two different kinds of gold, one much redder than the other. Maybe it was something like a sunflower? You tried not to stare too much, you didn’t want to look like a weirdo after all. Reminding yourself of your own existence on the same plane as this thing, you spoke up.

“Oh! Uh…I came to make an order if that’s alright.” You quickly glanced down at what you had messily written on your hand half an hour ago. Gardenias, right. “Do you guys have any gardenias in stock? Red ones specifically.” Almost forgetting what color your mother’s favorite flower was, you mentally face palmed yourself. How could you forget your mother’s favorite flower? Your memory had been so much worse than usual as of late. Was it the stress? Maybe it’s- 

You went from mentally face palming yourself to mentally smacking yourself to break that train of thought. A flower shop isn’t the place for anxiety. You were pretty sure it was meant to do like… the direct opposite. Flower shops are supposed to be relaxing, right?

“Of course, of course! Did you want them in a pot? People don’t usually just get one kind of flower in bouquets.” The sunflower man? Entity? You felt more comfortable with ‘man’. The sunflower man moved away from the counter towards the door behind him, giving you a better view of his clothing, which consisted of a pale yellow sweater and dark red overalls, both of which complemented his complexion.

“Ah- Yeah! Please, they’re for my mother.” You stumbled over your words. Hopefully he didn’t care for your staring. It wasn’t every day you saw a giant talking sunflower. He gave a soft smile at the mention of your mother.

“I’m sure she’ll love them! They’re wonderful things.” Seemingly stopping himself in his tracks, the sunflower man hastily dug into his overall pockets before fishing out a small notepad before grabbing a pen you hadn’t noticed off of the counter. “It might take me a minute, so can I get your name? Just in case somebody else comes in so I don’t get it mixed up.” 

He spoke rather quickly, slightly waving his hands while trying to explain himself. Sure, shops normally didn’t ask for your name, but you hadn’t really visited any flower shops before. It was probably a normal thing, you told yourself. Hopefully your anxious demeanor hadn’t made him nervous too.

“That’s fine, that's fine!” You waved it off, giving a smile in order to hopefully ease his anxiousness. Giving him your name, his smile faded into a confused look. His eyes darted to the side as the hand that held his pen moved to cover his mouth, as if he were thinking very carefully on something. After a second or so of silence in the shop, his eyes widened as he snapped his fingers and quietly mumbled to himself, the grin he had before quickly returning to his face.

“You know, there was actually a bouquet order in your name made a day or two ago! It was meant to be delivered tonight, but since you’re here you can go ahead and get it!” His rather intense gaze moved towards you again, making you internally squirm. Eye contact with strangers always made you feel that way. Just another thing you needed to get over. However, the uncomfortable feeling in your chest was quickly washed away once you processed what he said.

“An order… in my name? Like for me?” You glanced down after your question, trying to remember if you had ever been here before.

“Yep! Give me a second, I should have it somewhere.” He gave a thumbs up before hurrying off into the room behind the counter. You could see that it was dim in there, but still light enough that you could see. Surprisingly, only a curtain separated the room from the rest of the shop.

Wondering about what order could’ve had your name attached to it in the past, you only came up with blanks. Maybe you just didn’t remember coming here before? Had you already ordered the gardenias for your mother before? It was a bouquet order though, right? Why would you order a bouquet? Slowly starting to chew on the nail of your index finger, you mind ran at a mile a minute. Maybe it was for your boyfriend? EX-boyfriend , You chastised yourself. Even so, there’s no way on Earth that you would have gotten something for him, which left you with no clues.

Your incessant thoughts were cut off with a cheerful exclamation from behind the curtain, before the sunflower man swung it open again. He practically skipped back to the counter, hands and bouquet hidden behind his back. It almost made you chuckle, how dramatic he was about the whole thing. Though you stifled it quickly, your anxiety still poked around in the back of your mind. Maybe it was a practical joke? Some sort of first-time customer thing?

He held the flowers out towards you, an excited, toothy grin on his face. The flowers were a mix of reds, oranges, yellows, and purples. Definitely something someone like this dude would pick. Another internal smack to the face.

“I hope it’s to your liking!” He set the flowers down on the counter so you could reach them, “They’ve already been paid for, so you can take them once I get your order of gardenias ready.” Turning around, he started walking towards the back room again before you finally spoke up.

“Wait! Uh…-” You held your hand out slightly, pushing the bouquet back towards his side of the counter. The sunflower turned towards you once again, a smile still on his face but confusion still shining through. “These aren’t mine. Are you sure you didn’t get them mixed up? I didn’t order anything like this, I haven’t even been to this shop before.” You tried to hide your slight upset, giving a nervous laugh.

The lovely bouquet tugged at your heartstrings slightly, knowing that he would’ve probably gotten you something like this after a fight. Looking down slightly, you avoided the sunflower’s gaze.

“Really? I don’t normally get these things confused! Let me check the tag.” You could hear the disbelief in his voice, tensing slightly. Hopefully you didn’t upset him. The sound of a footstep or two could be heard before there was a small amount of rustling.

“Y/N L/N, is that your name?” It felt odd to have your full name said by a stranger, but that was certainly your name . You nodded towards him, raising your head to speak. “I like the sound of it!” Looking up towards him again, you were met with a soft smile. Despite how anxiety-inducing this whole thing was, he really fit the personality you’d expect from a sunflower. 

