A/N- Polarbarbarian on tumblr asked: hello! i recently read all of Gakuen Babysitter and am now bingeing everything there is for it on A03. i really like your writing! i saw that you were taking prompts, so i was wondering if you'd be interested in doing a shy, pining Hayato. i have a weakness for tough boys who are shy on the inside~

I feel like this fandom needs a flower shop/tattoo parlour AU. I'm 800% writing this now to procrastinate on my media project and will definitely regret it later but oh well ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Hayato liked working at Deep Ink tattoo parlour. The pay was good, his co-workers were bearable, and the owners of the ramen shop two doors down knew his order by heart. Nobody at the parlour minded that he was as blunt as a pair of safety scissors, and he enjoyed making art for a living, though he'd smack anyone who suggested that such a sentimental thought crossed his mind. And of course, there was Green Meadows florists, across the street, which had always existed as part of Hayato's reality, but had recently been in his mind more and more often. It was mostly Yagi's fault. He might not have even noticed him if it wasn't for Yagi.

XXX

"Did you hear?" said Yagi as they were opening up the parlour one morning "the flower shop across the street is getting a new employee."

"Is that so?" asked Nekota, though by the sound of her voice, Hayato could tell she wasn't very interested. To be fair the only gossip she spared any real attention for concerned Inui, the bartender that she definitely did-not-have-a-crush-on-shut-up-Yagi, so Hayato was pretty sure Yagi wouldn't take it personally. Sure enough the other man only smiled and continued.

"Yup. Apparently he's a college student, living with his younger brother, and the human embodiment of sunshine."

Hayato raised an eyebrow at that last statement and Nekota snorted. "Where did you get that information from?" she asked as she finished wiping down the guns and throwing away the wipes. She stretched her arms high above her head to toss them into the bin like a basketball and revealing the sharp-eyed calico cat inked into her hip, filled in with blotches of colour.

"From Chuukichi of course."

Ah yes, Yagi's best friend (and possibly boyfriend though no one could figure out their relationship and Hayato couldn't be bothered to ask) was a florist at Green Meadows as well.

"I really doubt Nezu-san described someone as 'the human embodiment of sunshine'" Hayato said dryly.

Yagi laughed softly, scratching idly at the cherry blossoms that climbed up his neck. "I may have paraphrased that a bit."

There was a loud, firm, and deliberate clearing of a throat from the receptionist's desk. "If you have time to gossip, you have time to sweep." said Inomata sternly, and that was the end of that.

Except it wasn't. Because later that day Hayato saw him, when he happened to glance out of the big glass windows at the front of the store, and for a second he forgot how to breathe. Brown hair that looked red in the sunlight, bright green apron that really should have clashed with the red but didn't, and a laugh so expressive that Hayato could swear he could hear it all the way across the street. He couldn't tell what colour his eyes were, but he was sure they'd be every bit as captivating as the man himself.

XXX

The Florist, as Hayato had taken to calling him in his head, had an afternoon shift every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and opened on Saturday. Hayato could see him from the parlour when he came out for his break, or to weep the front, or to water the various colourful plants that hung in baskets outside the shop. Each week he was treated to snatches of a wide smile, glimpses of his head thrown back in laughter. He had started hanging around the reception desk like a love sick school girl, much to Inomata's annoyance.

"If you like the man so much, just go across the street and talk to him."

"Who said anything about liking him?"

Inomata gave him a thoroughly unimpressed look, and he relented. "I don't know what I'd say." he said honestly.

"You've never had a problem with speaking your mind, Kamitani-kun."

"Neither have you, Inomata-san, but I don't see you speaking to that bubbly florist girl either."

Inomata snapped her mouth shut at that, and let the topic go.

Yagi spent a vast majority of his breaks across the street anyway due to his… whatever with Nezu, but he would now come back with stories of The Florist- whose name he, infuriatingly, refused to divulge- and flowers for everyone, and really Yagi might be the only person both brave and self-confident enough to waltz up to Hayato, tuck a flower behind his ear, and practically skip away to pester Inomata, the only unmarked member of their team, into letting him give her a tattoo.

If the latest designs in Hayato's sketch book had a more floral theme, well nobody had to know.

XXX

Hayato had been standing outside the flower shop for 10 minutes. That was one third of his break time. He'd been standing just out of sight of the inside counter, though he could clearly see that The Florist was on duty. Occasionally he would take a half step forward, before pausing and returning back to his original position.

"If you don't go inside, someone's going to call the police" came a dry voice behind him, and he whipped around to face Nekota, who gave him a sly grin as she arched an eyebrow.

Hayato had to concede she had a point. It didn't help that the sweltering summer heat had driven him to wear a tank top, which exposed the intricate pattern of trailing vines and swirling galaxies that made their way up to both his shoulders, giving way to the geometric wolf on one shoulder matched by an identically styled falcon on the other, and allowed the crest of the wave that adorned his chest to peak past his collar. A heavily tattooed man glaring at a flower shop was probably enough to set off most people's warning bells.

