Chapter Text
When a familiar yet not so familiar figure walked in the door of his flower shop called Philo, Jeremiah found himself fighting emotions back at the mere tone of her voice. Different, yet familiar. The shine in her eyes was the same. Too bad Xavier wasn't here for him to tease around her. Their pinning was one of his greatest sources of entertainment once, long, long ago.
"What can I do for you, milady?" He greeted eagerly.
"Well," She looked resistant. "My plant is dying. I was looking through the reviews of local shops to see if I could find one to help and almost forgot I met you before."
Already nearly forgotten him again. He bit down on the cold feeling in his heart and told himself it wasn't her fault. She had no idea who he was in the first place.
"Sick plant? Can do. Let me see."
She presented him with a pitiful looking pothos.
"Now, my my. How did you manage to get it this bad?" He said teasingly.
After a few minutes of identifying the root diseases and explaining to her how it came to this point, he offered to repot it for her and after she agreed to the cost, he turned to the small sink behind the counter.
"Hey Jeremiah?" She asked, observing him as he stood back facing her, gingerly washing the roots of the sick plant. When he responded, she continued.
"How do you know Xavier?"
"Academy." He said plainly, not thinking too much about it. "Um.."
"Like hunter academy?" She asked, all too excited now. "So, you were a hunter too? Is that how you know so much about technology and data?"
He was glad his back was still facing her so she couldn't see his face of absolute panic.
"I wasn't. I just... well sort of? I'm not now so that's what matters."
"Right, I assumed because there's no way you could run a shop as beautiful as this without meticulous effort, and even my data scientist friends at the Deepspace Organization barely have time off to do recreational stuff let alone a whole side business."
"Well, I'll take that as a compliment then?"
"Yes! Sorry, I didn't mean anything otherwise."
He turned back, panic phased, desperately hoping the subject would change and that she wouldn't press him for more questions. But knowing her....
And he was right. She immediately continued.
"Can I ask why you decided not to join the hunters then?"
"Well..." He couldn't think of an excuse other than the truth. "I was tired. Wanderer after wanderer... felt like I wasn't making a difference. Then one day Xavier- uh," Panic returned. "Oh! I almost forgot. So, this plant needs to be watered once a week, nothing more than that or the rot will set in again." He attempted.
"Okay! Got it." She nodded cheerfully. "And then?"
She was not going to let him off that easily.
"Uhh, yeah he...made a suggestion. That's all. It lead me here. So, I still help him out from time to time."
"Oh, I see. You seem like good friends."
He snorted. "The guy's an idiot."
She looked surprised at his quick dismissal but could quickly see there was humor in his eyes.
"But," he continued, "He cares. Mostly. You know how he is."
She definitely did not know how he was, but he was just rambling now.
"Never asking for help, never communicating, expecting you to read his mind... It's not that I think he's incapable but he tries to do everything himself and Astra knows what he'd do without me."
FRICK.
"Astra? What's that?"
"Huh? Asters? Those over there." He quickly covered, pointing over the counter to the little clearance shelf across them. A few wilting purple flowers were in a pot with a markdown sticker. "Sorry. Florist talk!"
She laughed, glancing where he was pointing. "You curse in flowers?"
"Always gets a fun reaction. You should hear my other friends when I say stuff like 'Son of a Sunflower!"
She laughed again, full-bellied and bright. It was refreshing.
"That's cute. I might have to steal that." She replied, still giggling. He hadn't realized how much he missed it, even if even in the past it had mostly been at his expense.
"Speaking of," He plucked a sunflower from a display behind him. "On the house."
"No- I couldn't! Jeremiah, that's gorgeous!"
"Not as gorgeous as you." He said with a wink. It was merely an instinctual reply from years -hundreds of years- of habitual banter which was intending it as a playful and platonic not truly flirtatious, mostly around Xavier to irritate him. He stood fully expecting the usual smack in the arm and rolled eyes he was used to receiving from her.
Instead she blushed a little, taking its stem gently with two fingers.
"O-oh. You're sweet."
In shock he blinked at her, fighting the paired urge to keep rolling with it, but it stayed in his mind when he realized it wasn't as funny without Xavier around. And now realizing how seriously she'd taken it, embarrassment set in. In the past he'd never said anything about it, it was just a fact; like leaves were green, she was pretty. Plus, with all her pinning over Xavier, he found it best to avoid any potential dangerous encounters with the man who was hilariously jealous over the dumbest things.
Embarrassed and internally cringing at his own behavior, he began fumbling to ring her up at the checkstand, grateful when the door chimed a moment later. He looked up to greet the couple entering and resumed his nearly self-automatic cashier-mode, like some kind of NPC from a video game.
He barely heard her when she spoke next, saying, "It's nice Xavier still stayed friends with you even after you left the academy." "Mhm." He hummed.
Something like that.
It had been Xavier who left the academy while he had been fully graduated and knighted, serving at her side.
But of course, there was no say to logically correct that.
"Thanks for fixing my plant! Sorry, I didn't mean to pry earlier." She apologized.
"It's cool, figured I'd have to explain the disguises eventually. And hey, now I have two deepspace hunter friends."
She smiled, talking as she completing her transaction. "Then in exchange for my nosiness, if you ever need anything, let me know!"
He smiled warmly. "I'll keep that in mind. Here you are," He handed her a small brown paper bag with her repotted plant. "Have a nice day."
And that was that, for a while.
But really he had no idea.