Message: Here we go, dear jinkaidou, Merry Christmas! I hope this somehow turned out like I hope it would and of course what you hoped to get. FlowershopAU with Arata, Haruki & Implied Jinyuu. Itâs a bit of everything, I guess, because I couldnât decide.
Itâs a small shop near the train station, nothing extraordinary if it wasnât for the colours of the flowers, the blue façade and its sign which depicted a blue star-shaped flower Arata couldnât name. He had walked by many times now without paying it any mind and he probably never would have if his friend hadnât directed his attention onto it.
âFor motherâs dayâ, Haruki tells him when Arata looks mildly confused, standing close so that bright colours were filling his view, the scent of the flowers clouding his mind (and for a second he wonders whether he should buy some for his dad).
Arataâs reply his unusual indifferently, shows Haruki that it is not something he thinks to keep on talking about and as far as Haruki knows him he is sure that the topic wonât come up again; heâs wrong, but he doesnât know that at this point, only drags him a few meters further and says they still have some time to buy some sweets and this is all it takes to bring a smile to Arataâs face again.
(Haruki wonders, retrospectively, if it had been a good decision, whether it wouldnât have been better to ignore the shop and keep the thoughts of a motherâs day present to himself â but even if he knows the events which follow after that, heâs still not sure about right or wrong).
Arata asks himself why heâs suddenly standing in the flower shop just one day later. One the way from school, alone this time, he had only been kneeling in front of the flowers outside the shop before his feet had carried him inside. The interior is not pompous, fits to the simplicity the façade radiates at first glance, nevertheless he doesnât realise the flower seller until he directs this question at him.
When Arata eventually looks at him, he sees the young manâs smile, how he beams with joy and he is so baffled that he doesnât know what to say at first, especially when the young man crouches down next to him, still smiling, before he looks at the flowers Arata had his eyes on.
âPretty arenât they?â
He hadnât really realised which kind of flowers he is looking at, still, he nods, because now that he sees the white flowers, they do look nice, just like the young men. (He almost had mistaking him for a woman â his high ponytail, the soft features â but a closer look at his broad shoulders tells him a different story).
âFor a friend, family or someone special?â
In the back of his mind Arata knows that he is merely this friendly to sell his goods, to make a better appearance and earn money, nevertheless he feels that there is more, so the reply âfor my dadâ tumbles out of his mouth before he can really think about it.
âThen we should look for another kind, donât you think?â
Arata doesnât know anything about flower language, but since the worker whose name tag reads Yuuya walks him away from the white blossoms, they must have a rather unfitting meaning (he tries to keep from thinking âbadâ, because itâs not like flowers knew the concepts of good and evil, after all it were the humans attaching letters to colours and meaning to beauty).
On that day he doesnât leave the shop with a bouquet of flowers but a large grin and a plan to convince his friend to look forward to.
When Arata tells him to meet him at the flower shop and not the ice cafĂŠ, Haruki is mildly confused.
He knows his classmate by now, better than he probably wants to (and this means a lot, after all he didnât intend to be friends with him at the beginning, their friendship a mere consequence of a lot of occurrences he doesnât really want to remember), and flowers are nothing he really spend time thinking about. He is rather talking about the newest action film and the merchandise it brought with it, why the heroes are always better than the villains and how amazing the special effects are. Haruki is usually a fan of in-depth plot and not those mindless action scenes but slowly Arata was able to pull him into the universe of action films and now there are more than one action figure gracing his own shelf, after he found himself accompanying his friends to the newest filmâs releases whenever he shows up with a few tickets. He knows him, how much he likes sweets and how he falls easily asleep because he spend to much time avoiding homework with reading comics, but flowers? He would be surprised if he could tell more than the difference between a rose and a sunflower. Besides, he still remembers the last time they stopped in front of the shop, Arataâs mind troubled with thoughts it shouldnât be.
With a sigh, he shakes his head, realising that any worry beforehand isnât going to help and he should just hurry up and meet Arata who is probably already waiting for him. And he is right when he sees him standing in front of the shop.
As soon Arata sees him, he waves, yet before Haruki can do more than utter a âhelloâ, he drags him inside, the surprised yelp accompanied by the chime of the shopâs bell.
They are greeted by a man with black and white hair whose in the middle of arranging a gift basket, the theme of motherâs day presented by red and white roses. For a short moment Arata wonders if he should ask where Yuuya is, after all itâs him he talked about the issue, but he doesnât. The young man seems equally nice but he has a more dominant presence even though he appears reserved and Arata isnât sure if he should just go to him, wait for a few minutes or just come back a next time; the seller takes the decision away from him.
Haruki wonders whether he can, because he has no idea what Arataâs intention to show up here is. Or with him, for that matter, so he just stars at his friend who seems to hesitate, another reaction he doesnât see that often.
âYuuya said you were looking for temporary staffâ, he finally answers and while the young man doesnât seem to feel the need of interrupting his work, Haruki is rather confused.
âArata, am I right?â, he says, looking up when heâs finished with tying a red bow around a teddy bear so hat he can secure the last white rose in its plush arms.
âYes!â, is his immediate response, a little bit of weight falling from his shoulders since their coming isnât for naught and he can convince Haruki to do this job with him after all (because Haruki is smarter than he is and can help him with learning in regard to the flowers and his school stuff) so that he doesnât have to do this alone; he doesnât have to do this at all but he really likes to try new things out and this is one chance he might not have again,
âExcuse me⌠Arata?â
Haruki has finally found the words to react, however the other one doesnât give him any chance to voice his doubts, already giving him reasons to an argument he never voiced.
