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As a florist who specializes in weddings, Keigo is used to strange requests. He’s made bouquets out of wild fungi, arrangements meant to look like certain intimate bits of anatomy, and even had an order for completely dead flowers.
But, despite that, not too many people place orders for flowers with off-the-wall meanings.
“I’m sorry, you want the arrangement to mean what now?” Keigo asks, sure he’s misheard.
The raspy voice on the other end of the line laughs.
“These dumbass gamers gave me three weeks to figure out their wedding. I want the flowers to SAY they’re dumbasses. But also like, in love and shit.”
”Okay,” Keigo says, trying his best to restrain his amusement. He’s pretty sure he fails. “I’ll have to see what I can come up with. What else did you say you wanted? I think my brain checked out after ‘and your Minecraft love shack is weird but kinda cute.’”
Another laugh. “I got a whole list if you want me to send it over. Neither of them do flower language shit, but Toga, Compress, Magne, and Kurogiri all took ikebana with my mom. They’ll get it, and I’ll have my revenge.”
What a strange set of names - they almost sound like gamer handles, Keigo muses, grinning.
“If you’ve got a list already prepared, do you just wanna stop by the shop?” he asks, interested in meeting this guy despite himself. “You can pick out the ones you want so the end result isn’t just a disaster?”
“Yeah, sure, I got time while the cake guy does his baking wizardry. What’s the address?”
After rattling off the address, Keigo and the guy—shoot, what did he say his name was? Touya?—hang up, leaving Keigo in a state of utter amusement.
Usually, when he does wedding arrangements, the flowers that are chosen—if they have any meaning at all—are all about eternal love, devotion, loyalty, and so on. This wedding is promising to be hysterical though.
Doesn’t hurt that the best man seems to have a sense of humor, Keigo thinks, puttering around his shop, cleaning up leaves and stems from an arrangement he’d been working on earlier. Better than dealing with a bridezilla, for sure.
With that thought in mind, Keigo pulls out his book on flower language and starts dogearing the pages that might be assembled to mean ‘ you’re weird but I support you.’
He hums to himself as he works in the calm of his shop, breathing in the earthy perfume of flowers, not realizing just how much his life is about to change.
—--
Touya’s an organized guy for the most part. Once he’s got a plan in place, he’ll figure it out down to the smallest detail, and he’ll follow through come hell or high water.
That being said, he doesn’t love planning on a time constraint. He likes to take his time to make sure he’s picking the right restaurant, or has compared enough reviews to book a service, or put in the work to get nicer materials for a gift. Planning is something to be savored, not something that should be done by the seat of one’s pants.
So, while he jokes about it, he really does want Shigaraki and Spinner’s—or Tenko and Shuichi’s—wedding to go off without a hitch. Or with a hitch. Whatever.
Point is: three weeks to figure out a cake, suits (no, Tenko, t-shirts are not acceptable groomsmen attire, fuck you), a florist, a venue, and guest invites… it’s a fucking lot. Even if both grooms are gamer dudes with absolutely no taste, Touya can’t be seen organizing a wedding that only serves Mountain Dew and Cheetos. He has some pride.
Which means his frustration with the grooms is equal to his desire to make their wedding something memorable, and it’s becoming a bit of a theme in all of his planning thus far.
A cake made with the finest ingredients, topped with a couple of custom DnD characters that match Tenko and Shuichi’s first campaign together? Horrible and adorable. Adorrible, as Toga would say.
Following that are the suits, which are all the Disney-bounding versions of League of Legend characters. Shiuchi had already cried over Toga’s Jinx-style dress, and Touya felt something like vicious pride at the sight.
Then there was the venue, which Touya still can’t believe he was able to swing. Thank god his little brother has friends in important places, otherwise Nintendo World would never have agreed to host a wedding on such a low budget.
And to top it off, he’s found a florist willing to work with his weird-ass request at a price that doesn’t do critical damage to the budget. Thank god for his mother’s flower fanaticism and willingness to ask around her circles for a trustworthy vendor.
“Which means after this, all I have to do is confirm the cake and pick up the invites,” he mutters to himself, checking his watch as he walks toward the flower shop. “And I swear to god, if Shiuchi tried sneaking a plus one onto mine, I’m giving over best man duties to Jin.”
He wouldn’t, actually, because he’s already done ninety percent of the work over the past two weeks, but still! It’s the principle of it.
And so what if, during a very tipsy DnD campaign, Touya had revealed a bit of loneliness while watching his character, Dabi, fall in love? It was none of his meddlesome friends’ business, setting him up on blind dates or giving him nudges at bars toward men making eyes at him.
Touya could find love if and when he felt like it! He didn’t need help!
He gives himself a firm nod at his mental affirmation even as a shop with window boxes and outdoor plants overflowing with bright colors comes into view, confirming he’s found the flower shop. A light breeze blows his way, carrying with it a veritable perfume of floral notes, and Touya inhales deeply, letting the scents that remind him so much of his mother’s house ease the tension from his shoulders.
Right, let’s get this show on the road.
—--
The bell for the front door tinkles merrily, and Keigo looks up from the experimental bouquets he’s been working on in preparation for the wedding customer who should be here any—
Oh.
Oh.
Tall, white hair, ink-black tattoos interwoven with vibrant blue that almost matches the most stunning eyes Keigo has ever seen. The man’s posture is relaxed, confident, and when he looks over the flowers in Keigo’s shop, there’s an air of fondness, rather than the panic Keigo sees in most men.
Wow, he thinks, stunned mute by the presence of an angel in his shop.
The feeling of immobility only worsens when blue eyes meet his, and the man’s eyebrows arch as if in surprise.