“Ah- well thank you,” You tried to return his smile, before speaking again. “But maybe you could save them for someone else? Or refund whoever ordered them? These really aren’t mine.” Running your fingers through your hair, you were met with silence from the sunflower. Glancing back up at him, his smile had shrunken into one of nervousness. He probably wasn’t used to customers outright rejecting orders. Hopefully he didn’t take it personally. 

“...Are you really sure you don’t want them, friend?” He glanced off to the side, one hand still set on top of the bouquet. You peered at the bouquet one more time, guilt eating away at you for upsetting the shopkeeper, even if you didn’t know him. A lot of time and care had clearly been put into making the bouquet, there was even a small purple ribbon tying it at the base. But you needed to remain firm. Either this was some sort of attempt at reconciliation from the dick that you wasted the last three years of your life with, or it was a friendly first-timer thing that the sunflower in front of you was rather insistent on you taking. “The person who asked me to put them together seemed like they really wanted you to get them.” He added.

Now that confirmed it for you. 

A mix of sadness and resentment only added to the guilt you were already feeling, nearly bringing tears to your eyes, though you tried not to let the shopkeeper see that.

“Very sure.” You took a deep breath and looked up towards the sunflower. “Sorry, the dude who probably asked you to make those was a real…” Taking another second to pause, you picked your words carefully. “He was a real creep.”

Though your hand was in your hoodie pocket at this point, you still picked at your fingernail with your thumb. A bad habit of yours. The sunflower looked at you one more time before looking towards the bouquet with a small frown, eyebrows furrowed, though it didn’t stay for long. He spun in the opposite direction, bouquet in hand, before heading towards the back room. Holding the purple curtain open with one hand, he glanced back towards you.

“Give me one second and I’ll get those red Gardenias for you friend! Be back in a jiffy!” He smiled despite the tension in the air, and you gave him a small smile in return. You knew that had to have hurt him, since bouquets are almost always made by hand in these types of shops. Fumbling with the wallet you had in your hand once again, you checked to see exactly how much cash you had. You’d leave him a tip for the inconvenience, yeah. A big one. He seemed to be a genuinely nice guy, anyway, so he probably deserved it regardless.

Taking the moment alone to observe your surroundings once again, you glanced towards the glass case beside you that you hadn’t paid any mind until now. It held a few small pots of small light purple and pink flowers. You couldn’t tell what they were exactly, but they looked fairly similar to the flowers you’d see growing in short clumps in the fields next to your parent’s house. Little kid you never had a reason to pick them, so you often ignored them with the exception of the many times you’d step on them and immediately feel guilty for hurting them. You were always so empathetic towards the smallest things growing up. Maybe that was a bad thing.

Clutching at your non-dominant arm, your mind flicked to what had just happened. Did he really try to deliver a bouquet of flowers to your apartment? Your eyes widened at that realization. He still knew where you lived. You’d taken back the key you gave him all that time ago, but he still knew where you lived for Christ’s sake. 

With your heart starting to beat faster in your chest, your grip on your arm only got tighter. Swearing internally, you were sure you needed to talk to your landlord about altering the contents of your lease. Maybe she’d let you move into a different apartment in the building. That way she wouldn’t lose any money. Though she might not let you . Then what? Would you just wait in your apartment until you could save up enough to move out? In this economy?

All you can do is pray he doesn’t break in.

The purple curtain opened and footsteps approached, jolting you out of your spiral. You quickly moved your gaze to meet the sunflower, to which he furrowed his eyebrows slightly again. God, did you mess something up?

“Are you alright there? You look slightly pale, friend!” He gave a small smile, though you could still see the small amount of concern in his stare. Oh. Of course he wasn’t upset with you. 

Forcing your body to relax once again, you gave him a smile in return, doing your best to mask your fears.

“Oh yeah, yeah, sorry! Zoned out for a minute there.” You waved it off, watching as he placed the pot of flowers on the counter along with a small slip of paper. He gave you a quick nod, looking noticeably relieved once he turned to type the transaction into the register sitting beside him on his side of the wooden counter.

“Perfectly alright!” Turning back towards you, his smile grew once again. It really seemed like he was always smiling. “Did you want to pay with cash or card, friend?” 

Glancing up at the price on the register, you took out the amount of needed cash, making sure to use a larger bill to apply the tip. Surprisingly, you didn’t drop the cash despite the shaking of your hands.

“You can keep the change, think of it like a tip I guess. You’re really nice.” A shy smile grew on your face as you tried to meet his eyes once more. You figured he might get upset if you tried to openly apologize, so this was the safer option. His mouth opened slightly, but no noise came out as his seemingly never ending smile faded.

“Now I won’t be having that!” He held up a finger, dramatic flair returning to his movements. Quickly taking the bill you laid on the counter, he took the correct amount of change and laid it in your hand before you could pull away. The sunflower chuckled before pushing the red gardenia pot and paper towards you while you were still in shock. “I hope your mother enjoys them, really.” 

