This story hasn't been betaed! Enjoy, more author notes at the end!
"Yuuri, I'm heading out to go get the new batch of flowers!"
"Alright Phichit, see you later," Yuuri called out to the back of the small shop as he could hear his friend open and close the door signalling his departure. Turning back to the front of the shop Yuuri signalled to the small blond standing by one of the cases of flowers.
"Minami?"
"Yeah?" The boy named Minami looked up at Yuuri, his single lock of bright red hair falling slightly in his face.
"Are the flowers ready for the outside display?"
Minami's face turned to a look of confusion before quickly switching back to a look of confidence. "Yep! I finished them earlier." The blond grinned as he talked, one tooth showing prominently. "I'll go bring them out if you want!" He made to move towards the back room where the flowers not on display were stored.
"No, no it's okay Minami," Yuuri spoke as he instead started towards the back room. "I got it. Just finish organizing these in here."
Minami just eagerly nodded and turned his attention back to the tulips he was tending to earlier.
Yuuri smiled as he walked into the back room. To him it really was amazing to be able to run a shop with two of his best friends.
He stood for a minute in the doorway admiring the flowers positioned in water around the entirety of the room. The language of flowers had become a second language to him. English becoming a third as he soon realized that a good portion of customers this flower shop attracted didn't speak Japanese. Even Phichit, although he had been living in Japan for a while, still struggled with the language.
Snapping out of his thoughts Yuuri made his way to the opposite side of the room to pick up the flowers that Minami said he finished earlier that day. They were camellias. He held them in his arms as carefully as if he were holding a child. Then again, to Yuuri the flowers were like a child.
Walking outside, the breeze was apparent as it pushed Yuuri's hair in all directions around his face. It was longer than he usually kept it, but he didn't mind. Phichit told him to keep it, that it looked cute on him. Especially when he would tie it up, and Phichit was never wrong.
Yuuri looked around at the baskets in the front display, deciding which one would be the best one to place the new flowers in. The one to his left looked fairly empty, that one might be a good one to refill. He placed the flowers in the basket and began to arrange them.
He went to turn around when he was caught off guard by a heavy weight now on his chest. Yuuri couldn't help but to let out a small squeak of surprise. When he looked down he saw a large brown poodle wagging his tail and attempting to lick his face.
"Makkachin! Makkachin!"
Glancing up again Yuuri saw a man running towards him, a leash in his hand. Apparently the poodle detached himself from the blue leash in his owner's hands and just rushed into Yuuri's arms.
"Come on boy." The man finally caught up to his dog and reattached the leash. "I'm so sorry," The man apologized to Yuuri, as the poodle finally got off of his chest. When he looked into the face of the dog's owner he was met with pale skin, short cut silver hair, and piercing blue eyes.
"It's alright," Yuuri sighed as he brushed the dog fur off of his shirt, a smile appearing on his face. "Don't worry about it."
"I really am so sorry, Makkachin just got off of his leash somehow. I hope he didn't cause any damage to anything." He began to look around at the flowers to make sure that they weren't crushed or damaged.
"Oh no he didn't, I already arranged the flowers anyway." Yuuri grinned attempting to reassure the man who was wrecked with worry.
The silver haired man held out his hand to Yuuri, "At least let me introduce myself, I'm Victor."
Yuuri quickly accepted the handshake, "I'm Yuuri, the current owner of Agape Flowers." He nodded towards the flower shop next to him. Although he figure that Victor already figured something out that was similar.
"Oh? I've heard such good things about you guys and how you carry all the odd flowers! I do need to buy something for my friend…" Victor trailed off, placing a finger on his face. "What would you recommend?"
"Well what's the occasion?" Yuuri started towards the front door, expecting Victor to follow him. When he didn't, Yuuri turned around to see what was wrong.
"What about Makkachin?" Victor voiced his concern.
"He can come in as long as you keep a good hold on his leash," Yuuri said as he smirked, walking into the store. He held the door open for his latest customer.
Victor quickly rushed in after him, keeping a good hold on Makkachin's leash.
"The occasion is my friend Mila's birthday, she's turning 18 this year." Victor smiled.