"What are you even doing here?"

"Needed a reference for a client."

"Oh really?" Nekota's smirk grew as she crossed her arms over her chest, the short sleeves of her top riding up to expose the tail of the ethereal blue and gold mermaid that marked her left shoulder, the colouring contrasting sharply with the twisting words of an old love poem that circled both her upper arms.

"Really." He replied flatly. "She wants a particular set of flowers. Apparently it's supposed to mean something." It was a pretty decent design actually, a swirl of five different flowers that spiralled out from near her heart to under her rib. It was a surprise for her husband, a love story in petals, from what she had told him. Despite all outward appearances, Hayato could appreciate a romantic gesture.

"And you couldn't, I don't know, Google these flowers?"

"You know as well as I do that a picture isn't going to give you the same feel."

Nekota grinned, and Hayato felt like he'd just lost a competition he didn't know they were having.

"Well then go on, and get your references then." She shoved him slightly towards the door, and now that Hayato was in full view of the counter inside, turning around was no longer an option. He had no choice but to go inside. He glared at her.

"I'm going to kill you."

"You can try."

He took a deep breath and opened the door, entering the slightly humid, heavily perfumed shop, the sound of Nekota's cackling still ringing in his ears, and was met with a pair of the brownest eyes he'd ever seen. For a long moment the eyes were the only things taking up his vision, but slowly he took in everything else, like he was watching a movie scene where the camera was slowly zooming out. The rest of Brown Eyes' face was even more enchanting up close, large eyes, pointed nose, and a mouth made for smiling. His cheeks were dusted with a smattering of freckles, probably due to the summer sun, provided an unhelpful corner of his mind. It was only after he realized he had been staring for a while and not speaking that he noticed Brown Eyes wasn't alone. His co-worker, a sleepy-eyed man with long pink hair that would have looked out of place anywhere but this garden of roses and tulips and azaleas and god knows what else, winked at him like he knew a secret.

"Oh!" he said, pounding a fist on his open palm "You're anime-kun's friend. I've seen you go with him to the tattoo parlour."

"A-anime-kun?"

"Nezu-kun's friend? The one with the cherry blossom tattoo? And the pixel-ly ones on his arms? Very anime."

Hayato quirked an eyebrow, eyeing the man's pink hair. He was about to say something on the matter when Brown Eyes spoke.

"Usaida-san," he said, exasperation colouring his tone "can you call someone anime-kun when you yourself have pink hair?"

Usaida waved him off like it didn't matter, which Hayato supposed, it really didn't. Brown Eyes sighed, before turning to Hayato with a smile so bright that he thought his heart might stop right there.

"Welcome to Green Meadows flower shop, how can we help you?"

"I'm sorry to ask, but I need references for a tattoo I'm designing. I was hoping you would allow me to sketch some flowers from this shop?"

"Certainly, which flowers do you need, or will anything do?"

Hayato checked the note he'd made on his phone. "Red camellias, white carnations, anemone, lavender, and forget-me-nots." He was sure at least one of those was a fish. Or the house of a fish? Something fish related anyway.

The other man's eyes lit up. "In love, fascination, sincerity, faithfulness, and true love. A special tattoo then. Your customer must really love someone indeed." He coloured up suddenly. "I'm sorry, it's just that I find hanakotoba really cool."

Hayato tried not to be distracted by the sight of the man blushing. "Ah, it's no problem. It's kind of cool that you know it off the top of your head like that. I didn't even realize they had a meaning until my client explained it."

The man turned a deeper shade of red, and turned, ostensibly to look for the plants in question. Usaida smirked at Hayato when Brown Eyes wasn't looking.

"I think we should have most of these around. Oh, wait, we're out of white carnations, but there are some red ones here so at least you can get the shape right…" The man trailed off hunting for the flowers he'd need, before lining them up on the back counter. "You can step back here and sketch without anyone bothering you."

"Thank you."

"No problem. Any friend of Yagi-kun is welcome here. I'm Kashima Ryuuichi, by the way." He said with a smile so infectious that Hayato had to smile back.

"Kamitani Hayato."

XXX

Weeks passed of Hayato finding (making, according to Yagi) excuses to go back to the flower shop. Managing to talk more and more with Kashima until suddenly they were friends. They had exchanged numbers at some point, and Hayato hadn't emailed anyone this regularly since his school days.

"You're adorable" Yagi cooed when he caught him smiling at his phone screen for the umpteenth time as they were closing up.

"Gross, more like." Nekota said "Just ask him out and put us all out of our misery. You already have lunch with him at least once a week."