Unsure of what else you could say, you glanced up at him, a victorious grin still spread across his face. Slowly tucking the change in your pocket, you picked up the pot and paper off of the counter. You could see now that the paper had instructions for caring for the gardenias on it, something you weren’t sure if your mother would need. Guilt only gnawed at you again at the sweet gesture, turning around to walk out of the store in silence. As you reached the door, the sunflower spoke again.

“Have a good day friend!” He gave an excited wave as you left, which you meekly returned. A classic customer service facade. 

You turned to walk the two blocks back to your apartment, mind still searching for a way to alleviate the guilt in your chest after seeing that upset frown.

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The walk back to your apartment could not have gone by quicker. The visit to your mom’s house hadn’t lasted nearly as long as you hoped, though you could understand how busy she was. Moving was always quite the endeavor, and you could only imagine the stress of having to move everything out of an entire house while making sure nothing got messed up. She always stressed over the littlest things, and you didn’t want to upset her even further, so you reluctantly left.

She did ponder on how you were doing now that you were back to living alone, however, leading to your thoughts consuming you once again. Because of course they did. At least she enjoyed the flowers, letting out a squeal of delight after seeing them. 

Normally you can barely drag yourself out of your apartment to head to work in the mornings, yet this time you could barely convince yourself to go in. You’d locked it, sure, but what if that wasn’t enough? You could see your unit from the front of the building, and there weren’t any broken windows that you could see. No open door, either. Maybe it was safe? It had only been a day or two since you kicked him out, so maybe he was still moping at his parent’s house?

With a deep exhale of breath you didn’t realize you were holding, you started up the stairs that led to your apartment on the second floor. You stopped in front of your door, listening for any noise. Sure, you were paranoid, but you were dealing with a mentally ill piece of trash here, to be fair. Who were you defending yourself to? Nobody knows. 

Hearing nothing, you dug the key chain that held your apartment key out of your pocket. You slid out the key before putting it in the lock, listening for the click that came with the door unlocking. Once you heard it, you put your keys back in your pocket before swinging open the door. Darkness greeted you, just as you left it. Home sweet home.

Feeling for the light switch, you flicked it on before wincing at the sudden intrusion of light. You shoved the door closed behind you with your foot, locking it once again. Setting the keys on the kitchen counter by the door, you breathed a sigh of relief at your empty apartment. It seemed ironic now, making you have to stifle a laugh. 

Glancing to the small window to your right, the sun was already starting to set. Geez, had you taken that long? You slipped off your sneakers and set them by the door, shuffling further inside towards the small kitchen. Bending down to open the fridge, you went over your options. You really needed to get groceries soon, huh? Fatigue started to creep into your frame, resulting in you settling with ramen for the night. With an egg of course, you have to stay nutritious.

You set water to boil in two separate pots on the stove before going to grab your laptop. If you were going to cook, you’d at least watch a murder documentary or something while doing so. Once the water came to a boil for both pots, you placed the unbroken ramen and flavoring into one while placing a single egg in the other. After a moment of consideration, you put two more eggs in the pot to boil. Might as well have them for breakfast tomorrow. 

After waiting for the eggs to finish and occasionally stirring your ramen while staring at a documentary about the chase of a cat killer, you put everything together in a steaming bowl. With spices of course. It was a bit better than what you usually made when feeding yourself, so you were easily satisfied.

Once the egg noodles (get it?) were eaten, you began the terrible task of washing your dishes before washing off in the shower. You got dressed in a pair of sweats and a tank top before collapsing in bed, staring at the dark ceiling in your room that felt much too big for one person. Scrolling through your phone certainly wasn’t going to help you sleep, so you went ahead and set your alarms before setting it aside to charge. 

Your eyes closed to let sleep take you, but you couldn’t help but feel a tug on your heart strings once more. Of course you would choose to feel guilty about rejecting the shopkeeper's flowers now of all times.

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A knock rang out in the silent apartment.

Chapter Text

Dismissing the first noise you heard as your own paranoia mixed with the fact that you had just gotten shot out of a dream into the waking world, you shoved your face into the body pillow you were already holding onto.

There was only the sound of your poor old air conditioner struggling to cool the rather humid room when you listened. The forecast hadn’t predicted rain, but to be fair, they were wrong a lot of the time nowadays. You figured it hadn’t started up yet though, since you couldn’t hear the classic pitter patter of raindrops outside your bedroom window no matter how much you strained your ears.

Then you heard it again, a rhythmic knocking coming from the front of your apartment. It was rather faint, mainly due to the door separating you from the rest of your abode, but you could still hear it. Trying to ignore it, you shoved your head further into your red body pillow. Maybe they would go away? It was late, why was someone knocking on your door? Why your door of all doors? Was he here? 

The very thought made a chill go down your spine. Knowing him, he wouldn’t leave until he got an answer, and if you made him wait he’d probably make a dramatic show that would get you a noise complaint from your neighbors. 

Throwing off the blanket that barely did anything for comfort, you tossed your legs off the bed and sat up. You would just tell him to leave, and make him if he didn’t. Yeah, it shouldn’t be hard , you told yourself. Were there cameras outside? Pushing yourself to a standing position, you squatted down to reach under your bed. 

You did live on the second floor, and the only thing keeping someone from leaping off the walkway in front of your apartment was a fence. Maybe if he fell off the side of it, it could be played off as an accident. If he did something, it could even be self defense. Patting around in the darkness below your bed, you felt the cold metal handle of your softball bat. Keeping this thing after all these years turned out to be useful, huh? 

