Hello, lovely readers!
In this story, I'm trying to subvert the usual flowershop AU! Meaning, I'm trying to add more plot and stakes in it, while trying to keep a healthy balance of romance.
This story is also being published on AO3.
If you guys didn't know, I'm Mythic! This story is part of the Hidden Magic AU, which is an AU I created with my friend Pyrrhic where basically every kind of mythology exists, and they bounce off each other.
It follows people in their own individual stories, that don't have to involve the world.
Anyway, along with the Spamano mentioned in the description, there will also be background GerIta.
I hope you guys enjoy!
Pink Camellia:
This flower usually will increase the chances of coming across someone unexpected. You may or may not already know them, but their presence will be a surprise. They work best in bunches, so there's more and more likelihood of the encounter. To grow this, periodically get someone new to water it, while still taking up most of the time doing so. Outdoors is preferred, but not necessary. For experts, you may try taking it inside for the same hour each day, and with some luck it will be within that time period when you come across them.
Though Lovino had never been to Barcelona, he could've imagined what it was like. Though it probably wasn't as grand as his hometown of Rome, and had significant cultural differences, it still was exceptionally similar in his mind. In fact most of Europe blurred together for him, and he certainly wasn't as enthusiastic as his brother to go exploring all the dark alleyways of boring old cities. But it just so happened that his job required the constant travelling, so he and Feliciano found themselves in yet another place he would've preferred as Osaka or Rio de Janeiro - anywhere that was more exciting.
It was even worse now because they had already completed their quest, received their reward, and now had nothing to do. They had been booked for another job in Spain, so Feliciano had insisted that they stay here for a week and do all that typical tourist stuff. Sightseeing - even though they had already seen them while chasing down a pack of crazed Bacchus worshippers - and buying souvenirs with the money they had earned from apprehending said worshippers.
There really was only one thing that Lovino was interested in, and that was magical goods. The biggest difference in every country he had been to, besides language and some culture, were the things that they sold. In Rome, he had grown used to the potion-laced bread that they sold down at the local bakery, but Marseille had been the home of unconventional weaponry and Opava had exceptional stealth items that still hung on his leather belt. His former visits to Spain had been brief at most, and he wanted to quickly check out what sorts of things it had. Of course that would've taken a day at most, but his damn brother had been so determined to see dusty old buildings that it was only on day three that they were finally looking around the more interesting parts of town.
The South Italian had high hopes for this place, though he doubted it would come up to standard of the ever-comparable Michelstadt. Well, that was the only place where there had been anyone worth meeting (not that those bastards were actually interesting to Lovino, but since that German kept Feliciano happy he didn't loathe them that much). As they wondered around, he began to feel very disappointed, because it didn't have much more than unexceptional potion shops and fraudulent weapons. He was about to give up and go back to the hotel room for the rest of the week, but then they found it.
Really they hadn't done much more than stumbled across it, but Lovino felt a faint sense of interest as he looked upon the hunched little shop.
'Antonio's Magical Flora'
Normally he would've just scoffed at the name, a pillar of the ignorance of normal humans in relation to his world. But, he knew that the sign was telling the truth because he felt a faint aura coming from within the store. It was unlike anything he had ever felt before, and no matter how much he focused he couldn't line it up to any sort of creature he had come across before. He had met a lot of the things, so that was intriguing by itself. Furthermore, he had never come across anything quite like it. Magic flowers? The concept was enough for him, accompanied by an excited Feliciano, to step into the shop, bell ringing loudly.
Immediately, a young man popped his head up, barely visible over the cluttered mess of flowers, "Hello! Oh, wait there, give me a second!"
He placed down a potted hyacinth and brushed some soil off his cloth apron, then ran to the front, extending a gloved hand.
"Welcome to my shop! I'm Antonio, but you can call me Toni, and let me guess… You guys are demigods?"
Lovino was alarmed at the rate he had identified them, since demigod aura was much weaker than others and they had the ability to disable it if they so chose. Wait, he had disabled his aura, right? He was too annoyed by the upbeat man to think about it, and scowled as he continued.
"I'm guessing I got that correct! Okay, okay, let me see. Your mother," Antonio pointed at Lovino, "is Athena!"
