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Nothing can be heard, except from the sound of the grass moving against the wind, it sounds amazingly calm and Silver could almost fall asleep listening to it, if only he hadn’t just been asleep. It’s at that moment that Silver realises he was asleep and just lying there with his eyes closed, he opens them slowly as he feels the sun blinding him, he shields his eyes as he sighs. He fell asleep again, unintentionally, he really want it to stop.
Silver looks to his right, trying to see where he is as he can’t remember when he fell asleep, he sees grass and building, that from the courtyard at school. He rummages through his memories to when he fell asleep, he was walking through the courtyard with confidence as he hadn’t fallen asleep much and he was on his way to meet up with Jade for revision with the twins for an upcoming exam. He was looking forward to studying with both of them, Jade is very informative when they have revised in the past and Floyd… Silver was looking forward to seeing Floyd, although he would have thrown the session into chaos, it was chaos he was familiar with back at home with his father, Sebek and Malleus.
A sigh comes from Silver as he sits up, getting out of the sunlight as he looks around getting a better understanding, it’s afternoon with the sky a beautiful amber colour with a few clouds in the sky with the well in sight as well as the pathway. Which gives Silver a pause as he remembers walking on the pathway before he fell asleep, not on the grass.
As Silver takes in everything, he can feel something on his chest, a piece of clothing but not one of his own, one that’s free like a blanket, he looks down seeing a blazer. He holds it as he instantly realises that someone left it on him to try and keep it warm, people flash through his mind of who it could be, most people he knows would have moved or attempted to move him, such as his father, Sebek, Malleus, Riddle, and Kalim. A short smiles arrives on Silver’s face for the person for trying to keep him warm as he slept. A thought comes through Silver’s mind that it could be Floyd, though he easily shuts it down as Floyd can easily pick him up as he has shown before, twirling around with Silver in his arms talking about how light Silver is and how he could just whisk him away like a villain in a fairy tail. Silver feels his face get hotter at the memory.
He’s pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of chipmunks and squirrels talking, he looks to his right and sees a few, they all look well kept and happy with Silver smiling upon seeing them. As he’s observing them, initially thinking that they’re just here to see him like a lot of other animals do, he sees that one has a white flower, the chipmunk holding it scurries closer to Silver and offers it, Silver takes the flower.
“Thank you.” He says flashing a smile.
Silver twirls the flower between his fingers as he tries to find out which flower it is. When Silver was younger, Lilia talked a lot about flowers and meanings as a lot of fae still holding and teaching the tradition of the flower language. In which every flower has a meeting, with there being many stories, both fiction and non-fiction, of couples getting together via understanding the language. Lilia initially taught him the basic ones, such as a red rose being love and a sweet pea being being a goodbye, to what each type of rose means including the size of the stem and a which ones have two meanings, depending on the situation. Due to this Silver can easily identify flowers and after small consideration, what the meaning is.
As he spins the flower and the flowing white petals that look like thin white cloth, he realises it’s a white carnation and easily connects it with it’s meaning, pure, innocent, sweet love. A flower a young person would give to their crush or lover, to show that they have pure intentions and that they love them fully. Silver looks at the flower using his other hand to cup his reddening cheeks, as he remembers his father talk about a white carnation being a good idea to give a crush, if they know of the flower language or not, it’s not as well known as a rose so the meaning isn’t as obvious though it’s pretty enough to give another the idea that romance might be on the table.
“Un… Ahmmmm.” an unintelligible comes from Silver’s left, pulling him from his musings.
Silver quickly looks that way, wondering what made that noise, and sees Floyd. Floyd Leech is lying down a few feet away from Silver, obviously in a deep sleep as he mutters a few more unintelligible words as his head moves. Silver’s eyes widen at seeing Floyd, he really is surprised to see the other here, though it awakens part of his memories from before he fell asleep. He remembers Floyd by his side as they were on their way to meet up with Jade at Octavinelle. Now Silver knows how he ended up on the grass, Floyd must have carried him over there, Silver takes a longer look at Floyd, he’s laying like a starfish with his limbs everywhere and some drool leaving his mouth, seemingly content lying in the grass next to Silver, without his blazer. Silver notes this though quickly remembers the blazer on himself, a small blush comes to his face at the fact that Floyd seemingly gave him his jacket.
