Chapter Text
“Buongiorno!” Feliciano chirped as he sauntered downstairs. Another Saturday morning meant getting to work in his grandpa’s flower shop once more. Lovino was hunched over his chair, eating a tomato like it was an apple.
“Buongiorno, Feli.” Grandpa Roma answered as he flipped through some newspapers spread out on the table.
“Will Lovi and I go back to the shop today?” Feliciano questioned as he sat down at the table. Lovino groaned and glared at Feliciano, he was hoping that he wouldn’t bring it up to grandpa.
“Oh, yes!” Roma put the newspapers down. “Today will be busy, I just know it!” He chuckled heartily.
Feliciano couldn’t help but smile a little as he heard Lovino start to bargain with Roma, he knew Lovino didn’t like working as much as he did.
The flower shop they owned was around the edge of Milan, which was just a few minutes from where they lived. It often got many customers since there was a nice cafe right next to it. Feliciano remembered that he would see Kiku too, so he was looking forward to getting there.
Roma pushed a plate holding a croissant towards Feliciano as he put his newspaper down on the table. “Eat, Feli.” He stated. “You’ll need it for today!”
Feliciano smiled as he took a bite, glancing over at Lovino who seemed to be in his own world staring at the wall like it owed him money. Mornings like this always made Feliciano happy, the light shining in through the window which blinked every so often as cars drove past, the ambient noise of the ceiling fan and the distinct smell of baked pastries made him feel all soft and at ease.
—————
A few minutes later, grandpa sent them off to go work. Lovino was salty about having to wear a kerchief and those ‘ugly’ blue aprons again. Feliciano just quietly listened as Lovino kept ranting how badly he didn’t want to wear them.
“I don’t really mind helping grandpa out.. But..” He’d sigh, kicking a few rocks on the way. “Why do I have to be burdened with looking like a retail worker?!”
“Maybe because you are a retail worker.” Feliciano snickered, watching Lovino progressively getting mad and trying to not punch him in the stomach.
The two kept bickering as they walked to the shop, passing a few busy cafes on the way. Feliciano also liked getting to walk with Lovino in the morning, he assumed his brother didn’t like him that much, but he thought it was nice to spend some time with him.
As they rounded a corner, they finally arrived.
The shop looked vibrant, as usual. Even with all of the lights off, the sun hit the windows perfectly in a way where you could just stand there looking at it for hours. The colourful arrays of flowers neatly displayed along the walls was certainly a very pretty sight, it reminded Feliciano of the flower fields in Tuscany when grandpa used to take him and Lovino there as a vacation when they were little kids.
As Lovino disappeared into the back room to go do his own thing, Feliciano put his apron on and started to water some of the plants. The place was pretty small, so it didn’t take long.
Feliciano decided to replace the flowers that were being displayed out in the front, so he grabbed a new batch and started to arrange the new ones into place.
“Goodmorning, Feli.” A soft voice emanated from behind him. Feliciano recognized it immediately and turned around with a smile.
“Buongiorno, Kiku!” He chirped. “Headed to the cafe today?”
“Yes, hopefully there'll be more customers today.” Kiku enthused.
“I know someone who’ll definitely show up.” Feliciano held in a chuckle as he watched Kiku’s cheeks turn the subtlest tint of pink.
“...I’m sure he just likes the food.” Kiku supposed, wondering if he really was going to show up today. “... I think.”
Feliciano laughed as he watched Kiku’s face continuously grow red like Lovino’s tomatoes.
“I’ll see you later?”
“Yes.”
After a few more minutes of chatting, Feliciano waved goodbye to Kiku as he left to go open the cafe. They’d see each other later during the evening, so Feliciano had something to look forward to. Once the flower display looked presentable, he admired his work for a good moment and went back inside.
“Lovi?” Feliciano asked as he went behind the counter. Lovino rarely did anything and just hung out in the backroom during shifts, Feliciano usually doesn’t mind since Lovino would probably kill all of the flowers in the span of 2 minutes. “Could you buy more vases from across the street?”
Lovino peeked out from the door frame, looking annoyed.
“Fine.” he grumbled. Usually he would whine and complain, but today he seemed somewhat compliant.
As Lovino trudged out the door, Feliciano sat at the front desk, a wave of boredom suddenly washing over him. Maybe grandpa was wrong, maybe today would be slow.
He sat there in the quietness of the shop for quite some time, the only noise coming from the rustling of the petals as the wind hit them. The silence wasn’t a bad thing, Feliciano liked sitting there sometimes, resting his cheek on his hand as he watched cars go by through the front window.
Those thoughts quickly disappeared as he heard the jingle of the bell attached to the entrance.
“Ciao!” Feliciano chirped, suddenly fixing his posture. Two men entered, both blond. One of them had a pretty stern and scary face while the other had a soft smile. Feliciano assumed they were a couple from the way the smiling man was holding the other's arm.
The two of them slowly separated as the smiley guy went to go look at the flowers on display. Feliciano tried not to shrink back into his chair as he saw the scary guy go up to the front desk.
“Hello. Do you have any Lily of the valley here?” His voice was just as scary as his face, he also had some Nordic accent, but Feliciano couldn’t tell which country he was from. “M’ wife likes them.”
Feliciano glanced at the other man who seemed to be admiring some of the flowers that were being displayed on the shelf near the door. He had no idea why the scary guy referred to the other guy as his ‘wife’, but he decided not to dwell on it for too long.
“Oh, of course! We have them on that shelf over there.” Feliciano pointed to a few Lily of the Valleys that were planted in nice vases. “We just got them last week!”