The Italian rolled his eyes, "Nice try bastard, but it's Bellona. Learn the difference between Roman and Greek."
The Spaniard theatrically snapped his fingers, "I always get those two confused! Then, the other one… You must be the child of Ceres?"
Feliciano giggled in an airheaded manner, "You've got that right! Do you want some wheat?"
He took out his ever-present wheat from the jacket he was wearing and handed it to the other. After getting over the slight surprise Antonio happily took it, "This is some good wheat."
"Thank you! I grew it myself."
Lovino sighed. He was surrounded by idiots.
As those two continued to bicker on, he looked around the store. All the flowers were brightly coloured and visually pleasing, but that really wasn't much different to a normal florist. So he asked, "Hey Antoni-bastard, what exactly is so magical about this flora?"
The shop owner grinned, "Firstly, that's really not a clever insult with my name. Secondly, I'm glad you asked!"
Antonio tossed himself into a nearby wheelie chair, all rackety and falling apart. Then, he grabbed a book lying on the floor next to it. It seemed to be some repurposed diary, the place where the title would be haphazardly sticky-taped over with a piece of yellow card. It read 'The Special Magical Index of Special Magical Flowers', which made Lovino sneer as the other man flicked through it.
"Ah, here's a good one! Gone through a bad breakup or gotten some sort of criminal record? Simply use a lily of the valley!"
The florist grabbed a conveniently placed pot of the aforementioned flower, which made Lovino suspect this was some sort of rehearsed performance.
"After growing it with the correct method, simply breathe in its pollen. Then you'll notice that people don't pay attention to you anymore! Perfect for going off the record."
Lovino's suspicions grew as he noticed the next page that was flipped to was obviously dog-eared.
"Is your friendship suffering in some way? Then I've got just the deal for you! Sunflowers," Antonio picked up a nearby potted sunflower, "never fail to do the job! Just breathe in that pollen and you'll find that your best friend has become your bestest friend. Don't worry about being honest with people or finding out why something's wrong! Manipulate them with my wonderful magic goods!"
The South Italian marched over to Antonio and forcibly shut the book, "Not doing a great sales job, Toni-bastard. Now, please tell me. Why should I buy these flowers when I could easily go over to Lud and Gil's and get discounted, quality potions?"
Pretty much everyone in the magical community knew about the German brothers, the two famous potion brewers known for their risky behaviour with magical ingredients. When they actually managed to make something that didn't explode, they were the best in the business, but they had grown rather infamous for their unnervingly experimental wares and frustrating refund policy. Getting a discount there was like winning the lottery, because it also meant the potions were more, well, safe.
The Spaniard frowned at the name drop, "Don't talk to me about those two. I don't know how you know them or why you get a discount, but you really shouldn't go there if you want to live."
Feliciano grew as indignant as he could at this comment, "Don't insult them like that!"
Antonio shrugged, "I'll look into how you guys know them later. Right now, I must tell you why my flowers are a thousand times better than potions!"
He launched the wheelie chair away from Lovino and stopped at another part of shop, picking up a pink camellia, "Flowers are so pretty, y'know? They look so much nicer than any gross potions, plus they smell nice as well."
The South Italian rolled his eyes once again, "You're going to have to say a lot more than that if you want me to buy."
"Don't interrupt me! I'm going somewhere with this… After all, you guys are demigods, aren't you? I'm sure you've wanted to cast spells on people before, horrible curses for people you hate or protection spells for people you cherish. My flowers make this easy. Nobody's going to drink a chunky acid-green liquid you give them, but I'm sure people would want to accept flowers. It's just a harmless bouquet after all, what could it do? The advantage of my brand is that it's totally unsuspecting, because nobody else uses it. Plus, you get some gardening skills in the process."
Lovino nodded, "Hm, interesting argument."
Feliciano exclaimed, "Wait, wait, I have a question! You say all this stuff about gardening, but isn't all this stuff already grown and picked?"
The florist grabbed what appeared to be a cutting, "Look, there's two ways to buy my goods. Firstly, you can buy bouquets, all pre-grown and packaged for you to enjoy. But, that's terribly boring, and also is much more expensive and less effective. Then, you've got the cuttings and sprouting flowers. If you take care of these with the instructions I give you and use them immediately when they bloom, they will be so much more potent. You're gonna have to wear a facemask the last few days you're looking after it if you don't want the effects, but it's so much better. As for the bouquets, they work when say you some sort of magic word or whatever."