A wash of guilt flows across Silver for not arriving at the revision session, he sighs at his sleeping curse or whatever it is, he needs to apologise to the twins. He wonders how he can, should he just wake Floyd up and see if either of the twins want to revise this late into the afternoon where dinner can’t be so far off, perhaps it would be best to reschedule for another day and to tell everyone to wake him up if he ever falls asleep, as everyone seems to think he needs more sleep.
The flower is still twirling in Silver’s fingers as he looks at Floyd, the meaning of the white carnation still in his mind, and places the flower behind Floyd’s ear. A small smile arriving on Silver’s face. Silver just looks at Floyd for a second, the wind cool on Silver’s skin with his hair flying freely, it's nice. Though Silver knows this can’t last, himself and Floyd needs to go back to their respective dorms. Silver removes Floyd’s blazer from himself and looks back at Floyd, initially thinking to wake Floyd up, though he sees eyebags under Floyd’s eyes and recalls Jade telling him that Floyd’s been run ragged lately, when they both observed Floyd sleeping during lunch a few days ago. Silver’s mind is made up as he drapes the blazer over Floyd’s torso.
He stands up and gives a little stretch, he decides to call Floyd later to thank about him and apologise to him. The animals that lazied around Silver previously are still around him, a bird perches on Silver’s shoulder to which Silver smiles and gives it a little pat on it’s head, as he’s doing this he notices something in his jacket pocket. He finishes petting before finding out what’s in his pocket, he touches it only to feel soft petals, he picks them out and looks at the few flowers in his hand, Daises. The cluster of flowers are all Daisies. Silver looks back at the still perched bird, and gives a look, wondering if the woodland animals that hang around him had put it there.
The bird flew off Silver’s shoulder before swiftly perching on Floyd’s head, and gave it a light peck, which doesn’t wake Floyd up. Silver understood what the bird was saying, that Floyd had put them there, Silver looks around a bit and notices that the area around Silver and Floyd has no daisies. The meaning of daisies swiftly arrives in Silver’s mind, that of Innocence and Loyalty in Love, Silver can feel his cheeks redden. Even though Silver highly doubts that Floyd knows the meaning of the daisies and that it was just a nice gesture, Floyd’s done a few thinks like this, he’s given Silver free cakes on the few occasions that he’s been to the Mostro Lounge, whenever Silver has nothing to do and is just roaming round the halls then Floyd occasionally finds him and whisks him off somewhere else, sometimes the beach and other times the local town, as well as Floyd has helped Silver when they are partnered up in classes, they get the work done fast, before quickly just talking, mostly Floyd though Silver never minded.
“Mmmmmm… .F-sh” Floyd mumbles, still totally out of it as he turns to his side.
Silver smiles as he decides to start walking away, he should be getting back.
“Thank you Floyd” Silver whispers, not wanting to wake him up.
A step is taken before a bird call sounds out, Silver stops and turns around to see the bird still on Floyd’s head it makes the same call again and Silver doesn’t want it to wake Floyd up. He puts a finger to his lips and the bird becomes quiet, he looks at the bird quizzically, unsure why it called out. Before he could think of the reason, Silver feels something on his leg, he looks down and sees a squirrel, it’s riding up his leg with a flower in it’s mouth, Silver brings his hand down and the squirrel jumps on and Silver brings the furry friend up, who takes the flower out of it’s mouth before presenting it to Silver in it’s little hands. Silver looks at the flower before taking it, as soon as Silver takes it the squirrel runs up his arm and sits on his shoulder.