Bat in hand, you silently pushed open your bedroom door, eyeing the front door down the hall. Maybe it wasn’t him? You were probably just being paranoid.

…Then again, this was just to be safe.

Creeping towards the front door, keeping far enough from it that the shadow of your feet couldn’t possibly be showing through, you peered through your door’s peephole.

What you assumed to be clouds covered most of the little light that the moon could produce, making things relatively hard to see. Whatever it was, it was much too tall to be your ex. Taller than anyone you knew, really. Squinting, you tried to make out its face. Darkened eyes looked away from the door, somewhere in the distance. Were… were those petals around its face? The sunflower? At your front door? You couldn’t make out if the pale color of his face was just due to the darkness, or if he had just gotten much more pale in the several hours since you had seen him. Last you remembered, it was a near half and half mix of light and dark brown.

Dropping your bat on the floor, you quickly grabbed your keys off the counter to unlock the door. It only took a second to find them in the dark before you stuck your apartment key in the lock and turned it, opening the door. Moonlight flooded into the room as what you assumed to be the sunflower man-thing finally glanced back at you. It looked like he was about to walk away. He looked mildly surprised, eyebrows raised as you swung open the door in a hurry.

“Sorry, sorry! I thought you were someone else!” You tried to apologize for the delay, forgetting that it was probably after midnight and you actually had good reason not to answer the door. His expression changed to one of mild confusion, before his hand moved to open the satchel on his hip that you hadn’t noticed in the darkness. Taking the moment to get a closer look at him, the sunflower man actually looked much… duller than he had early. His petals were a darker shade too. Maybe it was because of the dark? Did he wilt or something when the sun wasn’t out? It wouldn’t really surprise you at this point if he did. 

After a moment of digging around in his satchel, he pulled something out, holding it out towards you. A bouquet, it seemed. Though noticeably different from the one you had been offered earlier.

“Here,” the flower’s voice was much more gruff than you remembered it being, “Sun wanted to apologize for the fuss earlier. He made these for you. Don’t worry about a charge or anything.” You paused for a moment, trying to process what was being said to you. Sun? Was that the sunflower’s name? Did he really think it was his fault you were upset? Was this flower not Sun?

Noticing your lack of movement, the flower took your hand, placing the bouquet in your grip before you could protest. Their hands were much bigger than yours, practically enveloping your hand in their grasp. Snapping out of your thoughts, you reached to stop their hand before they could move away.

“Just wait a minute, how do you know my-”

“Your address? Had it on file because of the creep who ordered you a bouquet before. Was meant to be delivered tonight .” They cut you off, yanking their hand away from yours like the touch burned them. The bouquet was still in your hand. After a second of silence between the two of you, the flower stepped back from the door, turning on their heel to walk down the walkway while grumbling. “Enjoy, he hopes you forgive him.” 

“Wh-!” Stepping forward out of your unit to follow them, they were already briskly walking down the stairs to the first floor. Why did they have to have those stupid lanky legs! With a sigh, you decided not to pursue the chase. That flower was certainly more curt than Sun. Less polite, too.

Thinking of Sun once again, a heavy feeling sinks into your mind as you step back into your apartment. You really needed to explain yourself to him, even if you didn’t know him well. (Or know him at all, really. You just found out his name, or what you thought was his name.) Closing the door and locking it behind you, you set the keys and bouquet on your kitchen counter. 

Your eyes wandered in the darkness of your apartment, leaving you to pick at your tank top. It felt much more empty than it had a minute or so ago. Screw it . Guess you weren’t sleeping tonight. Fumbling your hand against the wall, you flicked on the light switch to your kitchen. Light flooded the space, making you wince as you got used to being able to see well again. Much of the light also flooded to your make-shift living area, a small couch with a coffee table in front of it. You had been so proud of that setup when you first got here.

Glancing down to the counter, you could fully take in the bouquet that you had been given. Sure, it was creepy for that thing to show up at your front door in the middle of the night, but Sun probably had good intentions behind the gesture. Though you may want to ask him to get rid of your address so something like this didn’t happen again. You were too paranoid for this type of thing. The bouquet, on a brighter note, was beautiful. It held a mix of white and yellow flowers of all different shades. Some you recognized to be daffodils, and others looked to be yellow roses. Bright and cheery, just like Sun. 

“He really did put a lot of effort into this, huh?” You mumbled to yourself aloud, briefly forgetting you were alone in your apartment. 

Maybe the shop was still open? They were known for their 24-hour service, right? You couldn’t be sure Sun was still on shift, and part of you hoped he wasn’t. Nobody should work that long, even if they are a giant anthropomorphic sunflower. It was the only thing you could think of though, since tomorrow would probably be filled with errands and anxiety, which only made you dread the dawn. 

With a sigh, you grabbed your socks and shoes and sat on the couch to put them on. This was stupid. You were stupid. You shouldn’t feel guilty over accidentally upsetting a weird unnecessarily large flower that just so happened to be really friendly and nice even when you upset them. You really shouldn’t.

But you do.

Tightening the knot on your sneakers, you pushed yourself off the plush cushion. Your eyes moved towards the hoodie sitting beside you on the couch, which you had thoughtlessly thrown off earlier once you sat down to eat. You were only wearing a tank top, so maybe it was a good idea to cover up. 