Lovino raised an eyebrow, "For someone selling the bouquets, you seem awfully uncertain about them."
"I don't really care about them, y'know? I added them in so my store looks better and so I can get more money off unknowing humans, but for people in the Otherworld like you, I expect much more."
As the Spaniard was talking, Lovino had been trying to identify what sort of creature he was. The aura was unlike anything he had felt before, which was a huge thing for someone who constantly fought malevolent beings, met with benevolent people, and everything in-between. Soon, the curiosity was just getting to him, so he asked a question.
"Look, can I just ask something? What sort of creature are you? I can't read your aura at all."
Antonio paused for a second at this query, but quickly responded, "Ah, that's a question I get a lot. Basically, I'm this rare subspecies of nymph that not many people know about. It was never named because it's practically identical to nymphs aside from a few differences such what we can be bonded with. As for me, I'm sure you can figure out what I'm bonded with."
He idly stroked the petals of a daisy, as if it weren't already obvious.
Feliciano smiled excitedly, "That's so nice! I'd love to be a flower. It would be so much fun."
The not-nymph looked at the flower with an unreadable expression, "Yes, it definitely is."
Lovino yawned, "Okay, great, you're a flower boy. So tell me - how much are these things? The ones for growing, I mean."
"Ah-ha, I've won you over! Well, it depends on the flower and how strong the effects are, so just pick something out and I'll tell you how much it is. The range is about, uhh… 30 euros to 70 euros."
It was surprisingly cheap for magical goods, so he began to look around. His eyes were drawn to a bush growing in a large pot, which he started to inspect by turning it over, "What does this do?"
"That's blackthorn. It causes you great misfortune," Antonio grinned menacingly. Lovino's hand recoiled from it, which made the other man snort.
Feliciano was drawn to some cacti with blooming flowers, "Oooo, these are pretty!"
"You have a good eye there. Those cactus flowers increase familial love, which I'm sure is relevant to you two. 45 euros!"
Without hesitation he forked over the money, and Antonio handed over a budding cactus, "You don't need to water it regularly, but keep it inside in your bedroom. After three weeks, place it in the living room and it will hopefully start to bloom. Keep it in a tightly sealed container until you get home."
Feliciano dutifully wrote this down, and as the florist put it into a container, Lovino went to the pink camellia that had been picked up before.
"What's the effects of this?" he inquired.
Antonio came over and looked at what he had chosen, "Ah, that's an interesting one. It'll increase your chances of meeting someone unexpected, whether you know them or not. Only 30 euros."
Lovino didn't really care about the effects, and only wanted a souvenir. It seemed relatively harmless and was rather cheap, so he ended up buying it. As Antonio gave him some instructions, he noticed the man's large gardening gloves. He hadn't payed much attention to them before, but now that he thought about it, it really was curious. Surely he would take them off when handling more delicate plants like the camellia, and it was hot outside so they seemed unnecessary. After the information, Lovino asked, "Why are you still wearing those gloves? You're handling flowers, shouldn't you remove them?"
This made him pause, and look nervously down at them. He was grasping them tightly as if he didn't want them to come off, "Uh, I'm a florist. I… Wear gloves."
"That's not an explanation. You know this seems really suspicious?"
Feliciano noticed what was going on and went into his serious mode, rarely seen outside of missions, "You're a magical creature we've never heard of. It's best if you don't do anything weird or suspicious in front of us demigods."
Antonio sighed, "Fine."
He hesitantly took off one of his gloves, and the two were surprised to see thick bandages underneath, soaked with blood. It was quickly covered up, and he forced a smile.
"Thank you for buying at my store!" he exclaimed, and swiftly pushed them out of the shop. As the two voiced their protests, he slammed the door. They were left in silence before the door opened up again, Antonio sticking out his head, "Please come again soon!"
Feliciano and Lovino stared at the store, and the same thought occurred to both of them. They were definitely coming back.
Hmm, I wonder what that could mean...
Thank you for reading!