Silver looks at the flower realising it’s a Daffodil, which is another flower with a romantic meaning, one with the message “The Sun is Always Shining When I'm with You” attach to it. A smile as bright as the sun is given to the lone flower before he feels another squirrel run up his leg and sits on Silver’s other’s shoulder holding out another flower, Silver picks this flower, Carnation, in a pristine white colour. A white carnation shares a meaning of true love and sweet love, Silver places the Carnation next to the Daffodil in his hand. The flap of wings quickly brings Silver’s attention skyward as a blue bird flies to Silver with another flower in it’s mouth. Silver wonders why the forest animal keep on presenting him with flowers, back at home if he wanted a flower he had to vocalise it, even at Night Raven College, when himself and Kalim was looking for the Dawn Grass he had to vocalise his need for the plant for his woodlands to find. Though ever since he woke up, Silver never said about flowers. Silver brings out a hand and the blue bird lands on it, he places his other hand with the flowers in below the bird which drops it carefully in his hand before flying away.
Silver looks at the new flower and recognises it as a primrose, “I can’t live without you” being the meaning. He looks at the small collection of yellow to white flowers. All of them with romantic or have a meaning that relates to having a close connection with another person, Silver looks to the other person here. Perhaps his little friends know him better than he knows himself, Silver thinks as he picks out his handkerchief from his pocket as he wraps it around the stems, it would make a good present for Floyd, especially from Silver. The "bouquet" in his hands reminds Silver of one a kid might make for their first crush, he smiles at it softly as he bends down and places it on Floyd's chest, Silver hopes that Floyd can enjoy the meaning of them.
The bird that stands proud on Floyd's head flies off it as soon as Silver stands back up, Silver wonders if the bird will bring back another flower and decides to wait there for his friend, the other woodland critters are around Silver and Floyd with Silver still having two squirrels on his shoulders with a few birds surrounding Floyd, though none touch him. After a few seconds of waiting, Silver's feathered friend gets back with another flower in it's beak, Silver puts out his hand again and the bird drops it whilst still in the air before flying high until it sits on the roof of one of the buildings, still observing Silver. Silver looks at the new flower he's been gives, it has many small blue flowers on it with yellow centres, it takes two seconds for Silver recognise this flower as a forget-me-not and he blushes. True Love, that's the meaning of a forget-me-not, it's a very well known meaning amongst the vast variety of flowers, he's heard Riddle, Deuce, and Kalim talk about the flower and it's meaning.
Silver holds onto this flower tight, not handling it carefree like the others. He looks to Floyd for a second before deciding against giving him the forget-me-not, Silver doesn't know how Floyd feels about him and if Silver gives him one he doesn't want Floyd to stop being friends with him, he enjoys Floyd's company, there's a few other meaning to the other flowers Silver gave with can portray friendship than romance, but not a forget-me-not. Silver lets his legs walk him away, he's unsure how long he's been away and he should get back, he looks at Floyd before internally wishing him a good night of sleep as he holds the forget-me-not, wondering if he should press it. Why shouldn't he keep it, it's important to him, as well as the daisies that Floyd gave him.
---
"Ehhhh Jade help me out here..." Floyd whines as he lays on his brother's bed.
Floyd crashed on Jade's bed as soon as he got back from his nap, with a bunch of flowers in his hand, he explained to his twin how he had them when he woke up they were on his chest and Silver was gone. Jade was watering his terrariums when his brother barged in and is still watering them as he hears his brother whine.
"I don't even know where he got them from they're all so different." Floyd carries on talking as he takes out a white flower with frills from the assortment of flowers he received.
"Well different flowers have different meanings. Some mean something positive and others mean something negative. It's called Floriography, the beautiful language of flowers." Jade says as he gives a glance to his brother.
Floyd is surprised to know this and looks at the flower in his hand, he wonders why people started giving meaning to flowers before wondering what this flower means. A thought that Silver send him a message using flowers is weird though cool, just like Silver himself. Though Floyd is unsure if it's intentional or not, if not then Silver gave him pretty flowers.
