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Brady was alone in his beach shack. Hard at work on his newest surfboard upgrade.
His train of thought was interrupted by noise by the base of his hideout. It could be any of his friends or his mom stopping by, but this felt a little weird. The sound of loud rustling, heavy footsteps, and unsubtle giggling went on for far too long without anyone else coming up there with him.
That being said, he already had a perfect guess as to who it was.
The blonde peeked out the window. His elbow on the edge and his hand on his chin as he gazed down.
A small, affectionate shake of the head followed as he spotted Tanner up to something. Probably silly, as usual.
The ditzy surfer was seemingly touching the flora at the base of the shack. The rare specks of green among all the sand and dirt. In particular, Tanner was playing around the bushes, likely giggling off being poked by thorns.
“Hey!” Brady yelled to make sure he was heard.
“OH!” Tanner looked up and waved. “HI!” He was somehow even louder, like there was a megaphone built into his vocal chords. People from the sixties were just built differently.
Tanner went right back to it, chuckling to himself and moving out of Brady’s field of vision. Seemingly on purpose.
“Whatcha doin’ over there, man?! C’mon up!”
“COMING!” Tanner exclaimed as he did as he was told and reached the top of the place. The two boys were face-to-face. “...Hi! Hehe.”
After an amused laugh, Brady couldn’t help but notice Tanner holding his arms up to his own chest, and how… different they looked right now.
“Oh, dude, now you’re all scratched up. Those thorns can get pretty nasty. I once fell off my bike onto one of those bushes? Gnarly rash for a week. And head lice, but I think that was unrelated.”
“Ooh! But no! I know my way around mean plants, I’m their friend!” Tanner was as smiley as ever. “I got these scratches when I was with Mack yesterday, and a super fluffy cat chased me down the street and I tripped and fell! Hehe!”
“Huh. Could’ve sworn she texted that a raccoon was chasing you,” Brady thought back. Conversation aside, he now brought his attention to why Tanner’s arms were positioned like that in the first place– he had something in his hands. And a lot of something , at that.
“Are those flowers?”
It took a moment for the words to sink into the brunette’s brain, and when they did, he jumped. “AH! Don’t look!” He faced away from Brady, every so often turning his head back.
Again, Brady giggled incredulously. It was always something new with Tanner.
“They’re just flowers! Why hide that….”
Tanner sighed in genuine defeat. “I knowww…” Gently, he placed them not on the nearest desk, but on one where the sunlight hit. He also quickly adjusted them a certain way for whatever reason. It was rare to see Tanner be so particular (and careful) with anything.
Walking closer, Brady got a good look at the flowers. A good amount of white, different bold shades of blue, and a few dandelions and funky-looking leaves for good measure.
“Those are pretty cool, I guess.” Brady commented. A thought then crossed his mind. “You know they die when you rip them out, right? At least, I think they do…”
“Sadly… Still, I just… wanted to use them…” Genuine sadness over the fleetingness of life aside, Tanner got the pep back in his step. “...To make a flower crown!”
Oh, duh.
Tanner made a flower crown for Lela in a Wet Side Story scene. Not a major character trait of his, but it was a memorable scene nonetheless. Maybe it was in his DNA or muscle memory or whatever to make one again?
Brady helped out with any other materials Tanner needed, but he still wanted to ask. “You know you don’t have to make a flower crown again, right?”
“I know! Hehe.”
“And you still want to?”
“Yup!”
“Cool.”
They sat on the floor. As Tanner went to work on his project– the guy really knew his way around fragile petals and a piece of string, woah – Brady’s tongue poked out his mouth as he focused on getting a few colorful bandaids on Tanner’s arms.
Eventually, Tanner finished up. Making an item that might as well look like a store-bought prop. Probably a residue of movie magic at play here, but Brady didn’t doubt for a second that Tanner also just had a real talent for this.
“Looks real awesome, man! Lela’s gonna love that one! Just like she loved the one in the movie… Over and over again…” Tanner and Lela weren’t dating anymore (Were they ever, really? Technically speaking– oh, don’t make him get into that, his head will hurt), but gift-giving was a love language between them. Mostly for Tanner, though.
Tanner held it in his hands, a bit nervously. “...This is for you.”
The blonde’s eyes widened. “Me? …This was for me the entire time?” Tanner nodded. “...How come?”
With a little smile, Tanner shrugged. “I love making them! And I used to make them when I had feelings for Lela, so I figured I’d make one for you now…”
He placed the flower crown atop Brady’s head, being careful with both it and his bleached locks. Done with that, Tanner looked so happy, eyes shining, holding his hands together near his chest.
A bashful Brady laughed shortly and stared at the ground, then at the other guy. “You’re, like… crazy sweet sometimes, y’know? I dunno what to do with you,” he lightly patted the top of his boyfriend’s sweet little head.
The two indulged in the affectionate moment.
Spotting a stray, leftover white flower on the ground, Brady held it and grinned. He then nestled it in Tanner’s hair, near his ear.
“There, now we’re both pretty,” he joked.
They both chuckled lightly, at some point during it leaning in for a small peck, smiling all through it.