Zipping up, you walked up to the front door, sorting through your keys once again to make sure you had the right one. Once you found the right key for your apartment, your gaze wandered to the bouquet now laying abandoned on the counter. You’d have to give them a proper glass of water to rest in once you got home, though you’d probably have to cut their stems first. You certainly didn’t have a proper vase to fit them in, which made you feel a little saddened. They deserved better for being such pretty flowers.

Twisting your lock open once again, you stepped out into the cool night air once again. Glancing up at the clouds, a large cloud was visible in the distant night sky. Probably a storm cloud , you reasoned. You could only hope you got back before it rained as you heard the click of your door locking once again before pulling the key out, hiding it deep in your sweatpant pocket. 

Starting your trek to the flower shop, you stepped down the stairs away from your unit, totally not tripping and nearly cracking your head open in the process. ( Totally .) You breathed in an excessive amount of fresh air after getting to the bottom of the stairs, leaving your apartment complex completely. 

The city was quiet. Well, as quiet as the downtown area of a small city could be at night. You tried to make the best of it, ignoring the music that blared from some buildings and the people you crossed while walking. For a two-block walk, it sure did have a lot of sights to see.

You eventually turned a corner to see the familiar wall of flowers that you’d barely acknowledged earlier in front of the flower shop a few meters away. There really were flowers all over the shop, huh? As you walked towards the door, you took a moment to look inside the building, hopefully not looking too suspicious. It was mostly darkness, save for the little light that streamed in from the windows and what you assumed were lights in the back. Probably for the plants? You weren’t sure if that was how it worked, but you could only assume. 

You faced the glass door, seeing nobody else in the shop. Puffing out your chest and inhaling more air than you probably should’ve, you let out a forced sigh before raising your hand to knock. One knock, four knocks, and then two more. A steady beat that you had a habit of copying because of your old neighbor. He’d said he’d gotten into the habit because of his days in the military, but you didn’t care for the story and copied him anyway. 

Your knocks were only met with silence, and you began to wonder if you had maybe knocked too much. People normally only knock once, right? God, what if someone did hear you and thought you were some sort of salesman? This was probably a bad idea in general. Waiting another moment in the quiet of the night that was slowly eating away at your sanity, you bit down on your thumb nail, tapping your foot. 

Maybe you should leave. They were probably gone, or sleeping, or something. You really needed to leave .

Turning on your heel and wincing at the scuff it made against the ground, you backed away from the glass door. You tried to make your footsteps near-silent as you walked away from the door, so that nobody might notice you were ever there.

Then, a bell chime.

“What did you want? We’re closed.” The voice was gravely, snide, and clearly tired of your presence. Or at least that’s what it felt like. 

Wide-eyed, with mental sweat pouring down your face, you turned back to the flower shop’s front door. There, in all its glory, was a purple flower, much different than Sun, practically staring through your soul. Its eyes glowed a small bit of red, which was rather menacing given the circumstances. It was hunched over slightly, assumedly because of its height, wearing a dark green sweatshirt covered by much lighter blue overalls. Glancing back up to meet its judgmental gaze, you took your thumb nail out from between your teeth.

“Well, um, you see-” You stumbled over your own words. Of course you’d mess up now . God, you could be dumb sometimes.

“Was it the flowers?” The purple flower-man stopped you in your tracks, making you focus your attention on it once again. “Look, that’s not my job. Putting together the bouquets is Sun’s thing, so you can just tell him when we’re open.”

“No, no, the flowers were great!” You stepped forward towards the flower, waving your hands as you frantically tried to defend yourself. Taking a deep breath, you tried to organize your thoughts.

“I wanted to apologize to Sun. If he’s still here I mean, he’s probably off shift or something, so I don’t mean to be a bother-” The flower man moved to speak, but you held your hand up to stop it, cutting off your own rambling. “I was a jerk earlier and I’m pretty sure I made him feel really bad when I shouldn’t have and had no reason to, so if anything, he should’ve been the one to get an apology bouquet.”

Silence fell between the two of you, leaving you practically twiddling your thumbs as you waited for the curt dismissal you expected from the purple flower. It let out a sigh, putting its gloved hand over its face.

“Look, I’ll let him know in the morning, yeah? He’s-” A rather loud growl interrupted him.

Are you kidding? Now? NOW?! Why did your stomach have to growl right now?! You froze, internally having an anxious breakdown over your body’s betrayal. A drop of sweat actually rolled down your face as you stepped back from the entrance, your hands practically flew in front of you to help somehow explain yourself. You suddenly regretted rejecting your mother’s meal offer earlier.

“I am SO SO sorry! I’ll just head back home and leave it for the morning, sorry for the bother! It’s really late anyways, and you probably have better things to worry about!-” 

“Just… get inside. Come on before I change my mind.” The flower grumbled, but swung the door open further for you to enter. Glancing at the dark opening, you carefully took a step forward once again. The purple flower waved for you to hurry up, so you slid through the opening, the door shutting once again moments after you entered with a bell chime. A surprisingly gentle hand touched your back, making you jump as it pushed you further inside. 