"Jade~ What does this Flower mean?" Floyd asks whilst holding out the frilly white flower at Jade, who stops tending to his mushrooms to look at Floyd.
"I don't know them all nor do I recognise that flower, though I can tell you the meaning of this red mushroom with white spots." Jade says whilst showing off said plant in a terrarium.
"Pass~" Floyd says as stops holding out the flower and goes back to lazying on the bed.
The flower spins betweens Floyd's fingers as he looks at it, trying to discern a meaning just looking at it. The petals look to Floyd like paper, perhaps it has something to do with that? Perhaps preparation? Maybe Silver has a surprise for him. Floyd moves the flower around until two petals are on the top and bottom and it looks like an opened pearl clam, pearls are often used in describing beauty, maybe Silver is calling him beautiful, a silly smile in on Floyd's face as he thinks this.
"You know..." Jade starts as he works back on his terrariums, "I believe there's a book in the library about Floriography, with pictures and meanings, it's quite detailed."
"Why didn't you tell me earlier Jade?" Floyd pouts as he decides to get off his brother's bed, this book sounds interesting currently and trying to find out if Silver left a message or not is very interesting.
"Well you could also ask someone from Briar Valley," Jade starts looking at his brother who has stopped and is looking at Jade, "Silver told me that it's a common teaching there to know all about the different flower meanings, he knows a good majority of them." Jade finishes with a smile.
Floyd looks to his brother then to the flowers in his hand, Silver gave him flowers with meaning, and Floyd is going to get to the bottom of it.
--
"...ilver? SILVER!" The shout wakes Silver, now fully awake, he swiftly turns his head to the voice and finds Kalim.
"Ah... I fell asleep again..." Silver says disappointed in himself again.
He looks around, seeing the grass and pathways of the courtyard and feeling the old wood of the bench under him. Silver quickly remembers that school has finished and he's spending some time with Kalim before he returns back to his dorm to note down what was learnt today.
"Don't worry Silver." Kalim says with a wide smile, "You didn't fall asleep for long, as soon as you did I just woke you up." He continued explaining.
"Thank you Kalim, I wouldn't want to fall asleep soon with the foreboding sky above." Silver says as he looks up to the overcast sky, with Kalim following his moves.
"Ah you're right! Wouldn't want to get wet and upset Jamil again." Kalim says remembering the last time Jamil sternly told Kalim about staying out in the rain.
Silver's eyes leave the sky as he looks around, not seeing Floyd and he gives a short sigh. He hasn't seen Floyd in a while, not today nor yesterday, the only time he saw Floyd was when he ran past him earlier today, determined, during fourth period, seemingly on his way out of NRC. Silver feels a pang of something similar to jealousy, he hasn't been able to talk so Floyd in the past few days yet as he's been seemingly preoccupied by something, though Silver knows that Floyd has his own responsibilities like his own and knows not to be greedy, his father didn't bring him up that way.
A sound similar to a stone grating against a stone can be heard and Silver instantly goes into guard mode, he stands in front of Kalim and puts an arm in front of him as he looks around. He can't see anything though he knows he heard something, his eyes meander towards to roof of his left where he's seated and sees the stone tiles on it. Just as quickly Silver looks behind himself and Kalim, ready to get his weapon out, only to see Floyd on the roof. He's on some of the lower tiles near the bottom of the roof, still in his school uniform with one arm stabilising him and another behind his back. And he's looking straight at Silver. Kalim turns his head where Silver's eyes has been called.
"FLOYD?! How did you get up there?" Kalim shouts in shock hoping it meets the other.
"Maybe I'll show you later Sea Otter, it'll give Sea Snake a good heart attack." Floyd shouts, the two on the ground leave their bench to get closer to Floyd.
"Do you need a hand to get down Floyd?" Silver asks, he's seen Floyd do parkour before though a worry still permeates through him, just like he does for his father.
