Archive of Our Own

It started off little by little. San didn't mind all that much at first.

It was a busy day for the shop on this first day, lots of customers coming in and out with orders or picking flowers from the stock he has inside, the shop gets much more traction in spring. As he was closing the shop, he had begun his usual inventory management and tending to the flowers if need be. Some needed to be watered everyday, some every other. Going down the row, the ones that have already bloomed are all healthy, vibrant and has that nice earthy aroma that filled his nostrils with glee.

Then he headed outside to check in front, where his two small shelves of pots are lined up right at the entrance are set up. This is where his own hand-grown flowers are set up, some of them are yet to bloom, specifically his gardenias. It'll be more beautiful once they blossom in a few days for sure, he can still admire the forming buds though. Checking over the second half, he stops once he gets to the freesias.

Some of the petals were chewed off. And it wasn't any small nibbles from a bug or something— whatever this thing was hungry. Jagged, itty-bitty small teeth marks was edged into the sides of the petals it didn't inhale. The flower wasn't completely decimated, so that gave San some relief.

Oh well, he thought. Probably just a hungry animal looking for a quick snack, surely it'll find some food elsewhere. Not the first time it's happened, the animals somehow miraculously never ate off the whole thing, maybe a few deep chews at the center piece that throws off the way it grows back. He placed the pot on a higher shelf and continued his inspection, watering some of the freesias to keep the soil moist.

Brushing the incident off. That was his fatal mistake.

The next day, walking towards the entrance to the building in the morning, he checks the shelves again, and the same thing happened with the exact same kind of flower! Instead of eating through just one flower, it decided to take some from the petals next to it.

"That's weird…" San muttered to himself. He looked up at the chewed up freesia from yesterday, which will definitely take a while to regrow. Back down to his two new victims, he let out a sad hum of confusion, fingers flitting over the ruined petals. It's probably a coincidence, though he was still upset at having his plants messed up so early into the season. He picks the pots up to take the badly chewed ones inside, putting them up by the glass walls so they can get sunlight while it recovers.

Once again, he had brushed the whole thing off, not thinking much about what's happening. Perhaps he was unlucky having two hungry animals in a row, wonder why they don't raid a supermarket instead, yet it didn't sully his mood. That just proved his flowers are beautiful to not only see, but to eat. His resolution was further confirmed when closing came that day, no sighting of any animals and no other nibbles to his precious freesias. Simply unfortunate, right?

Wrong…

Then came the third day.

A peaceful morning. The sun is shining, beaming perfectly into his room. That means it'll be nice and sunny for his plants too! He follows through his morning routine, grabbing his bags and keys before leaving his house on time.

He doesn't live that far from his shop, so he gets to have a quaint stroll down the street every morning to take in the city around him, absorbing the sunshine like his plants would. It takes one to know one, the saying applies to plants as well. Probably not, but whatever keeps San in a good mood.

His peaceful morning ritual is quickly ruined unfortunately. Getting close enough to see his arrangement of buds planted in the flowerbed— San almost squeals in terror at the sight.

The massacre, oh, the horror!

His gardenia buds have been run through, two of them have nibbles on the petals, others on the stem— one of them is even missing the stem too, like it ripped the entire flower out the ground and swallowed it whole, roots and all! What kind of monster would do such a thing?!

He looks around the shop front for any traces of the possible culprit. Nothing, not a paw print, a tuft of fur, nothing! San scratches the back of his neck, some sweat building in stress. He can't lose the rest of these flowers, they haven't even bloomed yet!

He rushes to unlock the doors, hauling all his potted plants inside before opening the shop. Whatever animal is targeting his shop has an appetite much to big for it's size based off the small teeth marks it leaves on the plants. The only thing he can't bring inside is his gardenias, the one thing he really wishes he could bring in, but there's no way to haul his flowerbed inside.

Wonderful, he doesn't even need coffee. Instead he's got a nice hot cup of stress to kick off his day.

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For the whole morning and afternoon, his eyes are glued outside, as if he blinked all his flora would vanish into thin air.

He's been at this shop for over three years now, and it's the first time he's encountered a tyrant animal like this. San has to do something about this mystery muncher, but he doesn't even know what kind of animal it is? Cat? Maybe, they like chewing on plants. Squirrel? There is a line of trees on the sidewalk, it could be living right under his nose. Raccoon? God, he hopes not. He has to know what he's dealing with first.

The obvious idea would be to install cameras, something he never had around the shop before because they were never installed— and, being honest, San felt no need to have them. You'd have to be a real prick to steal from a plant store, and apparently a even bigger douche to eat from one.

Seeing a lack of customers, he pulls out his phone to first text his friend Yunho. He's great at repairing computers and whatnot, so much tech he couldn't keep track, and he knows he has a few knickknacks or old junk he keeps stocked up in the back of his own store, definitely something like a surveillance camera hidden somewhere in that pile.

Ah, it's great having a nerd as his friend. He'll get to the bottom of this in no time!

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The work day passes, no other animals passing by his shop besides a few birds he gave a death glare at. Nothing's getting past him now…

The moment he closed up shop, he called Yunho over to help with putting the camera up. It is, in fact, rusty. Lots of wires coming out of it, he has no idea how he had gotten his hands on this. People often let him keep the electronics that 'don't work', this one definitely falls under that umbrella.

