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Sunflowers, gladiolas, dahlias, irises… the host of colorful petals rustled lightly in the open summer air. The sun beat down on the hazy dust road in the middle of nowhere. A wooden sign with prices written in determined, blocky handwriting hung so that any possible passers would see it. Behind the little makeshift flower stand, fields swept as far as the eye could see, ending only at the edge of a forest.
Musashi was dozing off, legs propped up on the splinter-ridden wall, a straw hat covering his face. It was too hot to actually rest, and the bees seemed especially happy about the blossoms and buds.
Drawing the short straw from amongst his brothers and sisters seemed to be an unlucky habit of his lately. Nobody enjoyed ‘flower-duty’ as Granny Hinata called it, Musashi most of all. He wanted to be active! Working out in the fields, running errands, even babysitting some cousins would be better than this! Sweat without action always made him grumpy. And yet, here he was. Sweating. Sitting . He’d never hear the end of it at dinner tonight– they all knew how much hated this. But, no one said no to Granny Hinata, especially not Musashi.
A short exhale of air stirred the brim of his hat.
This was agony. Pure agony.
Usually, Musashi loved summer. It was fun, and warm, and there was plenty to do. But this summer was different. It was his last summer before his last year of high school. Graduation. He was eager for it to be over, eager for the bus rides and early mornings to end, eager for the the dreaded math classes to come to an end. He despised math. All those pointless calculations. He already knew enough to work on a farm, and that was all he needed. Once he graduated, his life was set. Perhaps that was sort of a sad thing to think, but he didn’t mind. He liked farmwork.
And yet… the end of next school year meant that he would be cut off from his friends. Everyone on his team lived in Salt or near it. During the school year he would live with his aunts in the city so that the travel time was less, but after graduation, he knew he’d be living out here in West Thyme with the rest of his family (unless he decided to move out or find farm work elsewhere… but that was still a ways off). He’d miss them dearly.
He twirled a celandine flower between his fingers, having plucked it from one of the prepared bouquets. He didn’t really like letting his mind wander so much, but there wasn’t anything else to do out here on the side of the road. Ok. So. He may or may not also really loath the end of next year because that also meant never seeing a certain Kageyama Shigeo ever again, ever, for the rest of his natural life.
And, it wasn’t like he could just (gulp) confess any of these feelings to him. No way. Even if Mob accepted him, it’s not like the relationship would last very long. High school relationships never last very long anyway, especially not in the last year. And if Mob accepted him, and they graduated and it didn’t work out, that would break Mob’s heart. Musashi couldn’t bear to think of being the cause of a heartbroken Mob.
Not that Mob liked him like that anyway. (Idiot.)
He sighed, tossing the little flower away. Well. He’d just have to wait out the rest of the year in utter anguish and move on with his life...
Musashi barely woke up in time to see the beat-up looking car pull up on the side of the road. ‘Pull up’ was perhaps too kind of a phrasing for the sudden slamming of brakes and the turning of wheels. He quickly sat up, plastering a cheerful smile on his face and trying to breathe through the sudden cloud of dust. He hoped he didn’t look too concerned, though– they’d stopped pretty fast. Hopefully they weren’t here to cause a ruckus, though he was confident he could at the very least protect himself.
All possible fear fell away when the door of the car opened and (speak of the devil) Kageyama Shigeo got out. Surprise and shock were all the emotions Musashi felt at that moment, and he desperately hoped he hadn’t just jumped in surprise. Mob was joined by his younger brother and his master (Reigen, was it? He’d only seen the guy a few times) and the three made their way to the flower stand.
“Kageyama! What in the world are you doing out here?” Musashi exclaimed with a smile, standing up so they could better talk. Was he smiling too big? God, he was pathetic. “Don’t you live in Salt?”
Mob had grown a lot since first joining the Body Improvement Club. He was still a lot smaller than Musashi, but Musashi never failed to be impressed at his change (although he was still sort of rounded out and small compared to himself.). Needless to say, Mob still had to look up at him to talk to him.
“Ah, Reigen had a client we needed to see in Thyme. We saw you on the way there.” Mob looked at the flowers for a minute. “Also, Reigen needs flowers to apologize.”
“Oi! I do not! They’re um.” He fiddled with his hands for a bit, looking for the right words. “They’re for a friend. Ahem-hm , ah… yeah. I wouldn’t say I need to apologize, per se , but, uh, it would be nice if they were something that said… ‘Hey! I’m sorry for being an asshole! Please still be my friend!’”
Musashi blinked. “Um… Let’s see.” He wasn’t used to actually arranging things, but he had a pretty basic idea about what different flowers symbolized. Soon enough he had a quaint bouquet set up with some yellow roses, peonies, and some pear blossoms. Reigen paid adeptly, sweating waterfalls in the beating sun.
“Have you been out here long?” Mob asked, face expressionless as ever.
“Ah, well… Just since seven. I’ll be wrapping things up soon though. Uh…” Was there any way he could possibly drag this conversation out more? Reigen and Ritsu seemed annoyed at having to stand out in the sun for too long, eyeing what must be an air-conditioned vehicle. “Did you three need anything else before you took off? We need to get rid of these things before they rot, heh.”
Mob looked at Reigen and Ritsu. Reigen seemed too busy sweating to notice him, and Ritsu rolled his eyes, elbowing Mob.
“Um. I don’t need anything.”
Musashi tried not to look too deflated.
“...But I suppose I could get a few flowers? I don’t have much money, though.”
“Ah!” Musashi brightened up immediately. “What do you want?”
Mob was about to say something when Reigen spoke up, “This is lovely and all, but I think I’m going to go wait in the car.”
“Me too,” Ritsu said, though he seemed… unhappy about the idea of being in the car with Reigen.
Mob was preoccupied with looking at the different prices of the flowers.
“Um.” There was a decent pause. Musashi couldn’t help the little flutter in his heart when Mob looked at him again. Now was not the time for that. “What do you suggest?”
“Hm… The daffodils are nice. So are the morning glories and narcissus.” He hoped Mob wouldn’t look up the symbolism behind these flowers later. He was basically just putting his whole heart out there and Mob was none the wiser. Ugh, Sagawa was right– he was a hopeless romantic. He hoped he wasn’t blushing too hard.
“Do you have a favorite?”
“Hm…” Keep it casual, Musashi. “Gardenias and… forget-me-nots.”
There was that tiny, adorable smile on Mob’s face again. “Oh.” He paused again. “I’ll take a few forget-me-nots.” Musashi’s heart leapt in his throat and he quickly managed to conceal a blush with a bigger smile.
“Wonderful! I’ll get those ready for you right away!”
The car drove off, Musashi waving eagerly after them. Once they had disappeared behind a bend in the road, he let out a big breath, blushing like crazy. Oh man. He was in deep. At that point, his brother Michi had pulled up in the family truck and asked if he was alright. “You look like you’re about to faint from heatstroke! Come on, it’s almost time for dinner, Mao will help me put away all these flowers.” His sister grumbled a little bit at that, but before long all the flowers were put away in coolers in the back of the truck. Musashi felt like he could die on the spot anyway, so he just rested his head on the window, watching the scenery pass by as they drove home.
This was the best and worst kind of hell to be in.
(Little did Musashi know, but later that night, Mob had placed the small gathering of little blue flowers in a mug in his room. When Ritsu asked about it, he just said that he thought they were pretty. And he liked the name. He didn’t want to forget any of his friends from high-school.
Mob did not look up any sort of flower symbolism.
Ritsu, on the other hand…)