Chapter Text
After a long day at the flower shop, Tenna was utterly exhausted. Weeds were sticking out from each vent on his head, his screen, relaying to anyone who laid eyes on him how stressed he was. Multiple breaks were taken to pull out some of the weeds during the day, but to no avail. He couldn't get them until he got home. He had reached the end of his day, so he started to close up.
In the back of the store, a bunch of old flowers lay around, not favorable by many. Some of them include: Edelweiss, Gladius, Ghost Orchids, Lily of the Valley and Wisteria. A bunch of whites and purples mixed together as he set up a bouquet, tying it together with a big red bow. Reaching down into his pocket and successfully grabbing out his wallet, he slid out a couple of [[ KROM3R ]]. Tenna carefully put it onto the top of the bouquet, setting it down on the counter and finished up his remaining duties.
He was planning on visiting Spamton after his day at work. He was stressed, covered in weeds, and needed a place to blow off steam. Whether it was just hanging out with the little garbage man, listening to him babble off on some situation he got himself in, or angrily ranting about his day, he cherished the time they spent. Tenna hung up his apron in the back of the shop, tidying it up. Alongside this, he picked up the flower bouquet and straightened out the flowers that got wrinkled. The owners of this place were very generous to let him work here, as they had heard about his prior work affiliations and troubles with other employees. They gave him a second chance, and allowed him to take wilted flowers along his hourly wage. It isn’t as magnificent compared to the work he did beforehand, but it gave him a purpose.
With a bounce in his step, he walked over to the door of the shop and flipped the big “OPEN!” sign to show “CLOSED.” and locked up the store. The tension in his shoulders fell as he started to walk down the alleyway towards Spamton’s dumpster.
Today was a huge dumpster fire, no pun intended. Earlier that day, there were a bunch of rude customers that came in and addressed him like a child. Spatting off how they know plant care better than him- one of the only florists in town- and that his recommendations were absolute trash. They wanted some flowers in front of their yard to look like a purple paradise, to which they beelined it towards the Wisteria seeds and Periwinkle. Two plants that like to overtake vegetation and kill others in the process.
Even with the explanation of why they shouldn’t plant those flowers, and a show of other even more beautiful purple flowers, they bitched and yelled at him for ten minutes straight. Plus, I bought the wisteria and periwinkle. It could ruin their ability to grow more plants in the garden, and it was poisonous to the majority of darkeners. Some avians and bug people had actually requested it in the area, to which his owners had put it on sale. It wasn’t toxic to them, and usually people strayed away from it like the plague, so his boss always kept it in stock.
With Wisteria in mind, he looked back down at his bouquet as he walked. Was it poisonous to Spamton? I mean, it would only affect him if he ate the flower, but the little rat scavenges through garbage looking for sustenance. A wave of worry overtook Tenna, this WAS the first time he was bringing these types of flowers. Usually, it was full of the usual, dying flowers of roses, lilies and carnations. These flowers were always bought in bulk, with lots of excess. He should've just-
Tenna slammed into a pole, not paying attention to his surroundings. Great. Another issue on top of everything else. Shaking his head, he scanned his surroundings. Multiple dumpsters came into vision, trash laying about the space. One of them was open and had a small snoring noise coming from it. Oh, he was already here. A smile bloomed on Tenna's face as he bounded over to the opened dumpster.
A surprising sight was revealed in it. Spamton was curled up, laying on some of the trash bags with Tenna’s tattered suit jacket that he had supposedly “had to scrap.” It completely engulfed him, with the top of his head poking out. A bag of flowers laid next to him, with his hand holding onto it. His other hand was gripping the jacket like his life depended on it.
Melting at the sight, Tenna admired him with a lovestruck look. Even if they had just started working on their issues and friendship, his prior feelings of love were still apparent for the mailman. Although, he had plans to bother him today, so he would have to wake him up. In order to not alert the mailman his knowledge of this, he walked a bit off to the side. Knocking on the side he stood at, which he followed up with a few steps back to make it seem like he hadn't seen it at all.
“Spamton? I brought you some flowers! I got a bunch of purples, the color of royalty y'know? And, as my prior big shot, you deserve the best.” He called out, with the sound of rustling in response. Moments passed and the mailman stuck his head up, out of the dumpster, looking around for him. As soon as he spotted the CRT in front of him, his eyes lit up in excitement. Not that he would admit it, but he failed to hide it.
