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For someone who owns a tattoo parlor, Noel Noa is way stricter than one might guess. Upon looking at him for the first time, Kaiser expected the man to be everything but an artist, considering that the man appeared to be the ‘logic-over-feelings’ type and, well, you know what they say about artists. When he got hired and thus got the chance to see Noa’s work, he soon found out this was a misjudgment.
“Michael,” Noa calls as he prepares himself for his next client. “Could you go fetch something for me across the street?”
Although it comes across as a question, Kaiser isn’t exactly in the position to decline: Noa is his boss, after all.
“Sure. Where exactly? The flower shop?” he asks, and the last part is supposed to be a joke, because Noel Noa surely didn’t need anything from that cute little shop in front of the tattoo parlor.
“Exactly,” Noa answers and Kaiser immediately knows he’s serious, which takes him by surprise. “It's already paid for, all you have to do is give my name.”
Of course, not even the shock is enough to stop Kaiser from teasing him.
“Is this by any chance for that Brazilian guy that keeps coming here?”
“I don’t recall allowing questions about my private affairs in your contract.”
The glare Noa sends his way is enough to make Kaiser do a mental note to hold back on the teasing around his overly serious boss for a while – he doesn’t want to be fired. However, the way the man’s ears go slightly red answers Kaiser’s question better than any words ever could.
…
When Kaiser steps inside the establishment for the first time, he’s not really stunned or surprised by it. He’s never been to that specific one before, but he did visit other flower shops, and in his opinion, they all look the same. Just flowers and vases and more flowers and some supplies and, oh , even more flowers everywhere he looked, so it isn’t news to him.
When he makes his way towards the cashier to get the order, he expects nothing more than an old, smiling lady like all the other’s he’s been assisted by – the ones who would always either compliment his looks or talk about how youngsters are brave for having those flashy tattoos. So, when Kaiser looks better and sees someone who looks nothing like an old lady who should probably be retired by now, he immediately stops on his tracks.
And he stares.
He doesn’t know if it’s the way the boy’s hands so skillfully arrange the flowers in a bouquet or if it’s the way he looks completely focused on what he’s doing, his pursed lips and blue eyes showcasing his determination.
Yes, his eyes – Kaiser realizes they are beautiful.
“Can I help you?” The florist asks even though he hasn’t looked at Kaiser yet, and it makes Kaiser wonder if he was aware of the staring all along, but he does his best to compose himself.
“I’m picking up something. The name’s Noel Noa.”
The employee nods and places the bouquet carefully on the table, his touch obviously tender, as if those flowers are even more fragile than they actually are.
He leaves and quickly comes back with a bouquet much like the other one he’d been working on when Kaiser first spotted him, except this one is full of yellow flowers he can’t quite name. He must have looked absorbed, because the other man in the room named them instead.
“Those are yellow dahlias,” he says. Kaiser looks at him again and notices the name tag on his shirt. Yoichi Isagi .
“I see,” Kaiser replies and don’t get him wrong, but he isn’t really interested in flower language, so on any other occasion, he’d just leave it like that. Still, this time he asks about it, and he’s aware it’s just an excuse he made up to get to hear Yoichi talk again. “And what do they mean?”
“They can mean many things. It depends on who’s giving them to who,” Yoichi explains while getting a paper from a drawer behind the counter and handing it to Kaiser. “Here, sign it.” While Kaiser does as he asked, he adds: “Dahlias can mean from glee to a lifelong commitment, so it’s hard for me to explain for sure.”
Kaiser wonders if Noa knows what the flowers he chose can mean, but the thoughts of it vanish as soon as his fingers brush against Yoichi’s for a millisecond when he is returning the paper. He realizes he wasn’t wrong about Yoichi’s touch. It’s as kind as it looks.
“And is there any flower that represents gentleness?” Kaiser asks before he can stop himself. The thing is, Yoichi doesn’t really look interested in striking a conversation with him even with his shop empty – there were no other clients whatsoever for him to help – and yet, something about him makes Kaiser want to keep trying to strike a conversation. He wants Yoichi to keep looking at him. The fact that he doesn’t exactly know what this feeling is unsettles him a little, but the urge to not leave is bigger than any of it.
“Um,” Isagi looks around the shop before walking towards a vase with pink roses. “Here. I suppose those would do.”
“I’ll take them,” Kaiser speaks a bit too hastily. “The pink roses. If they are available.”