âWe can always catch the train on time since itâs so close and if we donât we can go to the cafĂŠ nearby. Also your mum loves flowers â every mum does â and itâll make her happy to know that her son not only buys her some but also possesses knowledge over it.â
Even though they were reasons Arata preferred â and Haruki has the feeling that he thought a long time about the positives sides he wants him to show â Haruki canât deny the appeal, still, he doesnât think that he should agree, after all âschool doesnât allow us to.â
âWho cares. Itâll be fun.â
He furrows his brow, a sigh leaving his lips and he really questions why they became friends; this is only an attitude Arata can have in terms of important decisions like that.
After listening to their talk for a moment, the young man comes forward, a little smile on his lips to ease his otherwise dominant presence, causing Haruki to tell him his name without hesitance; heâs a bit embarrassed that the two of them were talking like that in front of him and is glad that there doesnât seem to be any other customer at the moment.
âNice to meet you two. Iâm Kaidou Jin.â
Itâs an easy name to remember, thankfully, and wondering whether there are more people he has to address in case he agrees working together with Arata, he looks up to Jin.
âAre you and Mr. Yuuya the only oneâs working here?â
It almost feels like Jin knows what he is thinking about, always a step ahead, but Haruki quickly ignores the thought, especially when Kaidouâs smile slightly widens with his next words.
âNo, there are two more, but we are the owners. âThe Little flower shopâ⌠This is our first work. I doesnât have that much of a known circle yet.â
There is pride in his voice, without a doubt, something Arata picks up as well, curiosity pushing him on, asking something which actually should be obvious.
âHow important are these flowers to you?â
It doesnât take him long to answer, itâs almost an automatic reply to a question he expects daily (but that canât be the case, Haruki thinks, itâs probably because these words mean more than the flowers itself).
âFlowers donât replace an excuse. You canât give them to someone in hope that theyâll do the trick for you and earn you the forgiveness of other people. But they do make people smile, they can carry little messages and most importantly they are pretty to look at. Colourful even.â
He doesnât look like the type to think something like that, and even though Haruki doesnât say it out loud, Jin seems to know what he thinks, as if it was written across his face; he is really good at that; he realises.
This should be everything Haruki needs to know to agree working here, two rightful owners, the simple shop and their ideal, the concept, still, there is one more thing.
âHikaru will scold you for thisâ, he tells Arata, turning his attention back to him, and itâs the most effective argument he has up his sleeves, but Arata shrugs it off.
âYou mean both of us. If he finds out. We donât need to tell him.â
Its such a typical reply of him, and honestly, had Haruki been expecting anything else? Not really.
Haruki canât believe this, another sigh leaving his lips, and shaking his head in disbelief while massaging his temple.
Thatâs what he says but next week he is standing here again, in the middle of the shop, wearing a green apron Yuuya handed him.
Itâs more of a statement than a question but he isnât mad because Yuuya is always smiling and somehow he wonders if he always had been like that. He must have been, after all his sunshine like smile and flowers seem as if they were meant to be (itâs not, but he doesnât know that, doesnât have to, because Yuuya just wants to forget the times of hospital visits and medicine, just wants to remember the colours of the flowers his friends put on his night stand to paint the white room and fill it with life).
âHaruki?â, he asks again, his smile wavering a bit when he doesnât get an answer right away, fearing that he pressed him into it after all, helping Arata into forcing him to work.
âDo you know every meaning?â
This question throws him off-guard, still, heâs easily able to answer it, with a simple âno, not yetâ and the smile is there again, even when Haruki asks â after a moment of hesitance â about the blue flower on their signs, the one whose name he doesnât even know; this time the answer is easy as well, but merely because he knows its meaning better than the one of any other flower.
âIt means forgive me. Regret for things you have done. Itâs an apology.â
He furrows his brow, thinks back to the talk he had with Jin, and the sound of it doesnât fit well with him, something he also doesnât mind saying out loud.
âItâs rather weird. Jin said that flowers donât serve as ââ
âItâs just a little message, donât over thinkâ, Yuuya interrupts him, causing Harukiâs suspicion to grow and for the first time he wonders what he is exactly doing here.
âSo youâll work with me?â, Arata drags his attention away, an anticipated smile on his lips, so that Haruki canât help himself but to smile lightly and shake his head in amused disbelief.
âI canât leave you alone. In the end you drag another poor soul into this.â
âI wouldnâtâ, he protests, puffing his cheeks and pouting like a child would, something he rarely does around him, a sign that Haruki can allow himself some teasing as well.
âMaybe. You glutton.â
âYouâre going to spend all your money on parfaits.â
Yuuya goes back to the counter, to take care of an old lady who bought a gift basket and is laughing lightly, telling him something about âah, the youth of these daysâ when she sees how the young boys have their little banter; he just smiles and tells her that itâs lively like that. She canât deny this and so she bids farewell with a chuckle.
Yuuya looks back at the guys who star at each other for a moment, determination to stand by their opinion before they burst out laughing, Arata louder than Haruki who tries to tone it down.
It goes without saying that both take the job, helping out in the shop and learning more about flowers, how to take care of them but also how to deal with customers, something Arata has surprisingly no trouble with, and of course he spends most of his earned money on dessert.
(Also Hikaru finds out about it at some point, but he keeps from scolding them because he works at a cafĂŠ, so he isnât someone who should throw stones while sitting in a glass house )
And somehow, Haruki thinks, that pointing out the shop in the beginning might have been a really good idea.
A/N: The flower they talk about is a âBlausternâ. The English name should be âblue scillaâ? However the species which is common in Japan but rarely used as an ornamental plant is the âOstasiatischer Blausternâ (Barnardia japonica) which is called Japanese jacinth in English? Languages, man, idk.
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