“[[ TRASH HEAP ]], What are you doing here??? Shouldn't you be [[ ALL ALONE ON A FRIDAY NIGHT ? ]] at the shop? I mean, I don't have a [[ Tick Tock ]], but I assume I have my [[ LIMITED TIME OFFER !! ]] correct. And, you don't need to [[ DONATE TO CHARITY? ]], I am not some damsel in distress.” Spamton crackled at him, very obviously eyeing the [[ KROM3R ]] that was sticking out of the bouquet.
Tenna held out the bouquet, Spamton's eyes went wide. Was he surprised? They are different flowers than before, maybe he's allergic to some of them? Oh no, he should've just stuck to the others! C’mon Tenna, you JUST got him back and if you manage to sca-
“ARE THESE WISTERIA? I heard they were POSIONOUS, HAEAHAEAHAEAHAEAH !! I've always wanted to try one! After my [[ ONE WAY TICKET ]] to [[ HYPERLINK BLOCKED ]], I have adapted to many different poisons, some may call it immunity!”
Before he could even react, Spamton grabbed a wisteria flower and popped it in his mouth. Tenna blinked. That wasn't what he was expecting at all. Then the panic hit. Tenna ripped the bundle away.
“WOAH THERE MISTER! Even if your little body is supposedly IMMUNE to poison, I cannot just have you eating my VERY WELL CARED FOR flowers now!” Tenna huffed, holding the bouquet above his head. He looked down at the mailman whose face shifted from mischief to dejection. He knew that Tenna couldn't say no to that face.
Laughter escapes the mailman as Tenna gives in, bringing the flowers back down and handing them over. He ran off towards the garbage can with them, pocketing the [[ KROM3R ]] and eating another Wisteria flower. Setting down the bouquet on the trash bags, he carefully perched them up so they didn't get crushed. Pushing himself out of the dumpster, Spamton wandered back over to Tenna who had been watching him with fascination. Spamton sat down near the TV
“ANYWAYS!! I know you didn’t come here just to marvel at me, but to [[ NEED A REFERESHER? ]]. What [[ 50% OFF ]] service can I do for you, [[ CRT, THE ONE AND ONLY ! ]].”
Tenna let out a long sigh, shrinking down in size to just a foot taller than the mailman. Turning his body around, he let himself fall into Spamton’s lap, resting his head on the other's legs. A rant about his day then started, with him aggressively shaking his hands at the sky. He didn’t have that horrendous of a day, but it was his most stressful one out of the week.
“And COME ON , you KNOW you shouldn’t plant periwinkle in your yard ANYWAYS! If you want to have a successful garden, periwinkle is just going to overtake the rest of the garden and deplete resources! You won’t even HAVE a garden afterwards. And you add WISTERIA to the mix? A recipe for DISASTER , Spammy, and they still bought it. I cannot believe the stupidity of people who call themselves GARDENERS around here.”
Throughout the story, the weeds that were overflowing in his head seemed to start to spread, sliding up to the top and slightly down his throat. Glitches started in his sentences as continued on. Now, the two of them weren’t so sure what affected the weeds, just that it eventually started to mess with Tenna’s speaker system. If too many weeds overgrew in his body, he would be rendered completely mute and deaf.
“And, god, what is the importance of having PURPLE flowers if there was no one to look at them? They apparently lived in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE surrounded by trees, and the toxicity of the Wisteria flowers could poss-” A cough interrupted the CRT.. Redirecting his attention from the sky, he looked at Spamton who seemed to be… slightly green?
“Hey, I hate to rain on your parade, [[ BRAND NEW COLORS! ]], but you seemed to be… overflowing with [[ PESKY WEEDS IN YOUR GARDEN ]].”
A pale dusty rose spread on the CRT’s face as he realized WHAT was covering his vision. Although he didn’t seem to notice, his voice box had started to glitch out, his pitch spiking in randomized areas. Tenna stood up abruptly, his height dropping about half a foot as he looked away in embarrassment.
