Work Text:
Look, Valtteri likes his job, or perhaps more accurately, he certainly doesn’t hate his job. He (mostly) likes his co-workers, the customers aren’t any more insufferable than in any other job he’s had and while he’s certainly not an expert, he does feel satisfied when he sees a beautiful flower arrangement that he’s had a hand in. The thing is, working in a flower shop is just not exactly the job that he would choose to have.
Well, obviously he has chosen to work here, but there wasn’t exactly much planning involved. Kimi is the floral expert and the one who came up with the idea, Nico is the face of the business and in charge of advertising, Valtteri on the other hand, is just their only mutual friend who happened to be between jobs when the whole thing started.
Anyway, this whole thing is just to say that the flower shop isn’t Valtteri’s whole life, or that, perhaps being a bit more honest with himself, it currently is his whole life, and he simply doesn’t want it to be.
When the rundown dingy tattoo and piercing shop which used to be Flower Finn's next door neighbour gets replaced, with a new name now hanging above the door, Valtteri can’t help but think that it might be a sign. Not a literal sign that he should get a tattoo, that’s more Kimi and Lewis’ thing after all, but more of a metaphorical sign, as though things might be starting to change in Valtteri’s life.
The decision to make up a bouquet, put it in a vase and visit their new neighbours is not one that Valtteri would normally make. In his defence however, all of his recent shifts at the flower shop have left him stuck manning the front while either Kimi hides in the back with Sebastian or Nico hides in the back with Lewis. He’s pretty sure both of those men have real jobs to do, yet instead they like to hang around at Valtteri’s place of work, distracting his colleagues from doing their actual jobs. Not to say that he doesn’t like Lewis or Sebastian. After all, Sebastian is an all round nice guy who is obsessed with the role of bees as pollinators, and Lewis has helped make the shop more inclusive of customers with a wide range of religions, cultures, genders and sexualities. Anyway, the point is, he just thinks that Nico and Kimi should spend their time at work actually working, so as soon as all three are on shift together and the opportunity presents itself, Valtteri finds himself fleeing the shop with a half-hearted excuse about welcoming the new store owners on his lips.
It’s not until Valtteri enters the tattoo parlour, which has walls covered in a neutral paint and a minimalistic interior design, that he considers how stupid the idea of bringing a brightly coloured bouquet demonstrating welcome, happiness and appreciation is. The sharp contrast between Valtteri’s own appearance; which includes mullet and moustache both overdue a trim, a casual muscle vest and shorts combo, complete with store apron he’d forgotten to take off; and the professional look of the parlour, makes him want to turn around and flee. Before he has a chance however, the bell at the front door has indicated his entrance, and Valtteri hears footsteps heading towards him from the back room.
The man that walks towards him is wearing dark jeans and a plain white t-shirt, both generously splattered with paint of various shades, ranging from a light colour which barely shows up against the white top, to a black, which matches seemingly perfectly with the man’s jeans. If asked to describe the man, Valtteri would struggle to do so in a way that didn't point out his instantaneous attraction.
“Hi, can I help you?”
The voice jolts Valtteri out of his thoughts. Unsure whether or not he’s been caught staring, but embarrassed all the same, Valtteri blushes bright red and hopes that it can be passed off as being due to an earlier exertion or the reasonably warm day.
“I work next door, we brought these for you.”
Without saying anything further, Valtteri hands the vase over, which seems to be accepted with a sort of pleased bemusement. The interaction wouldn’t exactly be graded an A+ for social skills, but Valtteri figures that there are far more embarrassing things he could have done, so takes that brief bit of conversation as an overall win.
“Thank you, the place could use a bit of colour.”
The response comes just before the man in front of Valtteri closes his eyes, brings the bouquet to his face and inhales the scent. At this point, Valtteri desperately tries to strike a balance between neither staring at the man nor looking away from him overly awkwardly. Suddenly, the other man’s eyes pop back open and Valtteri has to hope he has managed to balance his actions correctly.
“Oh I’m Guanyu by the way, sorry for being rude.”
The other man, Guanyu, grins self-deprecatingly before putting the vase down and holding arm out for a handshake.
“I’m Valtteri, likewise.”
Valtteri is mostly sure that his response makes sense but admittedly he is somewhat distracted by Guanyu’s firm grip. The other man appears as tattoo-less as Valtteri, who finds himself wondering whether the man in the tattoo shop is indeed tattoo-less or whether his ink is simply better hidden than Lewis’.
“Things are pretty hectic with getting ready to open up and I have a lot of people booked in already but I’ll definitely make time to come visit you guys soon.”
The words are warm and friendly, the tone of voice seemingly genuine, but Valtteri, sensing the hint, simply smiles, makes his excuses, then leaves.