"I'm not going to ask him out." Hayato said, scowling at them.

"What! Why not?" asked Nekota and Yagi together. Even Inomata looked up from organizing the day's records and fixed him with an exasperated look, which Hayato thought was supremely unfair as she had yet to talk to bubbly florist girl- whose name was Ushimaru apparently.

"We're friends now, I don't want to make it weird." He said with a shrug, trying to pretend that it didn't take years off his life trying to control his heartbeat every time he was around Kashima.

Nekota made a disgusted noise, and Inomata shook her head. Yagi just looked thoughtful.

"If you change your mind, can you wait a month to ask him? I have money riding on this."

Hayato felt completely justified in hitting him.

XXX

"Kamitani?" Hayato blinked at Kashima, whose voice was tight in a way that indicated that he was trying not to laugh.

"Yes?"

"Did you know you have a flower behind your ear?"

Hayato's hand flew up to inspect the offending appendage, and sure enough there was a thin stemmed yellow flower nestled there. "I'm going to murder Yagi." He growled, carefully removing the plant.

Kashima did laugh at that. "Don't" he said, plucking the flower out of his hands and leaning over to replace it. "It's cute."

Hayato couldn't speak, too busy trying to deal with the blaring alarms and the panicked TOO CLOSE that spun through his brain. Kashima smiled at him before calmly returning to work. Hayato might have heard Nezu snort, but he wasn't sure. He bit back a groan. This man was going to kill him.

XXX

KASHIMA: Hey Kamitani are you busy on Sunday? Want to meet up? I'm taking my brother out if you want to tag along.

Hayato looked at the message on his phone. Of course the one time Kashima wanted to meet outside of work would be the day he'd gotten roped into taking Taka to some museum or something for a class project.

YOU: Sorry, but I'm helping my brother with some school work on Sunday.

KASHIMA: Oh, maybe some other time then.

Hayato shook his head, trying not to get his hopes up at the promise of a future meet up. "It's not a date, Hayato." He told himself, before calling out to his brother.

"Hey brat, where am I taking you Sunday?"

"I'm not a brat, don't be a jerk Aniki!"

"Just answer the question squirt."

"Someday I'm going to be taller than you." Taka grumbled, scowling up at him.

"Keep dreaming. Now answer the damn question."

"The natural history museum." Taka pouted

"Great. Did you finish your homework?"

"Um…"

"Finish your homework."

"You're not the boss of me!"

"You wanna test that theory?" Hayato glared, raising a threatening fist, and Taka gulped.

"Homework. Going. Now!"

"Good. Maybe if you finish early I might play Mario Kart with you."

Taka's face lit up at the promise and he raced off to finish his homework. Hayato sighed, looking back down at his phone.

YOU: I'll hold you to it.

XXX

Hayato decided that the only thing worse than a Sunday morning car ride with a hyperactive Taka was a Sunday morning car ride with a hyperactive Taka and no coffee.

"So who are you working on this assignment with again?"

"My best friend and partner in crime."

Hayato snorted "People don't say that in real life."

"I just said it right now, didn't I?"

"Fair enough. Does this best friend of yours have a name?"

"His name is Kotaro, he'll meet us there with his brother. We're writing our report on dinosaurs. I think the T-rex is the coolest, but Kotaro likes the stegosaurus the best which is stupid because…"

Hayato let the rest of Taka's blabbering fade into white noise as he focused on driving, finally pulling into the museum parking.

"Kotaro said we'll meet at the gates."

Hayato nodded and let his brother half drag him to the gates, stifling a yawn. Hey heard Taka give a yell before he half-hugged half-tackled another boy who took the whole thing with a resigned stoicism. So this was the famous best friend, huh. He glanced at the brother standing next to him who was laughing at the scene, greetings halfway out of his mouth before his brain registered a familiar face.

"Hello I'm K- Kashima!?"

The other man laughed, a clear sound that woke Hayato up faster than a triple espresso shot.

"Looks like we won't have to reschedule after all."

Hayato had never been so glad his mother had forced him to wear a decent shirt. Sure the sleeves were rolled up to the elbows and he was wearing an old pair of black jeans and some ratty Vans, but at least he looked halfway okay. A part of his brain was urgently reminding him that this was not a date but he was really too sleepy to register it.

Kashima looked him over once, and Hayato was almost certain he saw his eyes linger on the sleeves that were exposed on his forearms and the petals of the cactus flower that touched his collar bone, a more recent addition which had made Kashima turn various shades of red when he first saw it. He had gotten done because he liked the shape of the flower, but after that reaction he had to look up the hanakotoba and then couldn't meet Kashima's eye for a week.

"You look good."

"Thanks. You too." Said Hayato, a little hoarsely. And it wasn't a lie. Kashima, in a plaid shirt and jeans and no apron made his breath hitch. "This is not a date" his treacherous mind supplied. "Shut it!" he growled under his breath.