“Sure,” Yoichi answers. “Would you like a bouquet, a vase, or–”
“The vase is fine.”
That evening, Kaiser goes back to Noa’s shop with a bouquet in one hand and a vase with pink roses on the other.
…
The second time Kaiser feels like going to the flower shop is a week later, when his shift is finally over and Noa’s just about to close the store when the Brazilian guy – whose name Kaiser later found out was Lavinho – came to pick Noa up on his bike, and they did look close . It made Kaiser think of the flowers and their meanings and the flower shop and, most definitely, the florist.
He remembers Yoichi well, actually. Everytime he looks at the pink flowers he decided to leave resting on the counter even if it stood out completely from the parlor’s whole aesthetic, he remembers how Yoichi managed to completely steal his attention.
Even then, he kept wondering why he was still thinking about the man. He was pretty, Kaiser had to give him that. And he looked even prettier when he put his hands to work so gracefully. And Kaiser did not believe in love at first sight, but he did believe in immediate attraction.
“ You could go see him again. It might help you figure it out ,” Ness tells him over the phone as he explains the situation. “ Maybe you have a crush on him .”
He does exactly what his friend recommended, which is the sole reason why he’s once again inside the flower shop across the street.
“Good evening, Yoichi,” he greets even though they aren’t intimate at all. He just wants to say his name, and God, it does sound sweet on his mouth.
“Good evening,” Yoichi greets, more out of professional politeness than any sort of fondness. “How can I help you?”
“Gardenias,” Kaiser answers with simplicity. “Do you know what they mean?”
“As I said, the meanings can vary a little,” Yoichi states matter-of-factly while he walks towards one of the shelves. “It depends on the person’s intentions.”
“To me, they mean you’re lovely. ”
The florist gets a vase and starts arranging the flowers Kaiser asked for. “Well, yes. They can mean that.”
Kaiser doesn’t think Yoichi caught up on the message he almost unconsciously tried to get across, or if he did, he ignored it completely.
Once again, new flowers were placed on the counter at Noa’s shop.
…
The third time happens in the same time span of one week. Kaiser goes there and greets Yoichi, hoping to get some sort of different reaction out of him. Ness tells him he should stop coming if he doesn’t get one, and even though Kaiser hates the idea, he admits he'll have to give it some thought if Yoichi still shows zero interest.
Kaiser asks for calla lilies, for they represent beauty. Yoichi’s reaction is just the expected – not impolite, not friendly. Just strictly professional. The tattoo artist almost concludes that he should just stop coming when the florist proves him wrong.
“Thanks for coming… Um–”
“Michael Kaiser.”
“Kaiser,” Yoichi repeats and there’s the faintest smile on his face. Small, but it’s there if one pays enough attention. “Come by again.”
…
As Yoichi suggested, Kaiser shows up one more time. And another one. And another, until he has visited the shop enough to know more about flower language than someone who works at a tattoo parlor probably has to. Yoichi slowly starts interacting with him. Now, he and Kaiser have actual conversations. They start mundane, throwing around questions like ‘how are you?’ or stuff about the weather, but eventually, Kaiser gets to talk about himself, and tells Yoichi about his job at Noa's parlor. Surprisingly, he seems interested in Kaiser's work, saying that he always liked art no matter the vehicle, which is nice, since it becomes a common topic between the two of them. Yoichi talks about himself too, explaining that he ended up working on this flower shop because he’d been really invested in ikebana during his high school years, even having taken part in his school's ikebana club.
So yes, there’s been a lot of visits and every single time, he comes back with a new flower vase to adorn Noa’s shop.
Inevitably, Noa ends up complaining about them. It happens when Kaiser is all too happy coming back from his break time, which he spent at the flower shop chatting with Yoichi.
“Michael, would you care to explain why you are trying to rival the flower shop with the amount of vases you’ve been bringing here?”
“I thought it would build up a nice atmosphere?” Kaiser utters the first half-assed excuse he can think of.
“It’ll scare the clients away,” Noa sighs as he still stares at the mountain of flowers instead of his employee. “You can keep some, just… Not all.” Kaiser can’t argue with that. “And, for Christ’s sake, invite that boy out. If that’s the reason you’re infesting my shop with flowers, I’m really hoping it works out between you two. And quickly.”
Kaiser’s eyes widen in surprise, taken aback by the fact that Noa knows what’s going on, but restrains himself from asking how . Then he figures it's only natural. If Kaiser connected the dots regarding Noa's relationship with that Lavinho dude, then it makes a lot of sense that Noa would be able to do the same to him.