After the couple picked out which one they liked the most, they paid and left. Feliciano waved goodbye to them as they disappeared from the window.
He also wondered where Lovino went, buying new vases surely couldn’t take this long, thirty minutes would’ve been enough for two trips and back. He was about to stomp over to the store across just to go see what could possibly be holding him up, but he quickly got rid of the idea as he saw Lovino stumble inside, holding vases that were stacked on top of each other. He carried so many that you couldn’t even see his face, the only way you could tell it was him was because of that strand of hair that always seemed to poke out.
“Woah! I didn’t expect you to actually buy them and come back, I thought you were going to get lost in that big department building!” Feliciano chirped, not noticing the grumble that came from Lovino’s mouth. “It always seems like a maze in there, like that big furniture store with the meatballs, it took me 10 minutes just to find the watering cans.. How did you do it?”
Lovino set the vases down on the counter, carefully separating them. “I followed the signs, dumbass.” He snorted. He always seemed like a pompous asshole to many (which was somewhat true), but to Feliciano, he was just his older brother who never received enough attention from anyone, which is why Feliciano always tries to spend time with him despite his ill-mannered behaviour.
—————
Evening came swiftly, Feliciano was too busy doing his work to notice the sky outside slowly turning into shades of grey and pale blue. Lovino occasionally came out of the back room to get some flowers to finish making wreaths, which he was too embarrassed to do outside. Feliciano glanced at the clock, 7:34pm.
A light switch turned on inside his mind when he realised he could go see Kiku now. He quickly jumped off the creaky stool he’d been sitting on for 30 minutes and went to tell Lovino that he would go next door.
“I’ll be back, Lovi!” He opened the door and peeked in, seeing Lovino carefully delicately weave flowers onto a wreath. “I’m going to see Kiku!”
Lovino turned around, he was used to Feliciano leaving at this time so he didn’t really care. “Kay, bye.”
Feliciano shut the door and went to quickly take his apron off, going to put it on the hanger behind the front desk. As he stepped outside, he could feel the cold start to cling onto his sleeves, making him slow down a bit. The wind hit his face in a way that reminded him of grandpa’s old electric fan, he’d always sit in front of it when it got too hot. As he walked over to the cafe, he looked up at the big glowing sign above the building which lit up most of the sidewalk.
Feliciano opened the door, the soft warm glow of the lights inside hitting his face. The inside was pretty calm and there were only a few people inside here and there. Kiku was sitting behind the front desk, a display of different deserts right below him. He wasn’t serving anyone as of right now, everyone seemed to have gotten their food. He noticed Feliciano come in and put down the book he was reading.
“You’re early.” Kiku hummed as Feliciano took a seat in front of him.
“Better than being late!” Feliciano chirped, which made Kiku smile a bit. “So, tell me, anything new today?”
There was a moment of silence where Kiku tried to gather his thoughts and remember anything of significance that happened today.
“I saw him again today.” Kiku sighed, but it wasn’t those types of sighs where you’d be frustrated. “Kept talking about sports.”
Feliciano giggled a little at seeing Kiku’s face, he looked like he couldn’t decide what emotion to feel. Kiku let out a soft groan and buried his face into his hands. He obviously had some mixed feelings and couldn’t form a proper opinion on this guy.
“I don’t really know what he sees in me, all I do is sit there while he talks his head off.” Kiku managed to lift his face off his palms. “He’s really nice and all, sometimes he makes me laugh, and when I do he looks at me like I'm the only person in the world.”
Kiku hadn’t noticed, but his face started to go a bit red.
“You like him, don’t you?” Feliciano chimed in. “He hasn’t missed a single day of visiting you! That must mean something, right?”
“...I do like him.” Kiku admitted. “I just hope I'm not misinterpreting him. What if he doesn’t actually like me?”
Feliciano giggled and scoffed at him. “He wouldn’t show up every single day if he didn’t like you! What’s the logic in that?” He watched as Kiku slowly stopped doubting himself. “You’re saying all this nice stuff about him and what he’s done, he’s totally into you!”
Kiku thought about Feliciano’s words, then slowly, the feeling of doubt slipped from his mind. “Yeah, maybe you’re right.”
“That’s the spirit!” Feliciano chirped, nearly slamming both of his hands down at the table. “At this rate, you’ll be with him by next week!”
Kiku giggled, smiling at Feliciano’s eagerness.
“What was his name again?” Feliciano adjusted his position on the seat and rested his head on his palm. “Alvin? Alex?”
“Alfred.”
“Like the guy who invented dynamite!” Feliciano tittered, which gained a small smile from Kiku. “He sounds like a nice guy.”
Kiku smiled to himself, fiddling with his shirt sleeve. The calm ambience of the room seemed to amplify all of his thoughts, which made it hard to control his red face. It’s been about 2 months since he met Alfred, and it’s been clear since the day they met that Alfred fell head over heels for him.
“He is.” Kiku said, voice quiet. “Whenever I smile at him it’s like his brain shuts off for a few seconds, then he just looks at me for a moment with that weird look on his face before talking again. And sometimes I teach him Japanese, but he always pronounces the words wrong.”
Feliciano chuckled a bit, his eyes wandering to the vase holding some flowers he gave Kiku a week ago.
Feliciano wondered if he could find love again, like Kiku. Maybe one day he’ll meet the love of his life and live happily ever after. He wanted to believe that there was someone out there who could truly be the one for him, but all he could think about was…
His late love, Hans Steiner.