The tattoo parlour door chimes loudly behind him.
{}
Valtteri somehow manages to avoid being asked about his excursion to the tattoo parlour for exactly four days, Kimi and Nico’s absorption in their own lives and relationships for once being a good thing, preventing them from noticing his own distraction. Admittedly, two of those four days were his days off, and on one of those days Sebastian had been looking at him strangely, but the point still stands. It’s not until he returns to the flower shop after his ‘weekend off’ (a Monday and Tuesday) and is greeted with a smirking Nico, that he has a feeling that something has changed.
“A guy was asking after you the other day.”
Valtteri has known Nico for long enough that the smug look on his face and the lack of normal greeting don’t throw him off… That much.
“A customer?” he asks in response, trying not to get his hopes up.
Despite no perceptible change of Nico’s expression, his smirk somehow seems to increase.
“Guanyu the tattoo guy, who you didn’t bother telling us about.”
At this point Nico tries to look disappointed although his grin somewhat detracts from the effectiveness of the look.
“We didn’t speak for long,” Valtteri weakly points out, knowing that any defence at this point is futile. “What did you say to him?” he asks suddenly.
A wave of fear washes over him and Valtteri can’t help but imagine all of the worst case scenarios in this situation.
“Well he was cute, so I told him your work schedule.”
Valtteri finds himself simultaneously relieved and annoyed at this response.
“You can’t share people’s private information with someone just because they are good looking!” he exclaims.
Just in case he wasn’t already embarrassed enough, it’s just as he’s making that exclamation that a customer decides to walk into the store, side-eying himself and Nico bemusedly. Valtteri blushes bright red as he heads to the back of the store to grab his apron, deciding to let the other man deal with the customer. Once Valtteri has collected himself and has heard the front door closing, indicating that the customer has made their purchase and left, he eventually goes back out to the front of the store to face Nico.
Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, the door chimes once again before either man has a chance to say anything. When Valtteri sees Guanyu, he freezes in place, the other man looks even better than the last time Valtteri saw him, this time wearing matching shorts and shirt. Valtteri isn’t exactly an expert but he bets the outfit is much more expensive than his own t-shirt and denim shorts, which are at least a lot nicer than what he was wearing last time.
“Hi Valtteri,” a pause. “Hi, Nico wasn’t it?”
The pair greet Guanyu before there is a slight pause in the conversation.
“Did you get a trim?” Guanyu then asks, “it looks good.”
Just as Valtteri is about to reply with a yes, Guanyu cuts in again.
“Not that it didn’t look good before.”
Valtteri feels himself going red and can’t help but wonder if he’ll ever be able to have a conversation with the tattoo shop owner without that happening.
“It’s okay, it was long overdue” Valtteri replies, chuckling a little.
Valtteri keeps looking at Guanyu as he talks. He doesn’t dare look over at Nico, knowing full well that his colleague will be fighting to keep the grin off his face, having been pestering Valtteri for weeks to get his hair and moustache sorted.
“I hope it’s okay that I was told when you would be at work?”
Valtteri nods in response before sending a sharp look Nico’s way, practically daring him to mention their argument just minutes earlier. Guanyu smiles at that, looking relieved, before explaining why he came over to the flower shop. Valtteri listens to the explanation of there being a store opening party on Friday evening, which they are being invited too.
“There’s three of you who work here right?” he questions, before continuing when Valtteri and Nico nod. “You’re all invited of course, and a plus one if you want.”
“Me and Kimi will have a plus one, Valtteri is fine,” Nico responds before Valtteri can get a word in edgeways.
Guanyu smiles in response and Valtteri can’t stop himself from wondering whether Guanyu is happy he is single, or the more likely option, simply smiling as a way of acknowledging Nico’s statement. The conversation soon wraps up, Guanyu needing to go back to his store to finalise everything before opening and the flower shop owners having delivery orders to work on.
“Bye Valtteri. And Nico.”
The door closes gently as Valtteri and Nico say their farewells. Valtteri can’t help himself from over analysing the slight pause between his and Nico’s names.
{}
The next few days of work are absolutely unbearable. The shop is quieter than normal and time seems to drag on impossibly slowly. Mind numbing boredom is paired with irritation as Nico, with nothing better to do, decides to tease Valtteri relentlessly. Even Kimi’s knowing looks, which normally he wouldn’t mind, seem to rub Valtteri the wrong way. Desperate for something to do, Valtteri finds himself going to Guanyu’s tattoo shop. Despite the fact that he is clearly superfluous, with things looking as though they are well in order, Valtteri is allowed to help with some of the finishing touches, such as hanging different designs on the wall and fitting new energy efficient light bulbs.