…
"How are you doing, Yoichi?"
"The same as always," Yoichi answers as Kaiser pays him another visit. "You?"
Kaiser smiles mischievously as he replies, “Even better now that I'm talking to you.”
Yoichi snorts, already being somewhat used to this sort of thing coming from Kaiser, although in all honesty, he seems to take it as a joke. “So, the same as always too. What will it be today?”
“To be honest, my boss forbade me from buying more flowers.”
“What? Why?" Isagi frowns. "Can he even do this?”
“He says I've been swarming his shop with flowers," Kaiser sighs soundly in mock heartbreak.
“Wait, is there where you bring all the vases you buy?” Kaiser nods in agreement. “Oh my God. You do know you are insufferable, right?”
"You still haven't kicked me out, so I'm assuming you still like me well enough to let me in, even though I'm so insufferable.”
“I was wrong, you're not insufferable. You are impossible."
“All I hear is ‘you’re amazing, Michael.'"
“Shut up, Kaiser. ” Isagi answers, his sharp tone not matching his amused expression. “Since you can’t take any flowers with you today, I'm giving you this one out of spite. It's the only time you’re getting that for free, so enjoy it."
When Kaiser gets home, he sees the small paper attached to the red ribbon that's wrapped around the stem. Written on it there’s a phone number – he assumes it's Yoichi’s number. Not only that, but when he googles the meaning of narcissus, the flowers he was gifted with, he finds out that those flowers can possibly mean ‘affection returned’.
Before he goes to bed, he makes sure to text Yoichi. It's a brief text, and it reads:
'What's your favorite flower?'
When he falls asleep, he’s happy, and the new gift is by his side all night long on his bedside table.
…
He wakes up to Isagi's reply.
'Hello to you as well.'
'Now that I think about it, I never had one.'
'I've recently gotten interested in blue roses, though.'
Kaiser now knows what he has to do when he next visits the flower shop.
…
“How can I help you today?” Yoichi asks as a joke while Kaiser approaches him that evening.
"Today I didn't come exclusively to bother you, Yoichi," Kaiser starts. "Blue roses. And make it a bouquet this time."
"Oh? Any special occasion?"
Yoichi gets the flowers and starts working skillfully, like clockwork, as he waits for Kaiser to answer his question.
"A date, actually."
"A date?" Yoichi looks a bit skeptical, perhaps let down, if Kaiser's mind isn’t playing tricks on him. For just a second, he stops moving his busy hands, but swiftly goes back to work as if nothing happened.
“A date,” Kaiser repeats. “That is, if you’re willing to go.”
Yoichi then completely stops fiddling with flowers and ribbons and stares straight at him, blue eyes wide and mouth slightly agape for a few seconds. And then he laughs. He laughs a lot and it's so, so pretty.
“You're inviting me out using a bouquet I made?”
"Yes, that’s the plan.” All Yoichi can do is laugh more, and Kaiser knows that regardless of Yoichi's final answer to his invitation, it'll have been worth it for the simple fact that he got to hear him laughing like this, in such a carefree way. “I'll pick you up tomorrow, when your shift ends?”
The florist takes a deep breath to stop laughing and finally gives Kaiser his answer, the smile never leaving his face.
“God, you really are impossible," Yoichi says. "Don't be late to pick me up."
It’s safe to say that from this day on, Noel Noa no longer had to deal with flowers invading his shop.
EXTRA
Isagi’s boss was a weird individual in all senses, from his behavior to his body language. That’s why one would be surprised upon finding out that no, Ego Jinpachi did not own an underground facility for illegal scientific experiments or a secluded area for dealing with private government affairs, but a simple flower shop directly across from a tattoo parlor.
“Look, it’s your guy again.” Ego says loud enough for only Isagi to hear it when he spots Kaiser.
“Don’t put it that way.”
“He keeps coming to see you. Want me to kick him out for ya?”
Isagi is surprised by the fact that for once it actually looked like Ego cared about someone’s feelings or safety.
“No. It’s fine.” There's a small smile as he answers.
“I see, that's how it is." Ego looks at him for more time than it’s comfortable with those unblinking, abnormally wide eyes of his, and when Isagi is about to break the silence that would soon become unbearable, Ego speaks again. “Well, just don't do anything inside my shop.”
“What?” Isagi frowned in confusion before realizing the implications of Ego's words. “Hold on, that's not–!”