"Hmmm... Not yet, though Jellyfish I do need your help with something." Floyd says sitting on the edge with his legs hanging off, his hand is still behind his back.
This has Silver take pause, why didn't Floyd want to come down now? Also what does Floyd need help with? Silver tries to think of a why to either of his questions though his mind keeps on coming back to two days ago, when he left Floyd those flowers, perhaps Floyd is angry at Silver for leaving him?
"Help? Help with what?" Silver just decides to ask instead of beating around the bush.
"How well do you know Flowers, like identify them and their meaning and all that. What was it called Florio-whatever" Floyd asks with a smile.
"Floriography?" Silver asks, he feels his head warmer than it was, does Floyd know what the Flowers he gave mean? The possibility is put out of Silver's head, he continues, "Yes I can, my father taught me to understand flowers when I was a kid and I can tell you the meaning of most from just the name."
"Eh really?" Floyd asks to himself with a grin, "Then what about an... orange blossom?"
"An orangle blossom?" Silver mutters to himself, a white flower often bunched up into groups, "It's means Innocence though it's often used to emphasise eternal love, like a long crush or marriage." Silver says, deciding to add the romantic meaning, which is the more common meaning of the flower.
"Wow that was quick." Floyd says something before muttering something under his breath that Silver can't make out.
"Yeah Silver's real good at this," Kalim cuts in with a wide smile before he continues "I've had Silver pick me some good flowers for some friends at home, it's much quicker than having a florist help."
Silver blushes a bit at the compliments, "I was taught to do it, that's why I'm good, you can ask Fa- I mean Lilia or Malleus and they would be as fast as me." Silver says with some modesty,
"Let's put it to the test! What about a yellow tulip and a white chrysanthemum?" Floyd asks getting more giddy, actively kicking his legs against the roof.
Silver's put into thought again, he knows they both have positive meanings though decide to tackle them one at a time, a yellow tulip, a common easily recognisable flower and a white chrysanthemum, a unique flower that's hard to forget.
"For the yellow tulip, it means 'There's a sunshine in your smile' and for the white chrysanthemum is means the truth, often used in a bouquet to show that the person isn't lying and is telling the truth with the flowers chosen." Silver finishes his explanation before looking up to Floyd, noting the precise flowers he's picking.
"Three out of three way to go Jellyfish!" Floyd cheers and Kalim claps.
"Is there a reason you need these flowers Floyd?" Silver asks, genuinely confused. He's aware that he's told Jade about Floriography and how easy he can identify flowers but he's unaware if Floyd knows and is genuinely curious.
Still on top of the roof, hums and keeps on looking at Silver, with mischief and something else in his gaze that Silver can't pin down.
"Tell me the reasons of three more flowers and you'll find out Jellyfish" Floyd says with a smile, showing off his pointy teeth.
"Alright." Silver near sighs, wondering why Floyd is beating around the bush so much. Silver has an idea that Floyd wants to know the meanings for someone else though he shakes his head and tries not to think about it. "What are they?" He finally asks.
"A multicoloured tulip, a gloxinia, and a red rose." Floyd says with a little laugh, with something being obviously funny to himself.
The chosen flowers fly through Silver's mind, one, the red rose, having a meaning that everyone knows, that of Love. The other two flowers give Silver some more thoughts, a multicoloured tulip, which is called a variegated tulip, is another tulip, and another that compliments the receivers looks, the gloxinia is a full statement of love. Silver looks to Floyd as he sits and watches Silver like a hawk, he feels a blush on his face with just the thought of these flowers.
"The variegated tulip, has a direct meaning, telling the receiver they have beautiful eyes, the gloxinia has a message of 'Love at First Sight', and a Red Rose... is love, nothing complex about it just love." Silver states looking again at Floyd.
"You really are a dictionary of flowers Jellyfish~" Floyd near purrs as he puts his head in his hand and looks down to Silver.
"Innocence... Sunshine... Truth... Eyes... First Sight... Love..." Kalim mutters to himself, before he takes a sharp look at Silver. "Floyd?! Wait you-" Kalim near shouts before he's interrupted.