It’s possible that Valtteri’s presence is actually more of a hindrance than a help. After all, the two other artists that work with Guanyu (a quiet bearded man called Kevin and a boisterous Aussie called Daniel) are also helping out. Still, whenever he enters the parlour, he is met with smiles by Guanyu, a nod from Kevin, and a stupid eyebrow wiggle from Daniel (which thankfully no one else seems to have noticed), before being given simple chores to do while chatting to Guanyu. Part of Valtteri hoped that going to the tattoo parlour would kill two birds with one stone, by both getting him out of the florists for a bit and killing his silly crush. His attraction to Guanyu hasn’t died down any, if anything it’s gotten worse. Still, when Valtteri finally leaves the tattoo parlour each day; always running late on his lunch break; he finds that he has a spring in his step and a smile on his face. If all Valtteri has done is make a new friend, then he’s pretty sure he could be happy with that.
{}
The opening party for the tattoo parlour arrives quickly. In a fit of desperation, Valtteri decides to invite Nico, Lewis, Kimi and Sebastian over to his flat beforehand, as he is seemingly unable to find a single wearable outfit in his wardrobe. He’s not sure he exactly trusts any of their senses of fashion, but Guanyu is a fairly stylish guy and Valtteri can’t help but feel panicked about the event, despite some of the frankly horrific slogan tees that Guanyu and his colleagues have already seen him in.
When they arrive at the tattoo parlour, it’s just a little bit after when they were instructed to arrive. The timing is a compromise with Lewis wanting to be fashionably late and Sebastian hating the thought of not being on time. It seems to have worked well enough, with the main waiting area which is being used as a hosting space being reasonably full but not yet totally crowded. It’s just as they are dropping off their group present, some flowers and a box full of mixed sugary drinks and sweets for the staff/clients when Guanyu comes to greet them.
“Hi… nice to see you… thank you so much… really you shouldn’t have.”
Each member of the group receives a warm welcome. The words are genuine but Valtteri can’t help but notice that the normally calm and collected tattoo artist seems quite frazzled.
“Everything alright?” Valtteri asks, trying to keep his voice down.
“I’m alright, just a bit hectic.”
Guanyu smiles gratefully at the Finn before explaining to the group that as well as getting the store ready, being the manager and making designs for his own clients, he’s also been acting as the receptionist for the parlour, dealing with the influx of requests from potential clients since the location move. Sebastian questions whether the other artists are able to help but Guanyu shakes his head wryly in response.
“I’ve asked and neither wants to do it, work is going to be busy enough as it is. Besides, I’m not sure getting either of them involved is a good idea.”
Valtteri tries to imagine the somewhat surly Kevin at a receptionists desk and isn’t able to manage it. When he pictures Daniel in the same role he finds that the level of chaos doesn’t bear thinking about.
“Why don’t you help out Valtteri?” another voice chips in suddenly.
Everyone swivels around, and Kimi winds up with the entire group staring at him.
“Because I work at your flower shop?”
The sentence is drawn out, and Valtteri finds himself speaking as though he is explaining something exceedingly simple to a small child, although the speech pattern does nothing to hide the confusion in his voice.
The more the rest of the group talk however, with Valtteri and Guanyu watching on in stunned and bemused silence, the more it makes sense. Valtteri only chipped in on ownership and working at Flower Finns to help out, it was never supposed to be permanent. There would still be extra income from his share in the shop, and he could always keep doing part time shifts if he needed the money or wanted to keep an eye on things.
Realising that Guanyu hasn’t chipped into the conversation in a while, Valtteri can’t help but ask “what do you think?”.
The question is quiet enough that it is only directed at Guanyu, the others still chatting away amongst themselves.
“Would you want to?”
At first Valtteri is hesitant to answer. Scared that Guanyu doesn’t really want him there, worried about never being anyone’s first choice, simply being included when there are no other options. Valtteri can’t help being nervous but he thinks about the admittedly short amount of time that he’s known Guanyu. The way the other man asked after him when he was off, how Guanyu always greets him first, always notices any changes to his hair or clothes, the immediate eye contact after Guanyu makes a joke to see his reaction.
“I would and you?”
The smile that Valtteri receives in response makes him wonder how he could have even felt a moment of hesitation.
“When can you start?”
Guanyu’s question is overheard by Lewis, who quickly pulls them both back into the conversation. From that point on the night moves quickly, with Guanyu eventually having to leave to speak to the rest of his guests.
Valtteri doesn’t know exactly what’s going to happen next, how the job will work out, whether or not there’s something between him and Guanyu. Either way, Valtteri has a feeling he will always look back on the moment he saw the brand new sign hanging outside the tattoo parlour and think about how his life has changed.
Fin.