“Should be a chair somewhere in the back, past the curtain.” The insistent hand continued to press into your back, moving you forward. You conceded, stepping farther into the darkness towards the aforementioned curtain, only glancing at your surroundings. Your mind perceived the inside of the flower shop as being much more cramped than it seemed earlier. Damn nerves.

Rounding the counter, you looked over to see where the purple flower that had followed you inside had gone, seeing as it was about completely silent now, other than the sound of what you assumed to be an air conditioner. Its figure shone in the moonlight, as it bent down to readjust a flower pot on the shelf beside the front door. It seemed… sweet. Though the action only made the one logical brain cell you had wonder if the way it had treated you earlier was a farce. 

It moved to stand back up straight, forcing you to hurry behind the curtain in a hurry, before it could acknowledge your creepiness. As you had assumed earlier, the back area was indeed lit, with rows of lamps over multiple different kinds of flowers. Looking around the room, that’s essentially what took up most of the space; just rows of flowers being warmed via lamps while sitting in large containers of soil. It was somehow more organized than you expected, but then again, you weren’t sure what you expected. The only real clear area of the room was towards the far wall, where a round wooden table took up one of the corners. A neatly-made stack of chairs was placed nearby, so you figured that’s what the flower had been referring to.

You made your way towards the back, eyeing the flowers you passed. You weren’t sure what some of them were, but you did see some you knew, like some vibrant tiger lilies a row or so down, as well as some lilacs and daisies. A water tin caught your eye before exiting one of the rows of flowers, which piqued your interest. Beside the can was a sprout with small vines surrounding it, showing off a cluster of purple flowers, both light and dark. The soil surrounding them was a bit darker than that which you’d seen with other flowers, so you could only assume that this is what the flower-man-thing was doing before you knocked. It was kind of funny thinking about a big purple flower doting on baby purple flowers.

A smile now gracing your features, you waved off your thoughts before stepping towards the stack of chairs. Bending down to grab the base, you took the top chair off the stack and set it beside the round table, where you supposed you were supposed to sit. Looking up once again, you noted a door to the side of the room. Well, not a door, but another curtain, this one being orange rather than purple. It certainly wasn’t the curtain you entered through, and your mind couldn’t help but wonder what lies beyond it.

Speaking of beyond curtains, a frustrated groan broke the tranquil silence before the purple curtain you’d entered through was swung open. Senses now focused in that particular direction, you could hear a steady tapping against the glass of the front windows. Oh god dammit . It was raining.

Now ignoring the giant purple flower striding towards you with tense shoulders, you laid your head on the table and reconsidered your life choices. Why did you have to go through with this stupid plan? What even was the plan? Why didn’t you listen to yourself when you first figured it was going to rain? Now you were bothering this… thing, AND you would have to sprint home while getting soaked to the bone. At least you brought your hoodie.

There was a sharp tap on the table, pulling you out of your self pity and back into reality, where said giant purple flower thing was looming over you, sending a chill down your spine. Jesus, this thing could be scary. However, seeming to acknowledge that it had your attention, something was tossed onto the table.

Lifting your head to look at whatever the flower tossed, you laid your eyes on a… pack of crackers? Sitting yourself up, your confused gaze wandered back over to the purple flower hovering silently beside you. It only sighed in perceived annoyance.

“...Look, Sun keeps them under the counter for kids. If you’re gonna judge anyone, judge him.”

“Do you go by ‘him’ too?” You spoke without thinking as you reached for the crackers, quickly slapping your hand over your mouth once you processed what you said. Stupid, stupid, STUPID! The purple flower raised what you assumed were its eyebrows in your direction.

“Erm, yeah, I guess I do.” It glanced off towards the orange curtain before returning its gaze to you. Well at least you could stop calling him ‘it’ now. Staring at him for another moment, you reached towards the crackers, hoping to break the heavy silence in the air. They were white cheddar, which you supposed wasn’t all that bad when compared to other options. Distracting yourself from the ever-looming figure standing beside you, you started to read the nutritional information on the back of the wrapper, biting down on your middle fingernail as you read. 10 grams of total fat, three and a half grams of saturated fat, surprisingly no trans fat…

A hand wrapped around your wrist, tugging your own hand away from your face. Looking up towards the flower in confusion and slight fear for your safety, he looked rather perturbed.

“Eat the crackers, not your hand. No wonder your nails are so short.” He glanced down at the hand in his grip before letting go, making you all-too aware of how little care you’d given towards them. “It's unsanitary.” 

Pulling your hand closer to your chest in embarrassment and a small amount of shame, you finally tore open the pack of crackers. You wiped off the nail you’d been biting at without realizing on your jacket. You changed your mind, his act definitely wasn't a farce.

“Uh, yeah, sorry.” You gave a nervous smile, trying to brush the whole thing off. “Let me eat these and I’ll be out of your hair, promise.”

You shoved one of the crackers into your mouth, hoping that having food in your mouth would prevent you from saying or doing anything else dumb. Not that it had ever worked before. As you chewed on the cheesy delight, you could feel your exhaustion finally catching up with you. Your eyes felt much heavier than they had a minute or so ago, and you pondered if the anxiety-caused-adrenaline fading was the reason. The purple flower continued to stand at your side, gloved hand tapping away at the table. Noting this, you picked up the pace.