"What?"

"Nothing, I mean let's head in."

XXX

This was not the first time Hayato was distracted by Kashima's hands. The other man had a habit of tapping his fingers when he was nervous or had nothing else to do. They were nice fingers, Hayato had noted long ago, slender and elegant with dirt under the nails more often than not. He had often wondered what those fingers would feel like intertwined with his. Kashima would usually lay his free hand on the table while eating, fingers splayed, occasionally tapping a gentle rhythm onto the table, and it would be so easy for Hayato to just reach out and tangle his own with them, holding them still.

Walking together through the museum was agony. Kashima's hands were just millimetres away, all he had to do was reach out a little and they would be walking hand in hand. Every time Kashima's hand brushed his as they walked, Hayato felt a jolt of electricity course through him, making him hyperaware of his surroundings, yet he never wanted to leave this moment.

It was that moment standing in the museum with Kashima, his brain still screaming that this was not a date, that Hayato realized that this could not keep going on.

XXX

YOU: Hey I'm thinking of getting a new tattoo, what do you think?

Hayato sent the message with clearest picture of his sketch. A green dragon with a surprisingly gentle face, coiled in on itself and surrounded by a burst of colour. Cherry blossom for kindness, pansy for thoughtful, hibiscus for gentle, lily of the valley for sweet, sunflower for respect but also for passionate love, gardenia for secret love, yellow camellias for longing, carnations for fascination, anemones for sincerity, and red roses for love.

He sent the message, and then he waited.

XXX

Come morning there was still no message from Kashima, and it was with heavy legs and a heavy heart that Hayato walked into the parlour, only to be greeted by a large bouquet of flowers on the reception desk. Well at least Inomata was succeeding where he was failing.

"Kamitani-kun." Said Inomata, her voice laced with something unidentifiable as she took in his dejected expression. "Delivery for you."

"Oh is it behind the giant bouquet of flowers?" he asked, bitterly.

"No, idiot, it is the giant bouquet of flowers."

Hayato's head whipped up, taking in the flowers properly for the first time. There were sunflowers here too, and red roses, though pink was also thrown into the mix, for happiness. Anemones, yellow camellias, carnations. But there were also zinnia for loyalty, Violets for honesty, red tulips for trust, peonies for bravery, and morning glory for wilful promises. His chest felt tight and warm, while something like hope swirled in his stomach.

"I have to go."

He ran out of the parlour and across the road, bursting into the shop and making Ushimaru jump.

"Is Kashima here yet?"

Her face lit up in understanding, and she pointed to the backroom and then let out a little squeak as he hopped over the counter instead of waiting for her to open the little gate that kept the counters an "employees only" area. He marched into the back room, and there he was, digging around a bo of hydrangeas.

"Kashima."

The man jumped and looked up, and Hayato froze. Kashima's eyes were still the brownest he'd ever seen.

"Kamitani." His voice was barely above a whisper.

"I couldn't- you didn't- I thought I had scared you off." He said finally, voice soft.

"I'm sorry. I should have said something, but you had put so much thought into it and well… words weren't enough."

"So is that a yes?"

Kashima gave him a look. "Come on Kamitani, I know you've picked up on enough hanakotoba to figure it out."

Hayato's lips quirked upwards on their own accord "Just checking."

He strode towards Kashima, slowly, deliberately, giving the man ample opportunity to stop him. He wrapped his arms around him, pulling him into an embrace, and placing a light kiss on his forehead.

Kashima made an impatient noise, standing on his toes to press their lips together, and Hayato saw fireworks. He groaned into the kiss, leaning down to make himself more accessible, backing them up until Kashima's back was pressed against the wall. They broke apart, grinning.

"Does this mean I can call you Ryu?"

"It'd be kind of weird if you didn't… Hayato."

Hayato swallowed heavily, that would take some getting used to. In a good way.

Kashima- no, Ryu- looked up at him through his lashes. "Are you really going to get that tattoo?"

"Do you want me to?"

"Maybe on our wedding day."

Hayato choked on air, and then laughed, pressing his face into Ryu's neck. This man was going to kill him.

A/N- Did someone ask for an entire paragraph of Hayato agonizing over hand holding? No? Well I gave it to you anyway. The meaning of cactus flowers, if you were wondering, is lust/sex. I honestly don't know if some of those flowers would work in a bouquet but let's pretend that our boy Ryu found a way. I have this AU weirdly sorted out in my head so if anyone wants to know anything about it (Tattoos, occupations, life stories, etc.) feel free to ask because I'm too tired to write. Anyway, hit me up on tumblr if you want to see more, I'm bards-against-hoomanity. Shoot me an ask if you've got a prompt, usual terms and conditions apply. Love you guys and I hope you enjoyed this!