“I… apologize about that. I should, uh, get that sorted, right? I wouldn’t want to look my Sunday Worst, you know! Haha…”
Usually, he pulled the weeds out himself, always managing to nick himself somewhere and having to do small repairs. It was better than having constant questions about them, and judgmental stares from everyone. What if it changed Spamton's mind about him? He couldn’t control his emotions and he couldn’t handle him again and-
“I could [[ ERADICATE PESKY WEEDS ]], if you need the [[ Seeking Help? Call Now ]].” Now, Tenna didn’t think he would even want to. It was annoying to deal with, having the constant need to rid them. He could start it, get angry and tell him to scram-
An abrupt grab and tug of Tenna's shirt surprised him, letting out a little yelp as he fell back down to his prior spot. Hands immediately started to wrap themselves around the weeds overgrowing outside of the TV, and it left Tenna super disoriented.
“No need to have this [[ BIG SHOT ]] unkempt. What would the audience say!”
Oh.
He's back in Spamton’s lap .
Who is actively removing the weeds.
He wants to remove the weeds for him.
A hand traveled up his head as they started to play with his antennas, the other one carefully unwrapping the roots that were trailing down his throat. A small buzz rumbled from Tenna’s throat as tension started to fade out of his robotic frame.
He watched Spamton in a daze, whose entire attention was dedicated towards his task at hand. How careful he was with the innards of Tenna, making sure each wire was detangled from the roots and the leaves. His hands trailing up and down fragile antennas, a very well known spot that is sensitive to the touch. It felt relieving, as each root disappeared from his body.
“ [[ HOLY CUNGADERO ]] ! There is [[ MORE STORAGE ? ]] than I expected! No wonder you looked so [[ dead? help me. ]] when you showed up.” The mailman leaned closer to his head, letting go of the antennas and sliding his other hand inside. There was one weed, all the way in the back that required more precise handling. This one had wrapped itself completely around Tenna’s voice box, and seemed to start squeezing on it. It wasn’t too tight at the moment, but if Tenna continued with his rant, he could’ve lost his entire ability to talk.
After unwrapping the last root, he pulled it out and noticed how close he was to the CRT. Who seemed to have noticed as well, with his screen flickering between a multitude of scenes. Kiss scenes, lingering looks, snapshots of the mailman and back to his normal dusted pink. Ah. He wasn’t planning on getting himself in this situation today, as they, only recently, started working on their past anguishes. But… it would be funny to see his reaction.
A moment passed, both of them looking down at each other. Spamton had a shit eating grin on his face, and Tenna was frozen in place. Well, moments prior he WAS being pinned down so the mailman could completely rid the weeds from him.
Sparks flew out of the CRT’s antennas as Spamton placed a kiss upon him, holding onto the sides of his face and lifting. It was awkward, teeth clashing against screen, a buzzing scanning through different pitches, steam puffing out of the TV, the feeling of noses digging into the other's face.
Kisses had been shared between the two many different times. Shoddy motels in Cyber city, dark dressing rooms after hours, behind the curtains of the stage out of sight. Quick kisses , always full of paranoia of the possible eyes tracking them. To abide by an image they were expected to uphold.
But right now? They had all the time in the world. They had years of desperation, anguish, an unsatiated need for the other. Empty mailboxes, a ring that led to voicemail. Longing glances tossed at the highlighted billboards featuring TV Time, multiple posters with his prior business partner always dusted and kept safe. Always out of reach, a desire so deep that they both went into ruin over it.
Years were poured into the kiss, grasping hands exchanged between the two. Pushing himself up with his legs, lapping up all of the affection the mailman had to offer him. Kissing him like the world was going to end, like if he let go Spamton he would disappear for good.
“ Fuck .”
A whine exited the CRT as they separated, his mouth agape and small breaths escaped him. He stared up at Spamton in a daze, who reverted back to his smirk, a playfulness dancing behind those glasses of his. Tenna's expectations to visit the mailman, rant about his day, and head on home had been completely wrecked by the man in question. His screen flickered multiple different colors, his fans overheating, and he couldn’t think for the life of him. Bolting up out of the lap of Spamton, he quickly dusted himself off and started straightening his clothes.
“WELL- I, uh, it was WONDERFUL to visit you, m- Spammy, but I- I got- I got to work in the morning! Yeah! I should excuse myself, I need to get some rest. Goodbye!” Tenna turned sharp on his heel, speed walking back in the direction of his apartment. In the distance, he could faintly hear a shout.
“GOODNIGHT, [[ HOT STUFF ]] ! DON’T OVERCLOCK THOSE FANS OF YOURS.”
God, Spamton WAS a pain in his ass.
Tenna loved it.