“Are you Keigo?” he asks in a raspy voice that was a perfect match for the wedding customer from the day before. Keigo desperately pulls himself together.
“That’s me,” he says, voice hoarse before he clears his throat. “Are you Touya?”
Please be Touya, we have an hour scheduled together.
“Guilty as charged,” Touya says, smiling at him to devastating effect.
“Cool,” Keigo’s voice cracks. He tries to recover. “I uh, looked through my books after our call and I think I have some decent options for you to look over.”
Stupid, at least ask him how he’s doing! Offer him some coffee! SOMETHING!
“Hmm,” Touya hums, slipping his hands into his pockets as he strolls over to the counter, taking in the bouquets Keigo’s been working on as he does. He pauses by the first arrangement—a mix of pink, white, and yellow carnations—and bends down to to inhale the fragrance from them.
“Carnations?” Touya asks, peeking up through his eyelashes at Keigo, whose heart chooses that moment to develop a cramp. Is he having a heart attack?
“Yeah,” Keigo says dazedly. “Um, yellow for disappointment—for being dumbasses, in your words. Pink for gratitude—for being your friends. White for ‘y’all are sweet’, though I haven’t found anything to represent minecraft specifically.” He grins mischievously, recovering himself a bit. “Though I did also pick up some azalea branches since they’re a minecraft bush and can also be used as a death threat if placed in a black vase. Figured that might be relevant after they gave you three weeks to plan a wedding.”
Blue eyes glitter with amusement. “That’s fucking perfect. What else have you got for me?”
My home address, maybe?
Keigo mentally shakes himself, trying to remember the meaning of professionalism in these dire straits.
“Well, for accents, I was thinking buttercups and tansies? Buttercups are typically associated with childish wonder, but they can also be ‘you still laugh at fart jokes unironically’, while tansies are a declaration of war.”
Keigo picks up the two sprigs of innocent yellow flowers to show Touya and is rewarded with an evil grin that does dangerous things to his already cramping heart.
“I am leaving you the biggest tip, I hope you know that.”
Keigo snorts despite himself. “No need for that—this is one of the most hilarious orders I’ve ever worked on. That’s enough for me.”
Touya gives him a thoughtful once over as if contemplating something. He opens his mouth, hesitates, then seems to take a different direction.
“Fair enough. What other evils do you have in store?"
At that, Keigo laughs. “Oh, just you wait.”
—---
Touya spends much longer than his allotted hour in the flower shop, practically head to head with Keigo as they pour over the flower books at his disposal. To the point that he discreetly texts his sister to finalize the cake on his behalf—with the promise of sending her on a spa weekend, his treat!—so he can spend more time with the captivatingly handsome and devilishly clever florist who not only proposes very wholesome messages with “friendship” daffodils, but also very sneaky insults via gladiolus, which means little sword.
“I’m not saying it means small dick energy, but I’m not not saying that either,” Keigo laughs, twirling the stem of bright purple flowers around between his fingers. For some reason, Touya’s a bit enraptured by the sight. “Though probably not quite appropriate for your friends.”
“You’ve never seen Tenko lose at Mario Kart,” Touya snickers. “Though you’re right—probably not for the wedding. I’ll save it as a recommendation for Shuichi to buy next Valentine’s Day.”
“That’s so mean!” Keigo groans, though his grin betrays him. “Please send me a video when you do. Also, isn’t the wedding on Valentine’s? Wouldn’t that make it an anniversary bouquet?”
Touya pinches the bridge of his nose. “Don’t remind me that they planned their wedding on the most romantic day of the year by accident. I still haven’t recovered.”
“How do you manage that by accident?” Keigo asks, aghast. “The only reason I’m not overrun right now is because I closed the shop for the afternoon.”
Touya blinks, taking in that tidbit with a delighted thrill that almost derails him.
“It’s the release of the remastered Tomb Raider series that day,” he confesses. “They wanted to get married, then have a big gaming party afterward instead of a reception.”
“I—” Keigo pauses, looking torn between amusement and some kind of despair. “That actually sounds like a fucking blast.”
Touya bites his lip, looking between the flowers they’ve spread out, the length of the list Keigo’s scrawled their ideas on, the fact that Keigo has been missing out on an entire afternoon’s worth of business in the week before Valentine’s Day, and he makes a decision.
From one of the many sample bouquets they’d assembled, he plucks a single white rose—meant to represent, among other things, new beginnings. Looking up through his lashes, Touya can see Keigo looking at the rose in confusion, before his expression shifts to startled and… hopeful?
“Most of the wedding party knows something about flower language,” Touya says, feeling a little awkward and a little hopeful himself as he extends the rose to Keigo. “Would you like to see their reactions to your work firsthand? Possibly followed by drinks, dancing, and gaming?”
Keigo takes the rose, lifting it to his nose for a deep inhale that doesn’t hide the grin stretching his face.
“Are you asking me to be your plus one?”
Touya takes in the pretty golden eyes that’d enraptured him the entire afternoon and wonders if the wedding bells he hears in his head are actually the wedding planning insanity sinking in.
“I am,” he says, trying not to think about how close that is to I do. “You up for it?”
“I am,” Keigo echoes, beaming wide.
“Excellent,” Touya says a little breathlessly. He pauses, a silly idea forming in his mind. “Should I get you flowers?”
Keigo tosses his head back with a laugh.
“Anything but gladiolus, and I’m yours.”
—--
(Touya then has to kick Shiuchi’s ass for not giving him a plus one later that night, refusing the protests that his friends decided for once in their lives not to push him to get a date.)
(And yes, the wedding party had to take turns busting a gut laughing at all of the different flower meanings present in the arrangements. Keigo was very proud.)