Crunch, chew, and swallow. You focused on eating your crackers and ignoring the sound of anything else. The tapping against the table stopped, catching your attention. You avoided looking up at the flower, only stealing a glance towards him before putting the last cracker in your mouth. His hands were on his hips now, before the rest of his body turned away from the table entirely. 

Once he turned around, you crumbled the wrapper for the crackers in your hand and fully swiveled your gaze to focus entirely on his movements. He walked in a different direction than he had earlier, this time appearing to go towards the orange curtain that you had been oh so curious about. His footsteps seemed to get quieter and quieter as he went, until they were completely silent. Once at the curtain, he turned his eyes towards you one more time, forcing you to look extremely fascinated with the crumbled up cracker package in your hand. Letting out a huff of air, he opened the curtain and stepped inside. 

You couldn’t really see anything in there, given how barely any light reached beyond the threshold of the curtain. A pity. 

Left twiddling your thumbs in the silence of the garden room, you could at last really hear the sound of the rain outside. It was going down hard. You grimaced, imagining having to run home in that. Actually, you should probably get going now that you finished the crackers you were given. Maybe you could just leave a note for Sun? He would probably see it whenever he came in for work. Probably. You could only hope.

Glancing around the area, there were some longer shelves that seemed rather close to the ground lining the far wall of the room, with what looked to be various items scattered across them. You took another look at the orange curtain. No sign of movement. Shoving the cracker package in the hoodie pocket with your keys, you slid out of your chair. It scooted back slightly as you did. You cringed at the noise it made, hoping it didn’t get the purple flower’s attention. 

Practically tip-toeing, you walked slowly towards the long shelf closest to you. There were some drawers below the top of it, but no way in hell were you risking getting caught snooping through them. Moving your gaze back towards the top of the relatively short shelf, you sifted through it with your eyes. Some papers with messy drawings on them caught your eye, placed beside notes that were barely legible in the dim light. The notes had distinctly different styles of writing from what you could make out, one leaning towards cursive with bubbly lettering, while the other was much easier to read. However, the writing that was easier to see was also much shorter, and more infrequent. You could take a pretty good guess on which style belonged to who, which made you smile. They were very simple from what you had seen, which was sweet in an odd way. 

Moving past the papers, plastic containers and bags also covered the shelf, some with soil in them, both packaged and un-packaged, and some with small sealed bags of things you couldn’t quite decipher due to their tiny writing. On top of one of the bags, your eyes caught a small notepad that seemed to have been tossed onto the shelf pretty recently. 

Your hands shook as you picked it up, grabbing one of the many, many pens that were strewn on the shelf. This had to be the messiest area of the whole store. Quietly clicking the pen to use it, you almost wrote on the page the notepad had been left on before realizing it actually said something. You squinted, struggling to read the loopy writing.

‘ Moony, do you think you could take these along with the rest of your orders tonight?’ 

Pausing there, you assumed that the name ‘Moony’ was referring to the purple flower. That probably wasn’t his actual name though, right? Who names their kid – their giant flower person – Moony? It was more likely ‘Moon’ or something to that extent. You kept reading.

‘ Turns out one of our orders tonight was from a creepo :( and the person who they were going to be sent to came in today by coincidence! I offered it to them like I normally would, but they seemed really upset about it. Same address, if you can’t, leave them here and I’ll try to do it before opening up tomorrow. Big ol’ thanks either way :))’

Frowning now, you figured he was referring to you. Even more reason you needed to apologize now. Glancing at the bottom of the page, there was something small written in a different style.

‘ Got it. Sounds like an ass.’ You snorted, unsure if ‘Moon’ was referring to you or your ex. You hoped it was the ladder. Flipping the page, you carefully tore out the first empty page you found, praying you didn’t accidentally damage anything else.

Your eyes lingered on the note for another moment, before you took care to place the notepad back where you had gotten it. Sun really was a good guy, flower or not. Processing your surroundings one again, your anxiety returned after realizing how much you just invaded these two’s privacy. That was a note to Moon, dammit! Not you! Hurrying back over to the table, you pressed the note flat against it. An apology was all you needed to give before you left. You didn’t need to do anything else, especially not snoop into others' personal lives.

Scribbling a brief but genuine sorry onto the paper, you signed your name on the bottom before setting the pen down on it. You stopped for a moment, pondering if a note was really enough. It didn’t matter right now. You needed to leave before you did something else stupid. Shaking your head to get rid of the thoughts, you stood back up and moved to leave where you’d come from. Your pace was quick and strides long now, with none of the cautiousness you’d had a minute ago. With a huff, you threw your hood on before pushing open the purple curtain. You could finally see how hard it was pouring out there now.

“And where exactly were you planning on going?” The voice that had accompanied you earlier spoke, though you now knew the name attached to it. You froze in your tracks, still holding the curtain open as you looked behind you. There Moon stood in all his glory, holding what you assumed to be a blanket and something else in his arms. You met his eyes.

“I was, uh-” You looked away from his menacing gaze. “I said I’d get out of your hair once I ate, yeah? I don’t live too far from here.” Pointing towards the front of the store you were about to leave through with your empty hand, you tried to get your point across. It didn’t seem to do much, based on the lack of reaction from Moon. After a moment of stillness between the two of you, he lets out a rather dramatic sigh, grumbling to himself before setting what he was holding on the table. You could see now that the blanket had what you could only assume to be little stars on it. 