"Her birthday huh?" Yuuri walked around the store slowly, letting his mind wander to the different flowers that would work. As he passed by Minami who stood at the counter, Yuuri flashed him a smile. Which Minami returned with a quick thumbs up.
Yuuri hummed as he absentmindedly arranged some of the flowers as he continued to think.
Minami leaned against the counter with his chin in his hands as his elbows rested against the countertop. "So mister, what's your name?"
"Huh?" Victor turned to face the blond, tearing his gaze away from Yuuri. "The name's Victor," he replied as he sent a wink to Minami.
Yuuri had turned around just in time to see the exchange, "Victor please don't flirt with Minami. He's only 18, and has his eye on someone else," Yuuri poked fun at the blond who hid his face in an attempt to hide his flustered face.
"Yuuuuuuri," Minami whined from behind his hands, "I thought I told you to stop bringing this up to customers, not everyone is flirting with me."
Victor covered his mouth with his hand to hide his quiet laughter at the two florists in front of him.
"I guess Phichit's wearing off on me," Yuuri shrugged as he passed Minami and returned to the back room as the flower he wanted was kept back there. "How big of a bouquet do you want?" Yuuri peeked around the door as he asked.
"Uhh what type of flowers are they?"
"Carnations."
"A couple would be good I think."
Once again Yuuri disappeared behind the doorframe to grab some white carnations and an eucharis lily. He quickly reappeared, his arms full of the flowers. "Is this okay?" He asked Victor.
"Those are beautiful, they're perfect for her." Victor approved of the floral choice. Yuuri handed the flowers to Minami to tie them up with ribbon.
Yuuri leaned against the counter, next to where Minami stood, as he explained, "The white carnations are a woman's good luck gift, as well as meaning sweet and lovely. The eucharis lily is for maiden charm. We're one of the only shops that carry it, but I think it would be a great addition."
"Wow!" Victor looked amazed at Yuuri's description. "Each flower has a meaning? That's amazing!"
Minami spoke while he finished tying ribbon on the bouquet, "Yep! Its called the language of flowers. Yuuri's amazing with it too! That's why everyone loves his bouquets so much." The blond held up his work, "Ah ha! Looks good if I do say so myself!"
"Good job Minami, you keep getting better," Yuuri commented as he handed the bouquet to Victor.
As he began to ring up the order Minami grinned from the praise.
Not even a couple days later and Victor returned to the floral shop, this time without the accompaniment of Makkachin. Once again he came in asking for flowers for another friend's birthday. Yuuri didn't question it, there isn't anything wrong about having multiple friends who have similar birthdays.
This time Phichit was the one in the shop with Yuuri instead of Minami, who was on the daily runs for deliveries.
Yuuri had made his way to the back room to pick out the latest flowers, Phichit followed behind him happily.
"Yuuri, is this the guy you were talking about earlier?" Phichit inquired.
"Mhhmm," Yuuri quietly replied as he wandered around the room picking up flowers here and there.
"He seems nice enough." Phichit kicked his feet against the ground as he held his hands behind his back.
"Yeah…" Yuuri trailed off as he began to get lost in his own thoughts, Phichit wasn't stopping talking though.
"He really looks like he enjoys the bouquets you make."
"This is only the second one I've made for him," Yuuri mumbled under his breath as he picked up the final flowers he wanted. "I think this'll be good."
Together, Phichit and Yuuri walked back into the front room where Victor stood admiring the flowers. The bell on the door jingled as Minami walked into the store. "Oh! Victor you're back." Minami grinned at the silver haired man who had turned to face the door.
"Yeah, I needed a gift for another friend," Victor chuckled as he scratched the back of his neck.
Minami just smiled and rushed over to the counter where Yuuri was beginning to wrap up the newest bouquet. "Yuuri what's this bouquet made of?" The blond was almost bouncing with excitement.
"Heather and camellia." Yuuri replied.
"What do they mean?" Victor made his way over to the counter to join the other three.
"The white heather means hoping wishes come true, which makes sense since you asked for a bouquet for your friend's birthday," Yuuri looked up from his work and smiled at Victor before quickly returning to finish tying the ribbon in the signature bow. "The camellias- they're the same type I was putting outside the other day- mean good luck."
Victor stood there, a look of amazement on his face, "You really are good with this Yuuri!"