"HEY JELLYFISH CATCH!" Floyd shouts pulling the hand that's been behind his back forward and throwing a long object, thick on one side, into the sky in Silver's direction.
Silver runs forward as he looks straight upward, thankful it's overcast, and tries to get into a good position so he's under it, it doesn't stay into the sky for long and quickly falls back down. A wonder of what Floyd has thrown quickly goes through Silver's mind, what's cone shaped and that easy to throw, it's when he sees a few small circular parts fall off, one an orange and yellow colour and the other a red one. Petals. The object falls quickly to Silver's arm, as it becomes more recognisable and a blush returns to Silver's cheeks and blood rushes to his head. It's a bouquet. It falls easily into Silver's arms as he looks at it, the paper is two colours, a reflective silver and a turquoise, which contrast with the flower inside. A twig of bunched up white orange blossoms, a few bright yellow tulips and busy white chrysanthemum, many orange and yellow variegated tulips, and one singular red Rose in the middle, with a little tag on it. Silence still flows through the air though Silver can't hear it over his heart, he hold the tag and turns it over to see a message.
'Hey pretty Jellyfish'
'I'm sure I have to be poetic on this or something but I'm just going to blunt. Do you want to go out with me?
The message ends with a scribble of an eel and jellyfish with a small heart in between them.
"I didn't know that Flowers had all these meanings and such, and it was only when I was talking to Jade about the flower's ya gave me that I found out about Florio- whatever. There's a book here all about them, and I found all the you gave me Jellyfish, the white carnation, the daffodil, carnation and primrose and the lovely messages they had and decided to give you some back. Beside, they're the best representation of my feelings towards you Jelly." Floyd explains drifting Silver's head back up to him, now seeing that Floyd has a blush of his own and love was the other thing in Floyd's eyes from before.
"Wait so you do have a crush on Silver?" Kalim says, not in disgust but just in confirmation.
"Do I really need to be that blunt? He has a pretty smile when he shows it and really nice eyes like a sparking sea. I crushed on him hard when I first met him in first year and it's been that way since, I think it was his princely charms." Floyd explains winking at Silver who just looks at Floyd.
"I meant those flowers I have you Floyd." Silver says, a small smile on his face as he looks at Floyd lovingly, "I menat that it shone a bit better when you were nearby, that I wouldn't know what to do without your little mischief, that I do love you."
The two looked at each other almost entranced as Kalim looked on with a smile for his close friend, that his feelings are reciprocated. They had talked about it a few ways when Silver couldn't identify this feeling he had about Floyd and soon Kalim understood Silver a bit better. Whilst Kalim is feeling happy for his best friend, Floyd is feeling exuberant, as he stands up on the roof and rotates his arm as he doesn't look away from SIlver.
"You can't look at me like that, say that, and NOT expect me to get a better look Jellyfish. Catch me!" Floyd says as he jumps off the short room.
"FLOYD!" Kalim shouts at the suddenness of Floyd's action.
Though Silver, already expects something like this from Floyd and quickly throws the Bouquet down on the ground before he gets under Floyd and readies his arms to catch Floyd, who is faster to reach Silver than the bouquet was and swiftly land is his arms. Silver easily hold Floyd in his arm.
"You can really hold me up Jellyfish! You're really strong," Floyd compliments Silver as he's squished in Silver's arms due to his long legs. Silver just flashes a smile and gives a little shake of his head.
Sometimes Silver is grateful for his unconventional family and upbringing, getting used to unpredictability in his life and preparing himself to protect and hold those in his life who mean the world to him, from his father to Floyd.
"So... What's your answer Silver?" Floyd says, actually saying Silver's name. Shocking the other two with it's usage.
Silver smiles to Floyd wondering if he really needs confirmation, he already said he loved him. He opens his mouth ready to tell Floyd his predictable answer, that would open a new world to Silver, that of Floyd Leech.