“I know that .” His gaze remained firm as he placed his hands on his hips. “You’re not walking out there. It’s pouring.”

The sky through the window behind you lit up, the loud rumble of thunder sounding to accentuate his words. You furrowed your eyebrows in annoyance. Never mind anything you said about this guy being sweet. He’s a dramatic jerk who knows much more than he probably should. You repressed your brief urge to metaphorically strangle him. Not that you’d be able to. 

“You sure?” You met his annoyed gaze once more, resisting the urge to power walk out of the front door.

“Yes. Do you need a warm glass of milk too, or are we finally in agreement?” He smiled at his own remark, and you had to put much more effort into stifling your annoyance this time. He’s letting you stay the night. He’s being nice.

“No.” You returned his smile, yours much more strained. “Thank you.”

Stepping away from the purple curtain, it fell back into place behind you. Your hands reached up to take off your hood as you walked through the rows of carefully maintained flowers once again, resulting in you running your hands through it once or twice to (hopefully) neaten it. Totally not an anxiety thing. 

Once you got close to the round table again, a blur of motion caught your attention, before the blanket that had been on the table a second ago was resultantly thrown on your face. You’d been right. The surprisingly soft blanket that you had been attacked with was a dark blue, freckled with pale gold stars all across it.

“Use it, it’s a spare. There’s an extra bed in the other room.” You heard Moon’s rasp voice as you slid the blanket off your face. He had the pillow in hand, which you could now see was a much lighter shade of blue, or perhaps purple. You hated the low-lighting of this room. Once you locked eyes with him again, he quickly turned on his heel and strode in the direction he’d left through earlier, lazily waving for you to follow.

You listened as you usually would, following him until the two of you reached the orange curtain a few feet away. He stepped aside then, holding the orange curtain up for you with one hand, pillow still in his other. You peered up towards him, where an expectant gaze awaited you.

“...Thanks. Again.” Mumbling, you stepped into the dark(er) room. 

Squinting to see in the almost completely dark room, you noticed a soft glow coming from your right. Stepping forward to reach towards it, you felt a fabric in the way. Another curtain, though you couldn’t quite discern its color in the dark. Why did this place have so many curtains ? The curtain you had come in through shut, cutting off most if not all of the little light you were using to see. Letting go of the curtain hiding the faint golden glow, you chose not to push your luck with a giant menacing flower named Moon not far behind you. 

You could hear his footsteps now, since they were noticeably louder than they had been earlier. Not loud enough to cause a disturbance, just loud enough to pick up on. Taking a chance, you slowly reached your hand towards the sound of the footsteps, blindly feeling for something solid in the darkness. 

After a moment of feeling nothing but emptiness, you felt rubber. It jerked away from you for a moment, before you felt it touch you once again, this time wrapping around your wrist, giving a gentle tug. Your eyes widened at the realization that it was, in fact, Moon’s hand, but you went along. He likely knew where to go, after all.

You let yourself go slack, following along with the gentle pull of your arm. Your foot almost tripped on something after a step or two, but Moon seemed to stop once you gripped his arm to balance. At least he wasn’t a complete jerk. It only took a few more steps before the tug on your arm ceased, Moon dropping your hand all together. You squinted at him, barely registering what you thought was his figure stepping towards you in the dark. A pressure was placed on your back, gently pushing you on to some sort of cushion. It clicked for you then.

He had been leading you to the bed. 

With a sigh of relief, you mumbled a ‘thanks’ before flopping down. Your eyes felt heavy despite knowing a figure was staring at you in the dark. Maybe those nights spent watching documentaries instead of leaving yourself to sleep with your thoughts hadn’t been worth it after all. Removing your splayed out arms from the bed, you dug into your hoodie pocket, searching only for a moment before feeling the familiar feeling of your phone case.

You turned it on, wincing at the sudden light, and quickly turning it down to a lower brightness. Turning the screen towards the empty abyss you had walked through, you could finally see Moon, though not very clearly. He also winced at the sudden light, making you exhale a quiet giggle.

“Sorry, sorry.” You mumbled, turning the phone light back towards yourself. Moon seemed to crouch down once you turned the light away from him, still staring you down in the dark. Creepy, but whatever. It was getting a bit hard to keep your eyes open at this point.

“Go to sleep.” He whispered, still loud enough to hear in the quiet of the room. “You can leave in the morning.” 

He was still as blunt as ever, even when you were this tired. You smiled, figuring he was probably just as blind as you in here despite knowing his way around. Sitting up once again, Moon stepped back from you. You leaned down to slip your shoes off, not wanting to mess up the bed you’d been offered.

“Yeah yeah, I will.” Tucking them slightly underneath the bed, you flopped back down on it, though this time with your entire body on the mattress. You didn’t bother with taking off your hoodie. “Hey, Moon, right?”

There was quiet, and then a small ‘mhm’ from nearby. Looking towards where you heard the noise, you could see two faint red dots lying still beside the bed. You laid your head back on the pillow of the bed in order to not strain your neck.

“Thanks, I mean it.” You gave a tired smile, not that he could see it.

“...You’re welcome.” 

Your eyes shut. 

Lights out.