"He really is!" Phichit agreed.
"Yuuri's the best," Minami chimed in.
Yuuri's face became flushed from all the praise. "I"m not that cool, I've studied a lot. I just find interesting." With one last glance at the bouquet at his hands, Yuuri picked it up and handed it to Victor. "Well, I'm pretty sure we're done! Do you like it?"
"Of course!" Victor gushed as he held the beautiful flowers in his hands. "All of your flowers are beautiful! I love them all!" Victor grinned at the three florists standing in front of him.
"I'm glad." Yuuri smiled, another bouquet well done, another customer happy.
Over the next couple weeks Victor continued to frequent the store periodically. Each time he continued to ask for bouquets for friends' birthdays. The first couple times Yuuri didn't overly question it, but after the third time it raised his suspicions.
There just seemed to be something odd about having so many friends whose birthdays were just days apart. So many. Although, each time Yuuri happily complied and put together another bouquet for his most frequent customer.
It made Yuuri smile every time that Victor would gush over his flower meaning knowledge. As well as the praise over how beautiful the flowers looked.
Phichit and Minami continued to attempt to convince him that Victor had a thing for him. As they both said, no one comes into a florist that much. Yuuri just waved it off. Although Phichit was almost always right when it came to anything related to relationships. That was just something about him.
The next time Victor came into the store it was fairly close to Valentine's day. Yuuri could almost guess what Victor would ask for, roses, like the majority of his current customers. And he was right when the silver haired man came in, except it surprised him. For once Victor came in with a specific bouquet of roses that he wanted.
Victor counted off on his fingers as he talked, "Yuuri can I get dark pink, orange, and red roses?"
"You have specific ones in mind?"
"Yep! I hope you don't mind," Victor chuckled. "I may have looked up meanings behind them, I want to give these to the loveliest person I know."
At those words, Yuuri could almost feel his heart break. There was something that he hadn't acknowledged, maybe he was the one with a thing for Victor. Clearly it wasn't the other way around.
Yuuri simply nodded and walked into the back room, like always, to pick up the roses.
First he picked the dark pink roses, thankfulness.
Then it was the orange ones, fascination.
The last one to be picked was the red roses, traditional roses, meaning love and sometimes respect.
It was a slightly odd bunch when held together, but it reminded Yuuri of a beautiful sunset. Almost like the one that was able to be seen every evening on the local beach. It was what Victor wanted, so Yuuri returned to finish off the bouquet.
There was a silence between them, neither daring to break the silence. Both Phichit and Minami were off that day leaving Yuuri to deal with the shop on his own. Meaning there was no other distraction.
Once again Yuuri found himself finishing the bow and handing the bouquet to Victor. "Here you go Victor, I hope the lucky person likes them."
"Oh I definitely think they will! Thank you Yuuri!" Yuuri watched as Victor practically skipped out of the door.
Yuuri stood there for a moment before the bell on the door once again rang alerting him of a customer. In the doorway stood Victor with the roses in his hands.
Yuuri tilted his head in confusion. His confusion grew when Victor walked up to him and handed over the bouquet. Yuuri went to start speaking but couldn't get a word out before Victor.
"Beautiful roses for the loveliest person I know," Victor held the roses out towards Yuuri, who just stood there taking in the situation.
Once he realized what was happening he could finally form a response, "Victor, I accept the flowers, but you do know these were already my roses, right?"
So here's the thing, I wrote this story as a way to hopefully bring a smile to some people in the US after the inauguration. This whole thing is worrying to some people, I know Pence worries me more than Trump personally. I wanted to try and bring smiles to some of you! As well as those outside of the US! Everyone should smile! Smiles are good :D
The actual inspiration for this was for Okaeri_Kairi (I fixed the username! Its correct now ^^) Partly because I don't want to see my friend sad so as I said before SMILES ALL AROUND. She also gave ideas for most of this entire story, from the last line to it being a florist au. I mean you can thank her for it :)
I hope you guys enjoyed this story! Feel free to favorite and review!
There won't be another update unless you guys really really want one? I also wrote this in a day so don't think I'm completely ignoring Pieces of The Puzzle. I'll get work on that done soon.
See you guys later!