San is squatting next to Yunho, watching him fidget and fiddle with the camera and looking at some obscure instruction manual before he sits back, proud of himself. "There you go, works like a charm!"

He tilts his head. "Does it?"

"Hey, I wouldn't give you any product that I know is faulty." Yunho pulls his phone out, simultaneously poking a few buttons on the camera, before chuckling. He shows him his phone screen, seeing blurry footage of the two of them sitting in front of the shop. "Ah ha! Told you."

"Oh, wow!" A miracle this hunk of junk functions. San hands him his phone, asking him to set it up on his phone too. He's not gonna bother trying to read the manual, leave it to the tech savvy to do it for him.

Yunho smirks, happy to take it from his hands. "What would you do without me?"

"Get run out of business by a hungry animal?"

This time giggles, tapping away on the phone screen, "Hell of a way to go out." then hands the phone back to him. "Let me know if you have any issues with it, okay?"

San stands up, smiling wide. "Thank you, Yunho."

Yunho stands too, staring at him with a cheeky grin and giving no response back. San glances around for a few seconds, until his face drops. "Oh. Right." He searches through his bag for his wallet, hesitating once he glances back at the withered camera positioned on the ground.

"I get a discount on this right?"

"Hmm…" Yunho glances at the camera too.

"Just this once."

"Yes!"

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Back at his house, he made himself comfy while occasionally checking the camera now and then. The footage seems kind of choppy, but he really can't find himself to complain anymore. San made himself a meal, tidied his house up, and ordered more stuff for the shop. Still no sightings of the culprit, he'll wait and stay up all night if he has to!

A hour passes. Then another, another…

The clock hits 12:30. Still. Nothing.

He's literally been staring at his phone screen for twenty minutes now, laying on his bed, head slumped on a pillow while his eye lids fight off sleep. Oh, so now it doesn't want to show up? Great!

Maybe it won't come tonight? It finally got his fill, after eating all those flowers of his. He really hopes that's the case. San finally gives in, eyes surrendering to sleep…

Something pops up on the screen. White and easily distinguishable through the darkness. He shoots up, invigorated once more, locking eyes with the culprit.

There he sees it, his arch enemy. A adorable, fluffy white bunny with large ears. Goddammit, it's so cute, how can it be so cute?! This precious little thing is the one behind the gardenia massacre? It can't be, perhaps this one is just strolling by.

That assumption is disproved in an instant. As he watches the camera footage, he can see the bunny's large eyes lock onto one of his gardenias, starting to shred away at the leaves like a wood chipper. There goes another one…

San groans defeatedly and buries his head into a pillow, not able to watch as this fat-ass bunny eat more of his product, more of his precious children. What is this bunny's problem?! His flowers can't taste that good to enable this, but he can't help having some lenience for the animal. It's much too cute to stay mad at, yet that doesn't mean he would let it keep eating his stuff.

When he looks up at the camera footage, the bunny is facing the camera now. Staring deeply, thinking. Calculating something in it's tiny, fuzzy head. It hops forward, moving behind the camera to where he can't see it anymore. It goes quiet, it must've had it's fill for the night.

Then there's the sound of chewing. crunchy chews, nothing like the brittle structure of a flower stem. The camera glitches for a second before cutting out.

There's no fucking way it ate his camera as well.

"Are you kidding me?!"

San slams his phone onto the plush surface with loud groans, rolling around on his bed and kicking his feet.

Damn this bunny, this stupid, stupid, stupidly cute, somehow smart, fat bunny!

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He didn't have the heart to tell Yunho about the broken camera.

Instead, San stares at the chewed stems left out in the front of the shop in mourning, only five buds are left standing. They were so young, hadn't even bloomed yet... the customers that come and go can see the sadness radiating off him as well, it bleeds into the shop and has the flowers inside drooping in unison. The flowers mirrors his moods so well.

Sure, he has lots of other beautiful flowers, shrubs, ferns and jade plants that he treasures. He still has love for them, but this is different! He always favors his hand grown flowers, it's not wrong to have a favorite child.

He slumps down over the counter, rubbing his temples to relieve some tension. He can't tell himself to not worry about it, this bunny is actively lurking! It knew he installed cameras just to catch it in the act, and it knew just how to disable them! Or, it thought the wires were food as well. He needs to think of another plan: what could he do to stop this hungry bunny?

An idea pops into his head. A genius idea, why didn't San think of this in the first place?

If the bunny loves eating so much, he could leave some fruit out for it instead. So, then there wouldn't be any need to eat his flowers! It works out for the both of them, the bunny wouldn't go hungry so he wouldn't feel bad.

Rummaging through his bag he picks out the container of strawberries he brought with him for a mid-day snack. He cracks the container open and heads outside to place them in front of the shop. It's unmissable, and appears much more delectable than any flower in comparison.

This has to work!

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It didn't work.

He's standing in front of his shop the next morning, staring at the empty basket of strawberries and flower bed that now only has 3 and a half gardenias left standing. Fat-ass still had the gall to eat his flowers despite having a whole damn buffet of strawberries set out for him.

Oh, now this means war.

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